Do not forget the ethnic cleansing

Sir — There is a danger of allowing Europe’s worry about the Irish border being used as a tool against Britain leaving the EU. German car manufacturers are one instance where Europe needs the UK market. Eoghan Harris in an excellent article (Sunday Independent, February 10) outlines how Europe behaved towards us during the financial crisis.

One need only look at the Kosovo war which ended in June 1999 and how Serbia behaved and their subsequent “treatment” by the EU.

Serbia engaged in ethnic cleansing and in the process inflicted ferocious atrocities on the Muslims which accounted for 60pc of the deaths of 100,000 and the displacement of more than two million of people.

The single greatest atrocity was inflicted on the Muslims in the city of Srebrenica. This was a city placed under UN protection as a safe area for Muslims. It was guarded by a force of 400 Dutch UN force. While they and the EU looked on 8,000 men and boys were massacred in two days.

Yet in the year 2000 (one year later) the EU gave “autonomous trade preferences” to Serbia; by the year 2009 Serbia was visa free and part of the Schengen countries. Just as recently as 2018, Jean-Claude Juncker announced the start of strategy for “successful accession of Serbia” to the EU. The only condition was that Ratko Mladic (Europe’s most notorious war criminal) be handed over to the International Criminal tribunal in the Hague, which happened in 2010.

With “friendly” companions like Serbia in our EU club, who needs enemies? Hugh Duffy Cleggan, Co Galway