Enough of Europe
Sir: During the past few months we have received admonition on the state of British beaches from the European Community's Italian environment minister while Italian cities continue to pour millions of gallons of untreated human and industrial effluent into the Mediterranean. The Irish govern- ment indulges in sophistry in refusing to extradite convicted criminals to a neigh- bouring EEC country. French farmers are busily setting fire to British and German livestock and the border between Spain and France is closed by protesting Spanish lorry drivers.
I suggest that the differences in culture, language, history, climate and tempera- ment between member states of the EEC make the concept of a united Europe unworkable, and that the artificial barriers erected by national self-interest are now, and will continue to be, insuperable.
As regards the vision of United Europe's staunchest supporters — centralised gov- ernance from Brussels — may I point out that while there are 52 words in the Lord's Prayer and 158 in the American constitu- tion, there are 2,500 in the EEC directive on the import/export of caramel; not, perhaps, a good omen for an economic grouping that intends to compete with a de-regulated America and an expansionist Japan.
Two alternative courses of action are open to us: 1) Go it alone. Switzerland, stable and prosperous for over a hundred years, might be a useful role model here. 2) Become the 51st State of the United States. They love our monarchy, we love their MacDonalds — surely a marriage made in heaven?
Johnny Gorman
12 Atherton Street, London SW11
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