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Petros Karadjias/AP
A protestor rips an European Union flag during a rally outside of the parliament in capital Nicosia.
Cyprus
Cypriot parliament approves first EU bailout measures
MPs voted in favour of a national solidarity fund meaning the nationalisation of public and private sector pensions and of capital controls to prevent a run on banks.
THE CYPRIOT PARLIAMENT finally gave its approval late this evening to the first two of eight measures hammered out by the government in a desperate bid to rescue an EU bailout by a Monday deadline.
MPs voted in favour of a national solidarity fund to be set up through the nationalisation of public and private sector pensions and of capital controls to prevent a run on the island’s troubled banks when they are finally due to open on Tuesday after a more than week-long break.
The votes followed prolonged talks between party leaders on the package aimed at raising 5.8 billion euros to unlock loans worth 10 billion euros or face being denied European Central Bank (ECB) emergency funds.
More contentious measures remain to be debated including a tax of up to 15 percent on bank deposits of 100,000 euros and more, a levy that in a slightly different form was rejected by MPs last Tuesday.
- © AFP 2013.
