Most of the media attention on Cyprus today is being paid to the orderly nature and small size of the queues at its re-opened banks. However, these stories miss the true significance of what is happening today. For the first time, banks in a euro-area country are operating under capital controls. These controls mean that while nominally the euro is still the currency of Cyprus, a euro in Cyprus is no longer equivalent to a euro elsewhere. This raises profound issues for the future of the euro as a single currency.
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