Word: latvia
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...action during the financial crisis has caused some schizophrenic behavior. Last fall, the commission encouraged E.U. member states to agree to stimulus programs worth around $250 billion, arguing that the crisis demanded radical action. But last week, the very same body said six E.U. countries - France, Greece, Spain, Ireland, Latvia and Malta - had breached the 3% limit and might now be punished...
...Latvian capital Riga, unrest triggered by mounting economic woes spread to neighboring Lithuania, where protesters in Vilnius hurled eggs and rocks through the windows of the Parliament building (above). After enjoying years of rapid growth, the two former Soviet republics have been pummeled by the global financial crisis; Latvia has experienced the sharpest economic reversal among E.U. nations. Discord over controversial reforms has imperiled their governments, with members of Latvia's ruling coalition calling for early elections...
...European leaders struggle to restore economic confidence, independent thinking can look perilously close to dissidence. Latvia, an E.U. member since 2004, recently employed tactics reminiscent of its Soviet era when security police arrested Dmitry Smirnov, an economics professor who questioned the stability of the country's banks and currency. Merkel is hardly vulnerable to a similar fate, but if Germany continues to challenge prevailing economic orthodoxies, Lancaster House may not be the last party to which she's not invited...
Eased Entry. The U.S. Visa Waiver Program has been extended to visitors from the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Slovakia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta and South Korea - travelers from those countries are no longer required to apply for tourist visas before entering the U.S., and may stay up to 90 days...
...Obviously, the United States need not go as far as China by executing these hucksters, nor should it react so sensitively as Latvia, where simply bringing up the financial crisis in a public setting can earn you two years in jail. Yet the U.S. justice system can at least make a symbolic gesture in denying the parole of corporate criminals recently convicted for crimes. Their sentences were hailed not long ago for the strong signal they sent to would-be embezzlers; the time is right to use strict enforcement of those sentences to restate that message...