European effect

In the real world, however, ordinary people’s main concern is not diplomatic positions but the economy.

The peoples of Europe are currently having a harsh lesson in how bad the impact of the EU can be on their national economies, none more so than the Greeks, whose economy has been shrinking for at least four years.

In Greece, unemployment is more than one in four and among young people is more than 60 per cent. The openly racist Golden Dawn has 18 seats in their parliament.

Given Greece’s massive government debt, membership of the euro and the EU-enforced austerity programme, their economy is in a death spiral. Where Greece leads others sadly will follow.

While we are fortunately not in the euro, the EU is having a very adverse effect on our economy. Within three years, the EU’s Large Combustion Plant Directive will lead to us in Scotland having power cuts caused by lack of generating capacity.

The part-time electricity produced expensively and intermittently by wind turbines will not prevent this.

We need to be rid of a political class obsessed by the vanity project of a united Europe and totally unresponsive to the needs of ordinary people.

Otto Inglis

Inveralmond Grove

Edinburgh

Peter Jones (Perspective, 26 February) makes a quite irrelevant point in drawing attention to the slightly higher rate which Norway pays on its national debt compared with the UK. The UK’s debt is around 100 per cent of GDP and not improving, and Norway’s has reduced to 30 per cent.

The easiest way to reduce your debt repayments is to borrow less. And of course the massive Norwegian oil fund provides an underlying fiscal security unmatched in the UK. I suspect Scots would generally be happy to be facing Norway’s “problems”.

Alan Oliver

Battock Road

Brightons, Falkirk