LyrArc Article Gist
Jeroen Dijsselbloem, was finance minister of the Netherlands for 3 months when he was appointed to the position of Eurogroup president in Jan 2013, succeeding Luxembourg's prime minister, Jean-Claude Juncker. He is a 46 year old agricultural economist and a member of parliament for the Labor party, considered by many to be inexperienced for the job. He is outspoken compared to his predecessor. His comments about bank rescues being made by having bondholders and shareholders take up the cost, followed by depositors, has roiled financial markets. Shareholders and junior bondholders were wiped out as part of the nationalization of Dutch bank SNS Reaal NN in Feb. 2013, but depositors were safe. The reference to depositors has created anxiety for depositors at eurozone banks. Dijsselbloem's remarks about the Cyprus bailout and depositors taking losses as a model for future bank bailouts in the eurozone were criticized by many EU officials, including Benoit Coeure, a member of the ECB's executive board. Coeure told French radio station Europe 1: "The situation in Cyprus is very particular, and there aren't the same banking problems in other eurozone countries." Later Dijsselbloem referred to Cyprus as "an exceptional case." Similiar criticism was voiced by the opposition in the Netherlands parliament.