Happy EU family

Doesn’t the political achievement of the EU override the narrow economic interests of the Conservatives (your report, 15 January)? Over several decades conflicts of interest between European nations have been settled without force of arms.

Perhaps the European Union is a good example of a supranational authority we can’t do without.

It isn’t because of superior force that wars can be prevented but by building up “emotional ties” between countries.

Surely the political gain of a peaceful Europe is worth having despite the supposed economic problems? That aggression, violence and carnage are endemic in human societies is in evidence throughout the world.

Freud called these the “propensity to war” caused by the human instinct of “innate destructiveness”. Arguably, it is through limiting national sovereignty or a sharing of sovereignty that the EU has achieved peace.

Ellis Thorpe

Old Chapel Walk

Inverurie