Distrust of the eu

Paul Krugman (“What’s the matter with Europe?”, Perspective, 6 May), states the case exactly. People’s distrust of the EU has been caused by decades of economic mismanagement by Brussels and Berlin.

he says, many of us “were shocked at the combination of callousness and arrogance” with which they dealt with Greece’s financial difficulties and no amount of discussion or proof of their ineptitude has had any effect on them. They are not open to reason: their only response to anyone who has the temerity to stand up to them is to bully them, eg Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal and now us.

Jean-claude Junker’s immature and petty decision to make an important speech in French rather than English shows the extent of his sulking, and I have no doubt that we can anticipate much more of this kind of behaviour from Brussels bureaucrats because their egos and bank balances are inextricably linked with maintaining the EU status quo.

Nor does Mr Krugman shy away from another thorny issue, “cultural anxiety over Islamic immigrants”. Unfortunately, but very clearly, the

EU, Britain and the US have not dealt with it well and it is at the root of much heart-searching and discontent among their citizens.

I, too, hope that whoever is successful in the French election can bring real pressure on the EU to become more democratic and handle the many problems Europe faces skilfully and diplomatically, but the precedents are not good.

LOVINA ROE Glasgow Road, Perth