Inside or outside the Euro-fence

Sir I refer to your “Ring-fencing the vulnerable in a crisis” October 31. I had always held that the biggest problem with walls, borders or ring-fences is that, except perhaps for the very short term, you can never really be sure you have ended up on the right side.

A country finding itself inside the Euro-fence receives indeed some protection, at least temporary, but it also means that its responsibilities to fight it out are the greater… and it can still run out of freshwater.

What would have happened with Iceland had they been living inside the Euro-fence? What would be the price extracted from Iceland to allow it now some Euro protection? Would the younger generations of Iceland accept paying that price because of their parents’ follies? Should the parents of Iceland ask their kids to sign up as guarantors and help to repay for their parents’ follies? Might some Euro countries actually be envious of the non-Euro Europeans who though perhaps suffering more might also get over it faster?

Out there, in the real world, nothing is perfectly clear.