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A rescue that would have achieved a restructuring of Cypriot banks on lenient terms for the country’s citizens would have cost German taxpayers next to nothing. It could have provided a model for the next phase of financial cooperation, to which Germany is supposedly committed. After a series of calamitous financial missteps, it would have confirmed that the EU is finally getting on top of its problems. The problem isn’t that Germany and its EU partners were selfish. It’s that they were stupid.