Martin wrote:

It's not obvious to me why the UK press specialises in creating EU myths.
It doesn't happen elsewhere in the EU AFAIK

Unfortunately - since I am a firm, even fanatical, believer in the EU -
anti-EU feeling is at least as strong in France (le Pen),
Italy (Beppe Grillo and now Berlusconi), Spain and many other EU members.
The EU has lost the trust of its citizens,
and a political organisation cannot continue in that state for long.

In my view radical reform is essential if the EU is to survive,
starting with election of the EU Commission,
and in particular its president.
The US would not have survived if its president had been chosen
in the way the EU president is.

The majority of senior bureaucrats in Brussels have lost faith
in the project, and are simply pushing paper until they retire.

Simply supporting the EU, without demanding its reform,
is in my view counter-productive.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail: gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland