French press review 26 March 2013

The Cyprus bank bailout is still making front page news.

Yesterday, it was "Cyprus saved, markets rejoice," and there was, indeed, a brief burst of investor enthusiasm in Asia as the wise men of the eurozone appeared to have, once again, pulled a 10 billion euro rabbit out of the collective hat and saved the old continent from another bout of bankruptcy.

The joy was, I'm afraid, short-lived.

This morning's main headline in business daily Les Echos reads "The salvage deal that scares the banks". We no longer talking about the Cypriot banks . . . they're not scared, they're saved . . . now it's the rest of the European banking system that's got a touch of trembling knee syndrome.

And this is because a fellah by the name of Jeroen Dijsselbloem yesterday suggested that taxing bank deposits (the secret of the Cyprus salvage) might be a good way for Europe to fund future bailout schemes. Dijsselbloem, by the way, is the president of the Eurogroup.

He later explained that each situation would be examined on its individual merits, that there were no immediate plans to tax your granny's savings. But the explanation came too late. Granny was already on her skateboard and heading to the cash macine with a large sack; investors were selling off bank shares; all of Europe's major exchanges finished in the red.

Dijsselbloem, by the way, is also the Dutch Finance Minister, and is a former pig farmer. He has a degree in agricultural economics, but knows very little about high finance.

Les Echos suggests that his main qualification for the European job is the fact that he's Dutch, in other words, he comes from a country with a triple-A credit rating. He has been described as faithful and discreet in political terms . . . his parliamentary nick-name is "the guide dog." His most famous moment came in 2007 when he led a successful parliamentary campaign against nudity on Dutch television. And this is the man in charge of granny's few remaining centimes.

However, as Les Echos wisely points out, the crisis saw its best days under the leadership of some very skilled and experienced economists. I say, let's give the pig farmer a chance.