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EUROPEAN UNION OFFICIALS have reportedly considered a batch of emergency ‘worst-case scenario’ measures to be rolled out if the result of Greece’s election this week means the country could leave the euro.
Although polls show a majority of Greek voters to be in favour of remaining in the euro, they also show increasing support for the radical left-wing group Syriza which proposes to reject the country’s EU-IMF bailouts.
Should Sunday’s election result in Syriza having enough support to lead a coalition government, the likely rejection of the EU-IMF deals would probably result in Greece defaulting on its debts and being forced out of the currency union.
Reuters reports that because there is no formal procedure through which member countries can leave the euro, officials in Brussels now believe there is “an increased need to have contingencies in place”.
Though it says no decisions have formally been taken, members of the Eurogroup Working Group – which purportedly features deputy finance ministers, including Ireland’s Brian Hayes – are said to have discussed various contingency measures “in some detail”.
Among the measures were the suspension of the Schengen borderless travel area, which would permit the introduction of temporary border checks so that cash could not be moved freely between borders.
There would also be capital controls – such as embargoes on foreign currency transactions or ‘minimum stay’ requirements – as well as limits on the cash that people could withdraw from ATMs.
Such controls would be considered necessary in order to safeguard the stability of both the euro and a reintroduced Greek drachma, as people would try to bring their cash to whichever side of the border was deemed financially advantageous.
In Greece’s case, this could mean a severe shortage of currency, leading to risks of rampant inflation if the Greek central bank had to produce larger-than-normal quantities of the new drachma.
On the Euro side, there would also be inflationary risks, as the volume of currency circulating in the union would be disproportionate to the number of countries remaining within the euro area.
The Reuters report also carries admissions from some officials that they were not sure whether it would be legally permissible to suspend the provisions of Schengen or to introduce temporary capital controls against a country which would still remain an EU member.
Hard to accept that this still goes on in 2018 .
The only deterrent is a lengthy sentence but you would have a better chance of getting one by writing to Santa than the judicial system issuing one .
@Keith Flood: review by Steven Durlauf of the University of Wisconsin and Daniel Nagin at Carnegie Mellon University found little evidence that criminals responded to harsher sentencing. This suggests that locking vast numbers of people in jail is not only expensive, but useless as a deterrent.
Kudos to Garrett Thomas for his more grown-up approach of restorative justice.
@James Brady: agree.
if longer sentence worked then America would be the most crime free country on the planet. Its not!
Instead America has 5% of the world’s population but 20% of the world’s prison population. A frankly insane situation.
@James Brady: It’s kinda hard for them to reoffend if they are serving a lengthy sentence….
@James Brady: There was a hanging judge in the old west, who actually didnt think hanging prevented crime and said ‘It’s not the severity of punishment that deters criminals – it’s the certainty.’ Its true people wouldnt do something if they knew they would be punished, but most small crime goes unpunished.
@John Smith: so how long exactly do you think a prison sentence for a 16 year old who is guilty of a homophobic attack should be?
@EillieEs: In this case a sentence wouldn’t be appropriate, (legally the criminal was a child and it doesn’t look like there was any long term physical injuries) but in general if prison sentences were longer there would be less offenders on the street – therefore less opportunity to reoffend! I was addressing the general point the other commentator stated about length of sentence not being a deterrent! Aside from the consideration of what the criminal thinks, the victim should feel that justice has been served! The rugby guy who was assaulted obviously is satisfied that justice has been served, and hopefully the teenage through the process has changed for the better!
@James Brady: it’s not about responding..it’s about punishing them for their actions. The longer they are locked up the less time they have for commiting further crime
@Keith Flood: long prison sentences and harsh sentences for smaller crimes is not helping anyone. Look at the statistics and facts. We’ve already tried that and it doesn’t work.
@Keith Flood: the guy was 16 and I think hopefully this is an eye opener for him.
@Anthony: statistics show that harsher prison sentences result in higher recidivism rates whereas places such as Scandinavian countries where more resources are put into rehabilitation have much lower rates of reoffending. Unfortunately prison doesn’t act as a deterrent, if it did crime wouldn’t exist.
@Kingshu: 1st offense should be reasonable, 10 should be hanging !
@James Brady: But at least they would be locked up for longer and cannot commit further crimes. At some stage it has to become more about protection of people rather than rehabilitation of the criminal there are so many out there with 40, 50 or 60 previous convictions
That young lad is a future Darwin award winner if ever I saw one. Was he that blinded by homophobia that he thought he was going to give Gareth Thomas a hiding?? He’s lucky Thomas is too dignified to beat the stuffing out of him!
@PaulineSmith: bullshit
@Frantic Pigeon: rugby has been, and continues to be a standard bearer amongst the top 10 sports in the world.
@PaulineSmith: rugby and rugby playing lads ,just like lot of gaa lads (albeit maybe less so overall rurally) are actually probably some of the most upstanding and tolerant sportspeople.. pretty sure Sean O Brien, Peter Stringer, Shane Horgan, Heaslip Cian Healy and more have put out support for the marriage vote and gay rights to name a few. Of course the homophobia that kids are exposed to by being compelled to be catholics will always need countering.
@Seán Domhnall O’Sullivan: *have, in the past
@PaulineSmith: not in my experience.
@Seán Domhnall O’Sullivan: Can you post a link for this > “rugby lads…are actually probably (sic) some of the most upstanding and tolerant sportspeople”.
@Frantic Pigeon: Can you post a link to this > “rugby has been, and continues to be a standard bearer amongst the top 10 sports in the world”.
@Frantic Pigeon: She is consistent if nothing else
@PaulineSmith: ah stap
Very shocked to read about this barbaric incident. It shouldn’t happen.
The Lions Captain in 2005. I cheered him on then and I cheer him on now.
Awful that such a thing could happen
There’s certainly an issue in many sports about gay people being afraid to speak out, those that do are often targets.
There is almost no openly gay footballers from the big teams in the UK, if they were open they’d be a constant target and they know it! . We have a long way to go in some aspects if our society
A lot of inbreeds in wales unfortunately
@John Carey: there’s homophobia everywhere John. No need for that.
@John Carey: there’s definitely one semi-literate racist in your family unfortunately
How could a 16 year old assault a former Welsh International rugby player that looks as fit now as he did when he hung up the boots? He’s a very imposing figure. It must have been a cowards punch from behind…
@Stephen Duffy: have you seen the size of teens these days? They are all well over 6 foot tall.
Brave little homophobe taking on Gareth Thomas.
@keano: No such thing as a brave homophobe.
@James Joseph: re @keano’s Icomment. I take it sarcasm is outside your understanding?
Horrible scrote! Gareth’s a big man. Hope he got a few slaps in on the little pr***
How do we know, how does he know, homophobia was the motivation? Did he come at him screaming “death to gay’s”..just wondering! Like, I would hate to think he got a few slaps and thought hmmmm, I’d bring more publicity to my campaign if…..
It would appear to me to be a suicide mission, unless the 16 yr old was a mountain of a kid!
@Tony Harris: because that’s what everyone involved is saying. Do you think they’re all liars?
@Rei: good god no! Just wondering how they know! Like, I was attacked once, was it because I am straight!??
Just would be interested in knowing why it got labeled homophobia! Just because EVERYONE says it is????
@Tony Harris: that comment shed more light on your way of thinking than Davis’s…
@reg gordon: ok, I guess curiously is to be frowned upon? The report made no reference to why it was classified as homophobia. If he was straight would it be hetrophobia?
@Tony Harris: The police arrested him for a homophobic attack and he admitted he was guilty of a homophobic attack. Where exactly does your confusion lie??
@Tony Harris: I imagine there might have been some language used in the incident, that would obviously suggest it was motivated by homophobia??
@Sorcha Ní Shúilleabháin: He admitted assault! He did not admit to a homophobic attack!
@Tony Harris: If you got attacked for no other reason than you were straight. Yes it would be hetrophobia. It’s not exactly rocked science.
@Seán Domhnall O’Sullivan: One would imagine that to be the case alright. The story as published lacks that detail unfortunately. The police said they were aware of his post in relation to a hate crime. I would imagine any assault is a hate crime, my issue is with the label homophobia without any indication as to why they came to that conclusion. If he was black it would be a racist attack? Maybe, just maybe, it was a row! Normal run of the mill row, being turned into something it’s not? Listen, there is no excuse for any assault & not for one minute am I excusing it or standing up for homophobia. I suppose the headline “ex rugby head gets a couple of slaps” does not make a headline.
@Tony Harris: Restorative justis was done on a homophobic attack. Are you calling Gareth a liar? He would hardly public say it was a homophobic attack after Justis had been served.
@James Joseph: obviously, I guess the rugby player was there, he should know all right.
@James Joseph:
Justice.
@James Joseph: it does not say that, don’t make things up, it says the action was taken following the incident, not as a result of a homophobic attack!
@Tony Harris:
It does not say that it was not a homophobic attack don’t make things up. It says the action was taken following the incident where the victim clearly states it was a homophobic attack. The perpetrator has admitted he is guilty of assault and has not denied that it was a homophobic attack. Again I ask you are you calling Gareth a liar?
I am no stranger to playing the devils advocate myself. I think it is pretty clear you are grasping at straws that aren’t there on this one.
@Tony Harris: You seem very caught up in this Tony. There seems to be a bit more going on than your (misspelled) curiosity. Would you care to get it off your chest?
@Ian Phillip Creaner: He’s so determined that it isn’t called a homophobic attack. There must be a reason, a bias. What’s going on Tony?
@James Joseph The youth may have called him something inappropriate like a putter from the rough or an uphill gardener as he threw down his duelling glove.
@Walt Kowalski: Do you think?
Only a complete idiot would even consider starting on Alfie.
I think that the assailant will certainly learn more from Gareth’s response. Let us hope, he, in turn, will influence his friends and family.
That must have been one big 16 year old. . .
Awful. Good luck to you. Great player and seems like cool guy. Met him once after an Ireland Wales match.
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