While the supposedly-coercive decision to hand over most of the nation's gold to the European Union was surprising to some, the latest policy decision from Cyprus' President Anastasiades looks set to dilute the nation's sovereignty also. Foreign depositors who lost at least EUR3 million will be given EU passports (and Cypriot citizenship), "in an effort to 'mitigate' to some extent the damage the Russian business community has suffered." As France24 reports, these measures are expected to be enacted Monday "in a fast-track manner," as Anastasiades readies himself for a 'begging' trip to meet Putin in Russia. Coincidentally, Cyprus issued the 8th decree on capital controls today (for seven more days) increasing the monthly transfer cap (for companies) to EUR50,000 and raising transfer caps outside the Republic to a huge EUR2,000. We suspect the 'been there, got the passport' messaging will do little to stave off the Russian retaliation.

Just a week or two back, Putin enacted his 'amnesty' that wealthy tax-evading Russians bring their money back from overseas within three months (or else) and we wonder if this move by Cyprus, however well intentioned from the outside, has a 'catch' in that if citizenship is applied for, are the applicants legally obligated to disclose all tax accounts. Yet another attempt at trapping wealth?

Via France24,