LETTERS – Only four things have kept peace

What a shame Mr Meekings continues to cling to a number of well peddled myths about the EU.

There are only four things that have kept the peace in Europe over the last 75 years and the EU is not one of them. The USA, nukes, NATO and Great Britain (GB) can take the credit for that success.

In his imaginative rewriting of history he forgets that a new enemy emerged after WW2 – the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact. NATO was formed in 1949 nearly a decade before the EU even existed. Germany was divided into four zones of occupation, disarmed until 1955, and a threat to no one.

It is an insult to the legacies of Thatcher and Reagan – who ended the Cold War through NATO without a shot being fired – to suggest the EU can take the credit for their incredible victory. Their resolve and strength through NATO forced the collapse of the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact; the Berlin Wall came down; the Eastern European countries joined NATO; and Germany was reunified. This was only possible because of NATO.

Many will recall that remain lie “there are no plans to build an EU army”. Try telling that to Macron, Merkel and the latest ‘unelected’ President of the EU, who make no secret of their plans to create an EU army.

The fact is, trying to duplicate NATO through an EU army is bonkers, and a real threat to peace in Europe. The paymaster of European defence – the USA – which shoulders 70 per cent of the costs and manpower burdens would withdraw from the alliance, closely followed by

Canada and Turkey. An EU army would undermine NATO and lead to the destruction of the guarantor of European peace for the past 75 years. The key to NATO’s success has always been the massive firepower and manpower of the USA, combined with the British Army On the Rhine (BAOR) which remained en-masse in West Germany until the end of the Cold War.

I know Alan likes facts, so here are a few for him to digest. The USA spends more than double on defence than the EU combined. GB has the most powerful military in the EU with the world’s fourth largest defence budget. GB has 100 per cent of the EU’s strategic heavy lift capacity, and is the only country in the EU with anything like GCHQ, and a fully operational cyber warfare capability.

As the people of the former Yugoslavia, the Balkans, Cyprus and Ukraine know – the EU couldn’t fight its way out of a paper bag.

Craig Jackson
Vote Leave Constituency Coordinator
South Holland & The Deepings