I DO wish Mike Fry would stop blaming the EU for everything bad that has happened and perhaps understand a little history. The Balkan war was an inevitability that came about because of the area’s history, and nothing the EU did, or not, would have changed anything.

The former countries ofthat made up Yugoslavia, (were)not thenmembers of the EU when they went to war with each other. Being on the borders between the Hapsburg and Ottoman empires before WW1 and with the Hapsburgs in decline, nationalism, especially Serbian, came about with the shot that echoed around the world being fired in Sarajevo.

For many, this was a continuation of the religious wars and enmity that had been going on between them. In WW2 Serbia sided with the allies and Croatia was a puppet Nazi state. It was Tito that kept the peace between them, until his death and the break-up of the Soviet Union. The bad blood between the Serbs and the Croats then spilled over with the Bosnian Muslims caught in betweenthem.

The EU did what it could to stop the conflict, trying to get the protagonists to talk, but none of them were listening. Not even NATO could stop it including the genocide of 7,000 Muslim men in Srebrenica.

Of course, the war had to end eventually, but please don’t give to much kudos to NATO whose soldiers didn’t even attempt to stop the genocide of the 7,000. It was probably due to mainly British jets bombing Belgrade.

Nobody is claiming that the EU is the sole guarantor of peace. That’s called goodwill. But it does, and can, exert pressure using economic, travel and trade sanctions.

Don’t forget, the vast majority of states in NATO also belong to the EU. They are inter-dependaent and there has been no war or armed conflict between member states of the ECC and its successor the EU since WW2. Surely that says a lot about it being a force for good as far as peace is concerned?

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