Shropshire Star Letters

The following letters were in the Shropshire Star in just four days. The European Empire is more important to joe public than the LibLabCon realises.

Treachery of Brown on treaty

We are not a country any more? These are bits taken from the Treaty of Lisbon that our PM signed.

The word "countries" shall be replaced by "states" - only the union may legislate and adopt legally binding acts, the member states being able to do so themselves only if empowered by the union.

The member states shall co-ordinate their economic and employment policies within arrangements as determined by this treaty;

Chapter 1: General provisions; Chapter 2: Policies on border checks, asylumn and immigration; Chapter 3: Judicial co-operation in civil matters; Chapter 4: Judicial co-operation in criminal matters; Chapter 5: Police co-operation; Ensuring the absence of any controls on persons, whatever their nationality, when crossing internal borders.

This kind of degrading of our country would once have been considered treason.

Val Duncan
Wellington

Selling off our service

One should not be surprised that Deutsche Post, Europe's largest mail company is trying to acquire a stake in Royal Mail.

Following EU pressure, DHL (owned by Deutsche) and TNT cherry picked most of the best commercial bits of PO delivery leaving the old PO with the letters.

The Government is looking to sell 30 per cent in the Royal Mail to raise £3bn. We know who loses out when politicians interfere in business - the customer.

Bruce Lawson
Powys

Views on Europe a matter for comment

Phillip Bushill-Matthews MEP never misses an opportunity to correct any misconception some of us have regarding the EU and its aims and ambitions.

I must take him to task about the EU regional assemblies, which he tells us have nothing to do with the EU and were the brainchild of John Prescott MP.

In my possession is a map entitled "The European Community, Member States, Regions and Administrative Units", I would gladly provide a copy but it four feet by three feet and reducing it is beyond my PC capabilities.

The map is highly detailed and made in France in 1980, it records the then 10 member states and their area, population, GDP, primary energy production, etc - too technical for Mr Prescott.

He was an MEP from 1974 to 1979 and was offered a commissioner's job in 1980, he declined.

When in charge of local and regional government in 2001 he did promote the concept of regional assemblies but it was supposed to habe died a death after being turned down at the first referednfum in the North East of England - this fact alone points to the EU who do not accept negative referednum results.

Mr Bushill-Matthews will be telling us next that we don't really pay nine times more than France into the EU coffers - and for less than they get out of it.

Bob Wydell
Oswestry

Feathering their nests

Blow the piffling expenses that are open for our MPs to abuse, the opportunities for MEPs to feather their nests are much more attractive.

Take the Additional Voluntary Pension Scheme. If they pay 1,194 euros a month, it will be matched by publicly-funded payments of 2,388 euros, which in combination with their standard pensionw ill then realise them an annual payment of over 30,000 euros.

Of course, the collapse of invesments doesn't affect them. The funding gap of 120 million euros is something we lucky EU citizens will have the privilege of footing the bill for.

Robert Jenkins
Stirchley

Governing power is there in all but name

Mr Bushill-Matthews, (Star, April 3) says there is no EU government - who does he think he is kidding?

We have here a would-be world power which taxes us, gives us 80 per cent of our laws, and is busily stealing our military and our legal system.

It is giving itself a national flag and a national anthem.

It has a parliament and two buildings in which to meet - of course it is a government and it diverts some of our money to pay Mr Bushill-Matthew's salary and pension, which will require him always to act in the EU's interest.

He says that regional assemblies were Prescott's idea; well, regions were always intended right from the Treaty of Rome.

The central core of regionalisation is the EU's Committee of Regions, which was established by the Maastricht Treaty.

Whether you call them assemblies or not, their purpose will be to administer us as part of the EU's grandiose dream. We really must be mad to sit back and do this to our once-proud country.

A J Astley
Ellesmere

Change in democracy as union gets to 50

The EU is at least 50 years old, before our very eyes and without our consent it had evolved from the European Coal and Steel Community, through the Common Market, the EEC, the EC to toay's EU.

Any 50-year-old business would logically expect to be extremely efficient, highly organised, cost effective, fically sound and professionally managed - unfortunately none of this applies to the European Union.

It employs legions of unwarranted staff and wastes copious amouns of money. It still performs its business in two venues using a dozen different languages and is still desperately searching for 20 honest people to serve as commissioners.

After 50 years it still persists with its archaic agricultural policy which increases the food bill of its 500 million members by £400 each year.

There has been no change to its system of law making, no change to the impotent parliament which rubber stamps legislation made in secret by the council of ministers.

There has been a change to the EU's brand of democracy - it has got worse.

One country out of 27 was allowed to hold a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty - voted no and was told to try again.

None of the above would matter if membership of the EU was benefitting Britain but it is not.

Its policies are ludicrous, like tagging every one of Britain's 30 million sheep electronically. It will cost us £65 million pounds - what about sheep dogs?

Bob Wydell
Oswestry

EU has far reaching influence on our life

Mr Bushill-Matthews in a letter to the Star, March 31, denies that the European Commission has anything to do with making any of the 80 per cent of our laws which originate with the EU.

Speaking at a conference at the Institut Francais des Relations Internationales recently, Jochen Bittner, Brussels Corrspondent for German newspaper Die Zeit, said: "The European Court of Justice jurisdiction is regularly in line with the European Commission.

"One may have doubts whether this court can be seen as a watchdog of accountability."

And from the East Anglian Daily Times, Jeffrey Titford MEP writes: "Did you know that the government has to go to the European Commission, cap in hand, for permission to subsidise the Post Office?

"Since 2003, the commission has frozen the subsidy the government can pay to cover the loss-making parts of the service, like small local post offices in urban and rural areas, at £150 million per annum."

In August 2008 a study by Open Europe revealed a total of 170,000 people now work directly for the EU institutions.

As well as those who work for the EU directly, the study finds that there are many more officials working for the EU indirectly.

These people are not elected, and cannot be held accountable by ordinary citizens.

They have a huge effect on our lives, affecting everything from the price of electricity and food to the way we run the NHS.

I could go on, there's plenty to go at.

A J Astley
Ellesmere