The EU is a democratic institution

I was deeply concerned to read a recent letter to your newspaper. While stating that by remaining in the EU the UK would have to join the Euro (we wouldn’t) and, even more absurdly, that Brussels will take control of the UK’s nuclear weapons, the writer seems to be attempting to deceive your readers.

The EU referendum campaign was peppered with lies (the infamous bus!) and bogus claims about millions of Turks entering the UK, so we don’t need any more fabricated stories presented to look like facts.

The writer also perpetuates the myth that the EU is undemocratic.

Let’s examine the facts. There are three levels of EU governance: the Commission, appointed by the democratically-elected governments of the member states; the

Council of Ministers (which are the democratically-elected governments - and where a veto exits for the really important decisions, like the accession of a new member state) and the Parliament which is directly elected by EU citizens (by proportional representation).

Compared with the UK where we have an un-elected upper chamber, an hereditary head-of-state, no written constitution and a grossly disproportionate method of electing our MPs, the words ‘pot’ and ‘kettle’ come to mind.

The EU is not perfect, obviously, but then neither is Westminster!

It is vitally important that during this election campaign and beyond we take extreme care not to spread ‘fake news’ and should not present fantasy as reality.

David Crick