Graphic: tp

Half a trillion euros of additional new corona debt to be repaid through contributions to eu budget

Following a video meeting, french president emmanuel macron and german chancellor angela merkel yesterday announced an agreement on a half-trillion-euro european corona reconstruction fund to supplement the 540 billion euros in borrowing agreed so far. The money is to be raised through jointly contracted public debt, which will be paid from the eu budget over the next 20 years. German taxpayers will contribute the largest net share to this eu budget.

Merkel justified this yesterday by citing what she called the most "the most serious crisis the eu has ever faced in its history" and that a "the unique effort required by the" required. Macron, who had been promoting eurobonds long before the corona crisis, spoke of a significant "important stage" and said, "an agreement between germany and france [was not yet] an agreement among the 27 member states", but there is "no agreement between the 27 if germany and france have not agreed first".

Conte for, kurz against

The fact that the new quasi-eurobonds must be agreed unanimously is due to their linkage to the eu budget framework on the one hand and the increase in the own resources ceiling required for this on the other. In the other 25 eu member states, whose finance ministers are holding video negotiations today with their counterparts from germany and france, there are differing views on merkel’s and macron’s plan.

Italian prime minister giuseppe conte (who would likely be the main beneficiary of the quasi-eurobonds due to his country’s legacy debt and particular exposure to covid-19) praised the plan, while austrian chancellor sebastian kurz tweeted that while they would like to "continue to show solidarity and support countries most affected by the corona crisis" – but this must be done "through loans and not through grants". He agreed with the governments of denmark, sweden and the netherlands.

Lagarde and von der leyen praise

Christine lagarde, head of the european central bank (ecb) and eu commission president ursula von der leyen, on the other hand, welcomed the quasi-eurobonds as a "welcome" and "constructive". Von der leyen wants to give the 27. May, the eu parliament will present its own package of measures, for which it has already received a package of demands amounting to two trillion euros (cf. Eu parliament wants two-trillion-euro "reconstruction and transformation fund"). Also these 2.000 billion is to be "through the iance of long-term reconstruction bonds guaranteed by the eu budget" that is, debts for which the member countries are indirectly jointly liable.

Merkel, macron, von der leyen and the politicians in the eu parliament can hope that the european public will accept this more easily during the corona crisis than at a time when eu debt was a separate ie. As early as 2007, naomi klein explained in her book the shock strategy how politicians and economists use crisis situations to implement projects that might otherwise not have had a majority among the population (cf. Of sports palace speeches, hijacked terms and social buffer overflows). The examples she cites of this are primarily privatizations and deregulations that policymakers and the media have been pushing for in the last two decades of the 20. And the first decade of the 21. Century dominated. But the underlying mechanism can also be used for other projects (cf. Juncker and schulz use naomi klein strategy).

For other purposes, money can potentially be used, the borrowing of which is approved with the corona aid argument. That this could happen to a certain extent was hinted at by merkel herself yesterday when, in connection with the quasi-eurobonds, she spoke of investments in digitization and a "green deal" spoke. The goals formulated in the eu package also include concerns such as a requirement of the "digital transformation".

Eu commission president ursula von der leyen also admitted that she wanted to use the corona crisis to implement other projects such as reducing co2 emissions. "Sooner or later", the cdu politician said, scientists and researchers were "scientists and researchers would find a vaccine against the coronavirus", which it "against climate change" will not exist. Therefore, according to her words, only an unspecified "of the money" will be used to revive the economy and expand health care. With the rest, she wants to expand her investeu lending program and make "strategic investments" active.

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Hair, 27. November 2012 – how the times change: fruhe was the name 320i for a silky soft running, slightly passing two-liter six-cylinder, between 2000 and 2007 it was then a sixteen with 2.2 liters displacement. In the process of current three-row series, a four-cylinder worked in the 320i, which offered neither a well-sounding sound nor sparkling performance. At least at the last point, the bavaria made the latest three legs properly: a turbocharger should now be ensured for momentum from the speed cellar and a small consumption. Whether both succeed, we wanted to know at an exit.

Spirited

Despite an empty weight of more than 1.5 tons accelerates the 320i flott. Its four-cylinder makes 184 hp at moderate 5000 / min. The maximum torque of 270 nm is between 1250 and 4500 revolutions. Who applies it, accelerates this threesome in 7.6 seconds from the stand to tempo 100, only at 235 km / h the highest speed is reached. The engine remains acoustically mostly in the background, which is very pleasant on fast motorway stages. The cooperation with the eight-speed automatic works very well: the shifts run soft and imperceptibly.

Savings

Consumption in the nefz indicates bmw with 5.9 l / 100 km. But we removed a good stucco, which has two reasons. On the one one we did not emphasize effectively, there is still some air in everyday life. Second, the test car was equipped with an 18-inch tires. If the "driving experience switch" was set to normal, the consumption was at our exit at 8.5 l / 100 km. In eco-pro mode it was 7.6 l / 100 km. In this case, bmw has come up with a special incentive: in the instrument cluster, the kilometers are displayed, which can be further driven by the saved fuel with this tank finishing – an ad that arouses the ambition for saving. In eco pro mode, the characteristic of the accelerator pedal and optimizes additional consumers like the automatic climate control. The driver’s savings to get even more kilometers to the ad was allowed to have its share in the up to 20 percent lower consumption, which bmw promises in this mode.

Another more economical should be the 320i efficientdynamics edition, which bmw indicates 5.3 l / 100 km in the nefz. The four-cylinder is known from the 118i. He makes 170 hp and offers a maximum torque of 250 nm. From the point of view of bmw this is a smarter train, because instead of offering a 318i for a little less money, they sell the "oko version" for the same price.

Taut

The rest is known from fruheren exits. The threesome is stressed on the strain, while the test trolley, this impression thanks to the rough raders still a bit. The residual comfort is still more than sufficient. Through this interpretation, which always gives the driver a certain jerking message, this generation has received something of that charm that has heard the threesome since always. Together with the direct steering, the current 320i flips around the curves that it is a true pleasure.

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The insolvent financial service provider wirecard introduces its virtual credit card boon. Customers should use any existing credit or pay off, the company shared on monday. At 3. October 2020 the service is switched off. Until then, customers should deduct their credits, otherwise the provider charges.

Boon has made its users a virtual prepaid credit card from mastercard. Using an app, users were able to charge and manage credit. Lifter also came p2p payment functions. The virtual mastercard of boon also enjoyed some popular in this country because he was one of the first opportunities to use the contactless payment systems of apple and google. Spaters supported boon also payment systems of garmin, fitbit, swatch and sony.

Ie credit

The provider recommends its users, the possibly existing credit until 3. October centgenau. Possibly furnished automatic charges, boon has already disabled the information. If the credit is set to zero and all bookings are completed, the account can be closed via a switchboard in the app.

Alternatively, the company also pays the contributions on request. However, boon refers to a high utilization of the customer service representatives and therefore relies on the "self-initiative" the customer – that should therefore spend the money. The virtual credit card can also be used in online trading.

From october it costs

If you do not spend your boon account until the beginning of october, you will accept that the credit will then be consumed by bonds. "From the 04.10.In 2020, we collect a monthly fee of 2.50 € / chf on existing credit until this is used fully", shares the provider with.

The boon cards are published by the british wirecard subsidiary wirecard card solutions. In the course of the bankruptcy of the parent company wirecard ag, the british financial supervision had briefly prohibited the company to the company. In the meantime, wirecard card solutions reverts payments.

Wirecard insolvency

The banking app started at the end of october 2019 "boon.Planet" with its own checking account and debit cards, the deutsche wirecard bank is published and the information continued. The wirecard bank is not directly affected by the bankruptcy of the parent company and leads the business.

The german payment service provider wirecard had to sign up for bankruptcy at the end of june after ey’s accountants had found no proof of the existence of 1.9 billion euros, which according to the balance sheet from the so-called "third-party partners" should come from.

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The church of the holy spirit in berlin-kreuzberg probably hasn’t been this full in decades: shortly before 8 p.M., festively dressed people in black suits and evening gowns lined up at the entrance. Bodyguards checked invitations. A row of gentlemen in "men in black"-look with dark sunglasses loitered next to bouquets of flowers and torches and ladies in black minidresses poured out champagne.

Inside the church there was no more free space. The visitors huddled between camera teams and photographers, in front of the altar a large screen flashed multimedia images into the audience, and only the song books behind the buffet table reminded them that they were in a place of worship and not at a party of the rich and famous.

But anyone who suspected a celebrity wedding or the christening of german aristocratic offspring behind the coarse station was mistaken: the audience in the kreuzberg church had not come to pay homage to god, but to their industry and their own success. For in the heilig-geist-kirche (church of the holy spirit) on sunday evening, the "onlinestar 99" was awarded. The internet magazine "com!Online" awarded the first prize for german websites during the berlin consumer electronics fair. In twelve categories 48 internet offers were announced to the vote; 410,827 votes were paid at the election, which took place from 18. June to 8. August. At the award ceremony, a square plexiglass trophy, the german internet industry had its first opportunity to show its chic side and celebrate itself.

Instead of pimply young web designers in baggy jeans and oversized t-shirts, net entrepreneurs in respectable evening dress were on show at the ceremony. When the more than 1000 young and not-so-young internet nouveau-riches gathered at the "onlinestar"-award ceremony were meant to give an accurate impression of the state of the german net industry, then the industry has outgrown the phase of garage companies. Judging by the dress code, the party could have been one of the industry meetings of german private television stations or advertising agencies.

Of course, there is still the mid-twenties who are still a bit surprised that they have suddenly become the boss: the guys from the internet auction house alando, who accepted their prize in t-shirts of the new parent company ebay and stormed the stage with the entire staff, were obviously surprised themselves by their success and afterwards lay in each other’s arms like a streetball team that has won a local tournament. But most of the web entrepreneurs were dressed in discreet double-breasted suits to receive their awards and answer a few questions.

Of course, the whole event did not yet reach the level of the american webbyawards. This was not least due to the hopelessly overburdened moderators sibylle nicolai (zdf) and julian patzak (radio 100,6 berlin), whose comments and questions demonstrated a widespread ignorance of the subject matter and at times created the atmosphere of a church charity raffle. Also the show interludes of the weather girls and angel mckay (the announced lou vega had let himself be excused) did not necessarily provide for an exuberant party atmosphere.

But above all the categories in which votes were cast betrayed german stuffiness: "business finance", "e-banking" and "service" are obviously more important for the teutonic net scene than for example "education education", "politics" or "art". In these areas, which for example are used in the "webbyawards" there was no voting. Also the winners (well known commercial websites like "yahoo" or "amazon") did not exactly betray world-class standards, and that in germany offers such as "free of charge.De" belong to the grossest scavengers, speaks for itself. Also the website of "focus-online", one of the "media partners" of the event on the list of candidates would not have been necessary.

All this did not prevent the german weavers from besieging the ten or so buffets and counters in the garden behind the church for a long time in the warm august night, so that the waiters and waitresses could hardly keep up with serving and pouring. The german multimedia scene has its industry oscars.

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On 28 august 2014, horex gmbh. August 2014 in augsburg filed for insolvency proceedings. The preliminary insolvency administrator ra rainer muller will go in the next time through the data of the company to save what can be saved. The horex press release wants to preserve all 36 jobs and continue motorcycle production under the traditional horex brand purchased in 2010 "in the long term" preserved. After millions and millions of demand money and investments have not managed to do that, one has to doubt the power of this press release. Too bad.

If one thing has united the motorcycle scene in opinion on the subject of horex, it is the point that we are all happy about the attempt to produce a technically interesting, completely new motorcycle in germany for the german market. Even the accusations about the "playmobil-" or "lego design" are weak. These toys celebrate their enduring success precisely because of the design: solid oversized pieces of solidly colored plastic of good quality, which lasts forever. The simple design emphasized that. It was similar with the horex vr6. I always liked to have a vr6 cafe racer as a playmobil motorcycle. But as a real motorcycle? Nope.

At least good enough

At this point lies as always the dog buried. The horex was not a bad motorcycle. But neither was a mz 1000 s or sf. However, all three were not good enough. Short excursion into the most painful area of marketing: the initial success of a product depends to a large extent on chance. This is the bitter pill that all planners must swallow before they can act meaningfully. Well-documented research shows, for example, that a top hit cannot be predicted from the mass of music tracks, even though data are available from the previous trial iteration in which a top hit was already present. In the next run, a completely different piece drifts to the top.

We all know the happy-ending tales of woe from ms. Rowling or mr. Pirsig. After countless rejections, finally the justified success! These one-off stories suggest that you only have to work hard enough to make it. To see the world as it is, the majority of stories, those of the non-rowlings, the non-pirsigs, are lacking. These stories go like this: countless rejections, done, out. This is what happens. To ensure at least a chance of success, the product, according to the study, must meet only one criterion: it must be at least good enough in terms of what the market wants. Then it stands at a stop where (with luck) the success bus passes by. There is no timetable.

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Stuttgart, 1. August 2014 – no, the smart has never been one of the special snappers. Nevertheless, it has made its way, the first two generations are frequently represented in the street scene. In november, the third generation now goes on sale, but this time it has a potentially tough rival. We took a look at the financial differences between the smart and the twingo.

Not poor

The basic smart fortwo model costs 10.895 euros. Things like power windows, cruise control, hill start assist, crosswind assist or central locking are standard here – frugal isn’t it, especially in this class. Manual air conditioning is not available, and automatic air conditioning costs an extra 925 euros. It is worthwhile to go for the coolaudio package for 1100 euro, which includes a simple radio with usb connection. With a few hubcaps, which daimler charges an additional 50 euros, the total is 12,045 euros.045 euros – and you have a subcompact that lacks nothing essential.

But if you take such a pragmatic approach to buying a car, you will get more or a. A similar amount for considerably less money. The basic twingo expression for 9590 euros lacks things like power windows in the front (200 euros extra) and crosswind assist. Radio, here with dab+, and air conditioning cost in the package 1290 euros. Equipped similarly as the smart fortwo, the twingo costs 11.080 euros, which is around 1000 euros less. However, the twingo can carry four people if required, while the smart forfour is available from 11.555 euros is available.

Surcharge worthwhile

In the case of the twingo, it’s worth going for the better dynamic equipment, if only because the buyer then has the option of configuring his car relatively freely. Then, for example, a coarse folding sunroof, alloy wheels or leather steering wheel are available for an additional charge, which renault refuses to include in the basic model. The twingo top model is called luxe, comes among other things with these three things ex factory and costs at least 12.590 euros. With the folding roof (990 euros), metallic paint (490 euros) and navigation system (in the package 990 euros) you end up with 15.060 euros and already gets more equipment than most customers in this class would order.

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The whole simpsons family moves away from the sofa and goes to the cinema to see their flick for themselves. Life in springfield takes place behind a clouded screen and, of course, you can find out a lot about homer co, as always, you can learn a lot about the fames and peculiarities of our time and the media.

Homer simpson has been famous for a long time, in 2003 the british voted him the "greatest american of all time" (ahead of abraham lincoln and martin luther king by a wide margin). He and his family live in springfield, a city that is located somewhere (or rather nowhere) in the usa and looks like many other american cities with its hubschen nuclear power plant, houses, traffic jams, mountains and people.

The simpsons are a family at the bottom of the american middle class. Homer simpson is not only a couch potato as yellow as you can imagine, he is also, in his egocentric way, the last yellow philosopher of the media age. He can never grasp life better than on the couch in front of his tv, but unfortunately life allows this situation far too seldom.

Twenty years ago, when matt groening was asked to create an animated series for the tracy ullman show, no one could have foreseen that these yellow characters would go on to make television history, appearing in over 400 episodes.

Absurd everyday life

The simpson family is held together by a desire for normality in absurd everyday life that is as romantic as it is mundane. Marge is anxious to move her husband from the sofa at least once in a while. But very often they spend time together with their children in front of the tv screen to get a closer look at the world. No wonder the kids love to watch the ultra-brutal "itchy and scratchy show" a version of tom and jerry in the simpsons universe.

Perhaps it’s a wonder that lisa, the oldest daughter, is so completely out of character: not only is she above-average in intelligence, vegetarian and fighting global warming, she’s also a gifted jazz saxophonist. Bart, on the other hand, stands out as a little rebel who ultimately suffers because his father doesn’t care enough about him. You can really imagine how matt groening drew his yellow alter ego into this character, not for nothing he named homer after his biological father. So now the family comes to the movie and finally we have more than just a scant half hour to watch them struggle unsuccessfully to live together quietly. Homer naturally prefers to spend his time in front of the tv in peace, but he gets in his own way.

A dome over springfield

He did almost everything right – maybe he should have loved his son half as much as he loved the pig – if it hadn’t been for that strange hysteria against pollution in springfield and if it hadn’t been for that phone call about the free donuts, just at the moment when he actually wanted to dispose of the whole pig’s guts properly.

But this is how he is identified as the culprit who actually broke the camel’s back in springfield. With far-reaching consequences: russ cargill, chairman of the environmental protection agency (epa), wants to make an example in springfield, how else could he distinguish himself as the right man for the job?? Finally, he applied to the president with his own slogan: "sir, why should i take this job at the head of the least successful agency in the u.S.?? I am a rich man who wants to give something back. Not the money, but something."Thus he gets the desired post from the man who in the simpsons reality is already president of the united states: arnold schwarzenegger.

As soon as cargill is appointed chairman, the president gives him far-reaching powers and isolates the entire city of springfield from the outside world by means of a huge glass dome.

Once the dome is erected over the helpless inhabitants of springfield, cargill addresses the trapped people through a televised message. The unbreakable dome will remain over the city once and for all and the inhabitants will be left to fend for themselves. A promise as if you were allowed to sit in front of the tv for the rest of your life, but the scenery is too ominously reminiscent of "the truman show".

With the fate of springfield hanging by a thread, homer embarks on his odyssey – a difficult one, since he has to hope for marge’s forgiveness, save his life claimed by the mob, protect his endangered family and leave his hometown, but fortunately he did a rather poor job of plugging the hole in the ground back then.

To the rescue there are the omnipresent media

Of course homer had no idea where to live beyond his beloved couch, but to the rescue there is the omnipresent media. Here in the form of a giant billboard for alaska. So, in good old american tradition, the simpsons decide to start a new life in a wide, free country where they won’t be hunted by the government and hit the road. Life develops wonderfully.

But suddenly a new problem enters their lives in the form of tom hanks via television. Because the actor promises the american population finally a new nature monument beside the meanwhile ode working grand canyon. Marge and the children immediately realize that springfield should be wiped off the map in order to create this new crater landscape. To save the town, the entire family is called upon, but homer would rather continue to be an unconvincing egotist until he sits alone in front of the tv watching the overplayed wedding video.

The film is bursting with quotes and allusions and ultimately we experience a yellow bent mirror in the simpsons. Sitting on the cinema seat, we see them perceiving the world via the screen and get with them all the already known quotes of the media society yellow conveyed. It is not schwarzenegger’s austrian accent that is made fun of, but his ambition, mostly laughed at, with which he has made it from mister universe to movie star and re-elected governor of california.

His mania, legendary in america, to implement a personal five-point program every year, is ironically refracted in the film when cargill presents him with five dossiers, one of which he is supposed to read. Arnold decides – without reading – on a number. After all, he was not elected to read, but to govern, so the disaster for springfield takes its course.

Homer, meanwhile, can draw on his entire wealth of experience as a father when he consoles bart, who is regretting the worst day of his life, with the brutal wisdom that it was only the worst day of his life so far. Here you can see that the jokes between the characters have a real origin in their virtual lives, and we realize that we are very similar to them just in these broken statements.

There will be a thrilling showdown before we leave the cinema with the entire simpson family and hear the first word from one-year-old maggie before we even exit. Of course, it’s not mom, or dad, but as simple as demanding: sequel.

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"Are you on?" this question has been asked by many, and today you see those who are "on" can be seen at every bus stop. The energy company eon is taking a new approach with its advertising campaign www.I-am-on.De new ways. The strategists have consciously or unconsciously reached deep into the bag of tricks of memetics. What memetics is and how memes behave has already been discussed here several times (memetics and economy). This theory tries to explain communication in a parasitic way and celebrates its explanatory successes with an idiosyncratic point of view. Information units are in the context living beings, which infect human brains and live in them without paying rent.

The independent multiplication of memes makes this approach particularly interesting for the advertising industry. The information spreads by word of mouth, without the need for a company to rent an advertising space. Classical advertising battles are usually pyrrhic victories, much wind around little success.

Scattering losses

People are inundated with advertising messages, whether on television, billboards, radio or in daily newspapers. With the time man dulls, he perceives only what interests him. The free advertising leaflets land directly in the trash, in the advertising break the attention is given to the cow cupboard and at the bus stop one concentrates on the timetable or gets upset about fellow passengers.

In the advertising language we talk about scattering losses. Unfortunately, they increase as advertising becomes the focus of attention. The gaze plays a miserable game of hide and seek with advertising. Where it shifts, attention disappears. In accordance with murphy’s law, people always look where advertising is not.

The businessmen have always had to deal with this dilemma, and the trickier one has always won. Cosmetics manufacturers are flooding their consumers with an enormous number of advertising minutes, and concert promoters are sticking a hundred posters next to each other – at some point, it simply has to be seen.

Advertising with what is more interesting than the advertised product

Germany’s major energy supplier has solved the problem in a different way. Its posters don’t talk about electricity, but about people who are under power. They are contemporaries who are switched on to achieve honorable goals with their energy: a mother who raised a disabled child, a motorcyclist who learned to walk again after an accident, or a cab driver who delivered to flood victims in dresden.

Here’s what might be more interesting than the electricity that looks the same from every socket anyway. Whoever markets the homogeneous good electricity has a difficult task anyway. A few years ago, our colleagues at yellostrom had the audacity to seriously claim that electricity is yellow. What actually sounded like a joke was in reality a terrific market success.

Back to the reds, they don’t stand out because of the paradox of colored electricity, they don’t stand out at all. They have understood that communication, just like life in nature, is organized in a parasitic way. The information creeps into the brain at the place, where another information does not already dispute its storage place. It finds a gap only there, where the other memes have not already built up a certain immunity against the new. The information only has a chance where it meets the interest of the recipient and thus undermines the defensive attitude.

When someone "on" is on, he realizes his dreams with passion or gets up again after a setback, this is more likely to stick in a brain than the price of a kilowatt hour of electricity. Once the information is there, it can multiply through communication. When people have used their passion for others, they may talk about it. This was certainly the case with jesus, who healed through the laying on of hands, and today the book about his life is still a bestseller. In the case of the campaign with on-peoples, it is a vision of the future to include on-peoples in history or to infect the whole population with them.

But this still does not solve the problem of advertising. Advertising should not be a dead art, but should bring money into the coffers. An advertisement that only shows people who have turned words into deeds with their willpower does not sell electricity.

Advertising effect as a waste product

Parasitic communication settles into brains and multiplies like a disease. In nature, parasites organize themselves in chains, one feeds on the other. (michel serres1) the rat feeds in the pantry of the tax lessee and the tax lessee collects his taxes from the taxpayer. Every animal, no matter how small, still has smaller creatures sitting in its fur, consuming there skin remains or other excrements.

This is also how the communication in the on-community is designed, with the advertising message stuck on the back as a small appendix. It is simply dragged along and benefits from the fact that a completely different communication content is communicated. The company logo is only visible in the corner. People are "on", they show their assertiveness with "new energy". The actual product is talked about only in passing, in a very subtle way.

The advertising effect is thus the waste product of something completely different. The advertising message creeps into the mind as if through a trojan horse. Unnoticed advertising is perceived, which one did not want to perceive at all. The slogan "eon – new energy" is thus a parasitic appendage, an appendix, to a much coarser meme complex dealing with assertive personalities.

To start such a campaign is risky, to reduce one’s own advertising space and time in such a way is courageous, a viable marketing controlling had never allowed this to happen. As the company has retrenched with its own advertising messages, the advertising message must use this strategy to cheat its way around the population’s cognitive advertising blockade. Is the advertising message "i am on" once in the heads, it is the question, in how far this information spreads in space and time further and thereby the appendage "eon makes energy that you can also buy" follows.

History will show the final success and how far this will be reflected in hard truth is perhaps also beyond an exact quantifiability. The start of the campaign exceeded all expectations. Many thousands of citizens applied and enriched the online community with their contributions. 80% of the people in germany know that eon is behind the campaign, so they have reached almost everyone you can reach with the message.

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Queue in front of a bank on thursday. Image: w. Aswestopoulos

Why the international media representatives in the country are waiting in vain for the revolt a la greece

Cyprus’ burghers respond to the crisis in solidarity with one another, but in different ways individually. The protest culture is a mixture of british composure and oriental hotheadedness. As a rule, everything remains calm. There is no rioting on the part of autonomous groups, nor do the police have a tendency to quickly resort to trangas or truncheons. This is the reason why on thursday, despite the opening of the banks, everything remained calm. Many international media representatives reacted with disappointment. They wanted to see the same riot scenes with the greek cypriots as on similar occasions in greece. Bread and games before easter sells well.

Not burgers, employees storm the own banks

The fact that the bank run failed to materialize on thursday is due to other reasons besides the different culture. The banks opened at 12 o’clock. At that time, most of the younger people were still at work. Who would want to risk their job when unemployment was imminent, some asked, while others pointed out that there was hardly a cypriot who did not have a relative with a job at a bank.

The island’s small size means that people know each other. To storm a bank meant to act against one’s own friends, relatives or acquaintances. "The bank employees have nothing to do with the fact that the government passed these laws", the television has been proclaiming for days. Moreover, it is evident that cypriots like to demonstrate whenever they can surprise the state power.

Many felt like just crying on tuesday. Image: w. Aswestopoulos

Last tuesday, the feared bank run in nicosia failed to materialize. No wonder, because it was precisely because of fear of this that banks remained closed, despite arances to the contrary. The new decision was announced shortly before midnight on monday. Nevertheless, the burgers remained comparatively quiet on tuesday morning. No queues formed in front of the banks. Instead, a few young people gathered in the old town, protesting on the streets of nicosia, mainly against angela merkel and the eu. They see in the union a fascist system and in the chancellor a new adolf hitler.

Shortly after twelve o’clock at noon it was over with the peace also with the banks. The board of directors of the bank of cyprus, founded in 1922 during the colonial era, had learned from panikos dimitriades, the president of the central bank, that a special administrator was to run the bank from now on. The de facto ousted chairman of the board of directors, andreas artemis, together with all the members of the board of directors, resigned in unison. He criticized not only the special administrator, but also the transfer of more than 9.6 billion euros of debt that the broken laiki bank had accumulated to the european banking fund.

"Shame" protesters stick to the entrance of the central bank’s compound. Image: w. Aswestopoulos

The news spread like wildfire among the bank’s employees. Shortly before two o’clock, about a thousand of them had gathered in front of the bank’s headquarters south of the old town. They excitedly demanded to be let in. Hastily labeled protest posters proclaimed a disgrace, called on those responsible to be ashamed, and vehemently demanded the resignation of the head of the central bank and the dismissal of the special administrator. Many wept. The fear of job loss was evident everywhere.

Without any violence, the doors of the bank opened and the crowd poured in. The workers’ representative dimos dimosthenis, an employee of the bank since 1972, took over the coordination. He implored his colleagues to remain calm. "A special administrator is not an insolvency administrator", he promised, but added: "if the bank of cyprus falls, then the country is finished." the crowd moved on to kennedy avenue 100 meters away. There, too, the heavy gates of the central bank opened as if by magic. On the forecourt of the central bank, the crowd chanted its slogans.

Dimosthenis continued to make statements over the megaphone and whipped up the crowd to demand dimitriade’s resignation. He told telepolis: "this morning i was very optimistic. At last i expected a new dawn after the crisis. The decision of the central bank has rekindled the whole crisis. It is as if we want to destroy ourselves." asked if he seriously suspected that the german chancellor had intervened in this case, he replied in the negative, "i cannot confirm that".

Capital flight confirmed

His colleagues were unexpectedly eager to provide information because of their excitement. They reported 660 million euros that the former owner of laiki bank, andreas vgenopoulos, allegedly withdrew from the bank. They continued to confirm the outrageous rumor about the ongoing outflow of capital suffered by the bank of cyprus despite its closure, which has now lasted for twelve days.

The 126 branches in cyprus and, until monday, the 181 branches in greece remained closed. 190 branches in russia, 44 in ukraine, 10 in romania, four in great britain and one in the channel islands remained open. They were independent branches, operating independently of the head office and subject to european and national banking supervision. Neither the state banks, nor the ecb had noticed that accounts of banks supposedly closed to protect against capital flight were being withdrawn en masse from those who were supposedly prevented from doing so. This was another reason for the demonstrators to demand the resignation of dimitriades, who has served since the time of communist president christofias.

The numerous withdrawals of money from atms in cyprus contributed to the unchecked flight of capital. It is symptomatic of the state of banking in the country that there is still no exact figure of the actual amount. There is talk of hundreds of millions to billions. Under these circumstances, it is not surprising that the amount of participation of account holders with deposits of more than 100,000 euros cannot be determined.000 euros still cannot be determined. Here, too, an average loss of up to 50 percent for bank customers is still realistic.

Protester surrenders "the rags", the eu flag to the police. Image: w. Aswestopoulos

The haunting in front of the central bank ended as it began. Without violence and as if directed by a magic hand. First, a young bank employee plucked down the eu flag flying next to the national flag in front of the central bank. Demonstratively he walked towards the high-ranking police officer. The latter, fearing a symbolic burning, spoke insistently but quietly to the enraged banker. "Don’t worry, it’s not worth burning. I don’t want the rag, just as we don’t want the eu. He is yours", he said, handing over the crumpled flag and leaving.

For the photographers remained only unspectacular pictures. As an irony of history, only one day later, a shipment of several containers of cash sent by the ecb arrived at the same so easily stormed central bank from germany.

What the heck, we continue

Directly opposite the central bank is a kiosk with a bar. Professor avraam georgiou was shuffling his afternoon coffee here with his friends on tuesday afternoon. All three seem relaxed, even though they say they lost more than 100,000.000 euros per person. "That’s nothing, in 1974 during the invasion of the turks my family lost a total of values that could now be worth a billion. Then we started all over again, now also. So what, even then no one asked us if we wanted to become poor." georgiou is a professor of electrical engineering at the nicosia university of technology.

How do you assess the situation?? Avraam georgiou: i am very optimistic because now we know who we are and where we stand. Our president is unfortunately dangerous. He keeps taking the situation to extremes in order to save the people, as he says. But the positive thing about the crisis is that the masks have now fallen, those of the europeans, but also those of our leaders. We also have a bit of "greek genes", although not quite as bad. What is your personal opinion on the fuss about the participation of the account holders?? Avraam georgiou: if the first law had gone through, everything would have been smoother. It would have made everything easier. But we wanted to be heroes. National pride came to the fore. Sometimes we are just too greek. How to go on? Avraam georgiou: we must take responsibility. It is not only chancellor merkel, it is also the french, our traditional friends, who urged us to do so.

Almost traditionally in the evening, around 7 pm, start in front of the parliament the daily action of wakeup cyprus. It is the group whose posters with nazi symbols, accusations of a fourth reich and, above all, with the german chancellor’s likeness alienated by hitler’s beard fill the international gazettes. The group is organized and initiated mainly via facebook by haris violaris, a thirty-three-year-old headhunter and management consultant. His business, the placement of workers in luxembourg, is going badly in the crisis.

Do german tourists have to fear cyprus now, as some media like to explain it?? Haris violaris: no, the german tourists do not need to be afraid. We are not violent and we have nothing against the burghers. The political leadership of europe is our problem." why do you use these extreme posters, among others against the chancellor?? Haris violaris: because a crime is taking place. They destroyed the country and above all the future of our children. In general, the cypriots are not slavishly submissive. On the contrary, our society is based on love, respect, mutual understanding and cooperation in partnership. This is the europe we are fighting for and not the nazi germany of merkel." what would you like to say to mrs. Merkel personally?? Haris violaris: the mistakes of recent history are still fresh, the wounds are not yet completely healed. It should not be repeated again.

Dimos, an 87-year-old cypriot, taking his parrot kostas, 67, for a walk and laughing at the fancy bank run. Image: w. Aswetsopoulos

Is the bank run now off the table??

Such declarations are typical for the island. The cheeky posters are followed by moderately and diplomatically worded declarations, even if this is often portrayed somewhat more exaggeratedly in many media outlets. Cyprus’ burghers have acquired a certain prudence due to the long british colonial period, which is not necessarily wrong.

"Why should i go to the bank today", said the doorman of the castelli hotel in nicosia, "three hundred euros may be withdrawn per day. This right is transferred to the following day. Then i’ll just go on monday and get 900 euros and that’s it."

The main rules for money transactions with banks are as follows:

1. The cashing of checks or commercial bills of exchange is prohibited. It is allowed to deposit a check into an account.
2. All non-cash payments are prohibited. In addition, there is an explicit ban on foreign transfers, but also on the export of cash. As an exception, only pre-existing obligations are exempt from this prohibition upon presentation of appropriate documents, if they: a. Serve the purpose of import with simultaneous presentation of documents b. Serve for housing and 10.000 euros or are payable for tuition fees. In the latter case, these fees may be paid only quarterly and the remitter is a relative in the first degree. C. Credit cards or debit cards may be used abroad only for a maximum amount of 5000 euros per person per month.
3. It is forbidden to withdraw term deposits before their expiry.
4. The export of cash for natural persons is capped at 3000 euros per person and trip, both in euros and in other currencies.
5. The rules apply to any banking transactions that were not completed before the effective date of this notice.
6. Any payment, banking transaction or transfer is prohibited to the financial institutions, if it is in any form of circumvention of these rules.
7. The restrictions apply to all accounts, payments and transfers, irrespective of their respective protection.

The government had first announced that it had ied the restrictions for seven days and, if deemed necessary, with a subsequent automatic extension. Already on thursday morning the command was extended to "to four days and a prolongation only if necessary" .

This is exactly what some shrewd cypriots are counting on, but also a number of russians sitting in the hotels of nicosia and limasol, whose proverbial patience is widely known as a cliche. "If they make the mistake of lifting the restrictions because everything is going quietly", says cab driver parios, "then the next day everything is cleared in no time at all. But then you journalists are already somewhere else."

On thursday morning, parios explained, he himself drove some russian women to larnaka airport. The husbands remained on site in nicosia. Parios is sure the real bank run will happen just as employees storm against their own bank.

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