The recent crisis in Cyprus, which started with the banks and is now spreading to the whole economy, perhaps holds lessons for other EU countries as well.

Firstly, the sense of solidarity within the EU ‘project’ has been undermined. The bonds between small and larger states, and between northern and southern states have been severely weakened. The animosity to Germany and the Netherlands is palpable. Cypriots might also wonder if Britain, the colonial power up to 1960, perhaps should have been a more active friend and not just watched from its bases. The behaviour of Greek banks in off-loading their difficulties into Cyprus was also felt to be hostile.

Secondly, the ‘troika’ of major economic institutions, here the IMF and the ECB and the European Commission, did not give out a strong sense of control, purpose and frankly competence in the handling of the crisis. This was most evident in the initial negotiations where people with less that €100,000 in their bank accounts would have lost money. Technically the international bank guarantee for smaller balances was not being dishonoured because the lost funds were to be taken as a tax. Technically. But public trust and confidence in bank guarantees has been undermined.

Thirdly, banks are not as safe as they were. In 2008 the major economies moved heaven and earth to save the banks from their errors. The impact in the national debt of the USA, UK and elsewhere is still profound and years away from being resolved, and there is significant public anger at the banks and politicians. But now in 2013 the message to banks in crisis is, there are no more business-as-usual bailouts and instead expect closures, redundancies, and bond and shareholders to take a loss.

Finally there is a lesson in economic development in smaller countries. Cyprus has been publicly reprimanded for taking bank deposits from Russia and elsewhere, and for building up the financial services sector of its economy. This sector has now been almost destroyed and Cyprus’ economy will be devastated for years to come. But how different was it to Frankfurt or London? Some commentators have drawn attention to the number of Russian millionaires living in London, buying properties and investing in owning newspapers and football clubs, settling their legal disputes in English courts. The difference between the City of London and the island of Cyprus does not stand up to close examination.

Which brings us back to the first point, the weakened sense of solidarity. I am sure the officials in Cyprus did a clear-headed calculation that staying in the euro zone was the less-worse option when they considered reverting to the Cypriot Pound, probably for bailout reasons. But I am equally sure that if ever that calculation changes in favour of a local currency they will be out in a flash. Now there is no residual sentiment at all for keeping the euro, and sentiment matters greatly in economics.