The failure by Brussels to honour its agreements has pushed Britain away
SIR – I hope more ministers will follow the example of Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, and stress the need for the Prime Minister to “nail down” treaty changes with the European Union (report, July 22).
Mr Hammond has articulated the fear many voters have that David Cameron will agree concessions with the EU prior to the in-out referendum, only for these to be rescinded by JeanClaude Juncker and his colleagues in the EU Commission, in the same way they tried to make us contribute to the latest Greek bail-out.
Does Mr Juncker realise what a boost his action has given Eurosceptics, or does he really believe this country should do his bidding?
Angus McPherson
Findon, West Sussex SIR – It takes at least four years to set up an intergovernmental meeting to make EU treaty changes, by which time the referendum will be long gone.
The only way agreements can be made binding is through bilateral treaties between EU members undertaking to include the agreements in the next round of treaty changes. Such bilateral agreements are allowed by EU protocols but have not yet been used for this purpose.
In addition to being both precise and binding, Brussels would not be able to frustrate the process.
Tim Ambler Senior Fellow, Adam Smith Institute London SW1 SIR – Following Mr Cameron’s negotiations with Brussels, will political parties in the European Parliament, and national governments, be able to make proposals for legislation, instead of just the Commission as happens at present?
Will there be routes through which a group of national governments will be able to veto or opt out of policies?
Will there be safeguards to prevent the European Court giving integrationist judgments in defiance of the treaties?
Will there be steps to ensure that programmes do not proceed where the European Court of Auditors has ruled that financial controls are insufficient to secure value for money?
It is only on the basis of criteria such as these that we should decide to stay in or leave the EU.
Philip Lewis
Reach, Cambridgeshire SIR – If Britain leaves the EU, it is likely that British expats living in Europe will lose access to reciprocal health services in their country of residence. As many expats are also retired, this will make living abroad extremely difficult as health insurance will be either too expensive or very difficult to obtain.
This will leave a large number of expats with no alternative but to return to Britain. Many of them will require social assistance or residential care. Is this country ready to support one million ageing expats?
Gary Stark Saint-Amans-de-Pellagal, Midi-Pyrénées, France