letter to the editor from Richard Corbett MEP

2 March 2006

Telegraph

Sir,

Roger Helmer's "blame everything on the EU" strategy has reached new heights with his attempt to blame the EU for... wait for it... public disaffection with politics! (Letters, 28th Feb)

He must learn to look at facts, not to parrot clichés. It is simply untrue to say that "well over half our new laws in this country come directly from the EU". The figure given by the House of Commons library is 9%.

Mr Helmer glibly refers to the EU's "unaccountable institutions", yet EU legislation is adopted by elected governments in the Council of Ministers (the Commission merely proposes drafts), double-checked by our directly elected MEPs.

This may not be a perfect system (what is?) but it does make the EU more democratic than any other international structure we belong to.

Richard Corbett
Labour MEP for Yorkshire & the Humber