The responsibility for this disaster falls squarely on the shoulders of the Mayor of Lille, the perhaps overly cautious socialist politician, Martine Aubry.
It had nothing to do with EU legislation but everything to do with fear of terrorist attack!
I would also add that had Britain not used the EU commission as a dumping ground for second-rate failures we would have been better served in Europe and might not now feel the need to leave.
Derek Rogers (thankfully living in France)
Via email
"Debunking some myths"
MADAM – I am surprised that there was space for an anti-EU rant only remotely connected to the antiques trade in the last issue.
But as we are on it, I think there must be space now for debunking some myths about the EU:
- There is NO ‘army of bureaucrats’ working in Brussels. There are c.420,000 civil servants in the UK for 63m citizens. The EU, including every single translator and other non ‘bureaucrats’, employs 60,000 people for 500m. In Germany, where there are many more civil servants, the city of Munich alone employs 32,000!
- “The myriad of rules brought in by Brussels” – quite the opposite is true. Instead for 27 different rules to, let’s say, manufacture a mobile phone, there is only one, EU-wide.
All the rules have been shaped by various British governments. Nothing in the EU happened without the ‘big three’, UK, France and Germany, and nearly all have been signed off by British governments with a few exceptions, notably the curb on bankers’ bonuses.
Markus Voigt
Via email
Editor’s note: Thanks for all your EU views – correspondence on this topic is now closed.
