The letter from members of 'Forward in Europe' (March 10, 'Plea to remain') is, I feel, disingenuous. They state: ‘The European Union is a democratic body, with its Parliament elected by EU citizens”.

Well former Soviet Satellite states used to call themselves democratic but they weren’t.

It’s true the European Parliament is elected but it is quite simply toothless. Laws are made in the EU as follows. The European Commission of 28 representatives from each country and the European Council of Ministers, also with 28 members, together and in a complicated and secret manner, propose the laws. Both these bodies are appointed, not elected by the people.

The legislative proposal is then passed to the EU Parliament which sits in Brussels, except that it moves in its entirety to Strasbourg in France for a week, once each month. Why?

A committee reads the proposal and is given just 24 hours to examine it and make suggestions for change. The committees are formed of MEPs who are designated to various topics: law, commerce, agriculture etc.

The Parliament consists of 766 members, who then discuss the proposal, not debate it as in the House of Commons, and each member is allowed just two minutes in which to speak. So you can imagine what happens. The MEPs spend two minutes issuing sound bites and when the limited numbers of those who are allowed to speak have spoken it is put to a vote. This is done by a show of hands!

If the proposal is rejected it goes back to the Council of Ministers where the Councillor responsible can quite simply ignore what the elected MEPs want and go ahead with his legislation. This is passed to the various parliaments throughout the EU, where the law has to be passed into that country’s legal system.

I am sure this sort of democracy would be widely applauded by Lenin, Stalin, Mao Tse Tung and every other dictator.

I am not of the same political persuasion as Tony Benn but he was a stout defender of parliamentary democracy and he was prone to ask the top brass of Europe:”Who votes for you and how can I vote you out of office?” There was no answer because they are not elected.

The EU is a Collective Dictatorship, certainly not a democracy.

D. Turner

Windermere