Mabel Berezin, professor of sociology at Cornell University and author of “Illiberal Politics in Neoliberal Times: Cultures, Security, and Populism in a New Europe,” comments on the broader political and cultural implications of the Cyprus banking crisis.
She says:
“The Parliamentary vote in Cyprus this week put an end to the European Central Bank’s demand that Cyprus help bail itself out by taxing the bank accounts of ordinary frugal citizens who had accumulated small pots of money. “What happened in Cyprus has implications beyond its borders. That the ECB would even consider taxing the savings of ordinary, non-wealthy citizens was another instance that suggested that the EU and the eurzone was willing to move forward without considering how its actions would play outside the realms of EU power centers. “But most importantly this latest move cannot help but fan the flames of nationalism and euroscepticism across the continent. “The addiction to austerity solutions that EU, led by Angela Merkel, has decided is the only solution to the ongoing debt crisis, is creating a political mood of anger and fear that evokes the 1920s and ’30s in Europe. The events in Cyprus can only heighten this mood. European parliamentary elections of the last six months suggest that nationalists and populists do not need a strategy to win—they just need to show up. In the long run, that will present a greater challenge to European democracy than any short term market fluctuations, as well as challenging American and European foreign relations.”
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