LAPLAND is just about as far from Cyprus as one can go in Europe. But on a spring day the sun reflected on an endless expanse of snow can be as bright as a Mediterranean beach. Russian pleasure-seekers and businessmen may flock to both countries. Yet in economic terms they are worlds apart. This week Cyprus became the fifth euro-zone country to negotiate a euro-zone bail-out; AAA-rated Finland, in its laconic way, is perhaps the most hardline of creditor states.It is striking how the economies of EU countries on the Baltic Sea—from Scandinavia round to Germany, Poland and the ex-Soviet Baltic states—boast the union’s fastest-growing economies while many of those on the Mediterranean, from Greece to Spain, are shrinking fastest. The reasons are complex. For now, north and south are living up to stereotypes: Cyprus as the birthplace of the beautiful but fickle Aphrodite, who emerged from the surf at Paphos; Finland as the home of Vainamoinen, the wifeless old bard who, according to the “Kalevala”, a Finnish epic, surfaced from the primeval sea to plant the barren land.Bitterness between north and south is intensifying. In Cyprus protesters took to the streets angrily to...
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