A LETTER about the European Union I wrote a few weeks ago generated a lively response, yet very few replied to the point I made about the nature of the debate. Let me try again.

I believe that criticism of political institutions is not only healthy but essential. Whitehall has been condemned for years and these days Brussels creates plenty of opportunity for critics. In fact some of the strongest words I have heard recently have come not from eurosceptics but from European Commissioners like Chris Patten and Neil Kinnock and I pay credit to their efforts to bring about improvements.

The European Union is founded on principles which the British hold precious: a partnership of nations working together to promote democracy, individual freedom and justice, to settle disputes by peaceful means and to encourage both economic prosperity and environmental sustainability.

The goals are ambitious and not easy to achieve but this is why more than a dozen countries are queuing up to join and why the three major political parties in British, including the Conservatives, are firmly committed to Britain's membership.

Yet in my postbag I have letters from people who say the European is a Jewish Conspiracy and others who call it a Vatican Plot. Someone has just described it as totalitarian in what I take to be a comparison with Nazi Germany or the Communist Soviet Union.

These letters sit alongside the many serious concerns and valid criticisms which need to be addressed. To my mind they are completely over the top and nutty . I have described their authors as nutters which, given that some make racists remarks, I think was being polite.

Are there any readers of this newspaper who actually sympathise with the Jewish Conspiracy or Vatican Plot line of thinking? If there are then my description was aimed at you - not at those who have serious points to make however much I may disagree with them.

Chris Davies

MEP

Liberal Democrat