Sir, – Fintan O'Toole's latest piece was as astonishing and as surprising as Richard Dawkins suddenly embracing the Bible ("Brexit is a clear warning for EU reform", Opinion & Analysis, June 28th). There is nothing in what O'Toole says that has not been said a thousand times, but with more wit and eloquence by Nigel Farage. O'Toole thinks that "the euro has been disastrous" and should be quietly scrapped. Yet with the clarity of clairvoyants on a particularly good day, Mr Farage as well as many commentators in the UK accurately predicted the rise and the demise of the euro, along with the damage it would do to the economies of the smaller nations of Europe. I expect at the time that O'Toole, rather than analysing what they were saying, was too busy making Farage and other British Eurosceptics fit his stereotype of racist Little Englanders, self-medicating on Stilton and old port, while they waited the return of the imperium of Pax Britannica.
I don’t hold a brief for Nigel Farage, Ukip or for the opportunistic antics of Boris Johnson. I believe that Brexit will be a disaster for the UK. It will also prove disastrous for Europe and Ireland. Though I am sincerely touched by Fintan O’Toole’s precarious hopes that the EU will now begin a process of reform, I am not optimistic. With the UK, which was the engine of much of the reform agenda, now outside and firmly on the naughty step, I do not think reform will come anytime soon to save the EU from, in your columnist’s words, “putting its foot on the accelerator and hurtling towards destruction”. I fear that the EU will foolishly seek to make an example of the UK, and any other nations that show dissent or push for meaningful reform will be simply and coldly pointed towards the door.
I share O’Toole’s distaste for an EU army, but without the UK, the EU has lost its greatest military power. In normal times that could be considered no great loss. But with a bellicose Russia on our doorstep, a Russia that disdains soft power in favour of military power, it is an issue that should concern us all. Add to that the US withdrawing the central planks of its foreign policy from Europe to the Far East, and closer to its own doorstep, and that makes the growth in Russian militarism even more concerning.
I fear that the push towards a European army will grow apace. Ireland will have to surrender its neutrality, and European airspace and seas will continue to be tested and teased by Russian fighter jets and naval ships.
The future of warfare will not be found in the grand sweep of the old battlefields of Europe; it can be seen today in the well-trained and well-armed “militias” that are not so far from the borders of the European Union, and it can be seen in the long and slow dismemberment of Ukraine.
Europe needs idealism, leadership and reform, it needs to have the courage to acknowledge mistakes and to discuss the possibility of at least discussing the reform agenda.
The UK should be given time; its collective nervous breakdown may prove just a temporary aberration.
And I still nurture a very small hope that Scotland and Northern Ireland will in the end save the rest of the UK, and by extension Europe, from itself. – Yours, etc,
KEVIN RYAN,
Richmond, London.
Sir, – Rory Fitzgerald claims that the Leave vote was "to reclaim democracy in Europe", by implication, from "the unelected in Brussels" ("UK will inspire restoration of democracy in Europe", Opinion & Analysis, June 27th).
European Union laws are decided by the democratically elected European Parliament and by the Council of Ministers, which contains one minister from each of the democratically elected governments of the 28 member states.
These laws are proposed by the European Commission, which cannot itself decide on European Union law.
The 28 European Commissioners are nominated by the democratically elected governments of the member states, and their appointments are each subject to approval by the democratically elected European Parliament. I know of no national government where the appointment of each minister is individually approved by the country’s parliament.
The president of the European Commission is elected by the European Council, that is, the democratically elected prime ministers or presidents of each of the 28 member states, after taking into account the results of the elections to the European Parliament. In the most recent European Parliament elections, each of the main European political groupings announced their preferred candidate for president of the European Commission well in advance of the polling date. Jean-Claude Juncker was the candidate of the European People’s Party, which won the most seats in the elections; on that basis, he was the choice of both the European Parliament and the European Council.
The structure of the European Union institutions is certainly complicated, but the notion that power lies in the hands of unelected bureaucrats is simply wrong. – Yours, etc,
MARK HAYDEN,
Sauvian,
France.
Sir, – If the UK leaves the EU then upwards of six million UK citizens could apply for EU citizenship through their Irish ancestry. We would then have the situation whereby a large minority of UK citizens could continue to enjoy the rights and protections of the EU.
Would the EU allow this to happen?
This could end up being the greatest conquest of Irish national identity since the Elizabethan wars. – Yours, etc,
THOMAS O’BRIEN,
Dungannon, Co Tyrone.
Sir, – Scotland, Northern Ireland and Gibraltar voted to remain in the EU. Their democratic mandate should be honoured. There is a parallel with Greenland’s association with Denmark, where Greenland is within the kingdom of Denmark but outside the EU while Denmark is within it. The converse of this suggests that self-governing elements of the UK should be able to remain in the EU while remaining part of the UK. – Yours, etc,
NIALL HUMPHREYS,
Blackrock, Co Dublin.
Sir, – Observe the sons of Ulster marching towards the Irish passport office. – Yours, etc,
SEÁN KAVANAGH,
Dublin 2.
Sir, – Colm Tóibín's lazy caricature of the EU is unhelpful at a time when it is more important than ever for EU citizens to understand the role of the EU's institutions ("EU must end the secrecy", Opinion & Analysis, June 27th).
The EU is not a nation state, and its institutions do not map seamlessly to the institutions of national government. They are designed to accommodate the dual challenge of maintaining unity between 28 member states and ensuring that EU citizens and national parliaments have a role in how the the EU develops.
The European Commission, ever the target of the EU’s critics, is essential to this. Its separation from the member states is by design, to ensure that there there is a common set of rules and that member states uphold those rules. The independence of the commission would be entirely compromised if the commissioners were accountable to member states rather than to the European Union itself.
These nuances are difficult to communicate at the best of times. They become impossible to communicate when media commentary about the EU is misleading and inaccurate.
Commentators who are afforded the opportunity to influence the views of others have a particular responsibility in this regard.
As evidenced by the continuing fallout from the referendum in the UK, perpetuating myths and misinformation about the EU can have profound implications for both nations and their citizens. – Yours, etc,
GARRETH McDAID,
Leitrim Village,
Co Leitrim.
Sir, – I am reminded of the TV sitcom One Foot In The Grave and the exasperated words of its main character Victor Meldrew: "I don't believe it!" – Yours, etc,
CLARE BALFE,
Dublin 7.
Sir, – I am an Irish citizen who has lived in England for 45 years. I was horrified to read the articles mostly vilifying, denigrating and disparaging the people who voted for Leave. I am proud to confirm that I also voted for Leave and am proud to stand by my English colleagues, friends and neighbours who had the courage to stand up for their democratic rights. As for Nigel Farage, I would buy him a pint any day! Maybe those writers who find democracy so painful and their English neighbours so distasteful should return to airy-fairy land where all is sweetness and light ("'Ignorant, bigoted': Irish writers respond to Brexit", June 27th). – Yours, etc,
MICHAEL KELLY,
Derbyshire.