A Chara, - Mary-Ellen Synon (Letters, August 24th) argues that de Gaulle did not want an Anglo-Saxon influence in Europe and hence vetoed Britain's application for EEC membership.
The French president's prime interest was the supremacy of France at the heart of Europe and so he blackballed any potential new members beyond the original six.
He opposed the memberships of Ireland, Denmark and Norway in addition to Britain in order to keep France in the driving seat, not from any sense of anti-Britishness.
Ironically, one of the ultimate philosophical driving forces behind the European project was the very Anglo-Saxon Winston Churchill. Speaking in Zurich in September, 1946, of the challenge of the postwar continent, he said: "Why should there not be a European group which could give a shared sense of patriotism and common citizenship to the distracted peoples of this turbulent and mighty continent?. . . We must build a kind of United States of Europe." - Is mise le meas,
MALCOLM BYRNE, The Chase, Gorey, Co Wexford.