The EU has helped keep the peace in Europe

From: Michael Hodge, Battle Hill, Battle
A Union Jack (R) flies next to European Union flags in front of the European Commission building as British Prime Minister May is due to meet European Commission President Juncker for a dinner in a bid to unblock Brexit talks ahead of a decisive EU summit this week, in Brussels on October 16, 2017.
EU leaders meeting in Brussels on October 19 and 20 are due to decide whether or not negotiators can move on to discussing post-Brexit trade ties with Britain if "sufficient progress" has been made in divorce talks. The indication from the EU side is that they will postpone their decision to a summit in December as the break-up negotiations are currently deadlocked, particularly over the multi-billion-euro exit bill the EU says Britain must pay.
 / AFP PHOTO / EMMANUEL DUNAND        (Photo credit should read EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images) NNL-190823-153601001A Union Jack (R) flies next to European Union flags in front of the European Commission building as British Prime Minister May is due to meet European Commission President Juncker for a dinner in a bid to unblock Brexit talks ahead of a decisive EU summit this week, in Brussels on October 16, 2017.
EU leaders meeting in Brussels on October 19 and 20 are due to decide whether or not negotiators can move on to discussing post-Brexit trade ties with Britain if "sufficient progress" has been made in divorce talks. The indication from the EU side is that they will postpone their decision to a summit in December as the break-up negotiations are currently deadlocked, particularly over the multi-billion-euro exit bill the EU says Britain must pay.
 / AFP PHOTO / EMMANUEL DUNAND        (Photo credit should read EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images) NNL-190823-153601001
A Union Jack (R) flies next to European Union flags in front of the European Commission building as British Prime Minister May is due to meet European Commission President Juncker for a dinner in a bid to unblock Brexit talks ahead of a decisive EU summit this week, in Brussels on October 16, 2017. EU leaders meeting in Brussels on October 19 and 20 are due to decide whether or not negotiators can move on to discussing post-Brexit trade ties with Britain if "sufficient progress" has been made in divorce talks. The indication from the EU side is that they will postpone their decision to a summit in December as the break-up negotiations are currently deadlocked, particularly over the multi-billion-euro exit bill the EU says Britain must pay. / AFP PHOTO / EMMANUEL DUNAND (Photo credit should read EMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images) NNL-190823-153601001

As we have seen from the correspondence page of your newspaper, the arguments for and against UK membership of the European Union are manifold.

One stands out yet is rarely mentioned. Just 75 years ago many of the 28 countries that now make up the EU were either fighting Britain and its allies or being liberated by them. France had been invaded from the East three times in one hundred years. Our continent was in ruins.

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The European Coal and Steel Community, the EU’s origin, was created in 1952 to integrate Franco-German industry to a point where there was no way the two countries would want to go to war again.

The continent has been at peace ever since (the special case of Yugoslavia aside). But, after Brexit, the UK’s ability to influence the future development of Europe, so crucial to our destiny, will be much diminished. Leadership will be in the hands principally of Germany and France.

Is this what we want?

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