Ukraine: Why EU remains bulwark for peace and security in these dangerous times – Yorkshire Post Letters

NICK Martinek correctly asserts the value of national independence, but he then appropriates recognition of such realpolitik as the preserve of Leave voters (The Yorkshire Post, March 19).

Brexit and Ukraine comparison by Boris Johnson was crass as Europe joins condemnation of insensitive Prime Minister – The Yorkshire Post says

The EU has acted quickly to help Ukraine. A recent BBC report described how Ukraine has recently been connected to the main European electricity grid, helping to combat widespread power outages caused by Russian attacks. Power is flowing from Ukraine to the EU and vice versa, via the Continental European Grid, with President Zelensky posting his gratitude on Twitter to the facilitating EU officials. Ukraine’s neighbour Moldova has also had its electricity synchronised with the European grid.

It’s only in England that a Brexit philosophy rejecting an admittedly supranational structure has triumphed, dragging along other countries in these islands.

Most Europeans see the EU as a bulwark for peace, prosperity and security. Hence Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia are keen to join and view the EU status of the Baltic states with envy.

In time the EU might grow into a structure which allows Europeans to take complete charge of their own destiny including militarily. I would hope that, by then, a future generation of English leaders less in thrall to their imperial past will share with future Russian leaders, equally free of imperial ambitions, the ambition to work within an EU fit for its times.

From: Peter Packham, Shadwell Lane, Leeds.

THE subject of Brexit is regularly debated on these pages, but the reasons for the formation of the EU are very rarely mentioned.

The EU was not formed to make trade easier or to give people freedom of movement. It was formed to bring peace to a continent that had been ravaged by two catastrophic wars in 40 years.

From the formation of the European Steel and Coal Community in 1952 to the present day, the EU has been the most ambitious and successful peace project in human history and even led to the EU being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012.

It is no coincidence that Putin made his move soon after the UK left the EU and destabilised Europe.

The war in the Ukraine has shown that the UK is no longer a major player in the world, but it was as a member of the European Union.

The UK must rejoin the EU as soon as possible.

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