• IT is striking to note the lack of condemnation or even comment from the European Union about the harrowing scenes we have witnessed taking place in Barcelona.

No comment about the arrest of Catalan officials without bail. At the same time the entire block looks to be moving to the right at the parliamentary level.

I cannot imagine overtly right-wing politicians gaining election by popular vote to the UK parliament.

It is perfectly reasonable to ask, especially for those who pay into the EU budget more that their citizens receive back, why the EU does not use its financial leverage to persuade the government of Spain to cease the brutality.

Spain receives from the EU an amount in the region of 70 euros for every citizen more that it pays in.

In 2012 the European Union was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. They received the award for, “advancing the causes of peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe”.

Maybe they should hand it back.

This weekend elections take place in the Czech Republic where Andrej Babis is fancied to take office. Czech Republic this weekend Austria last.

Meanwhile the EU wants its own army, a notion that the French Assembly closed down 60 years ago when rejecting the proposed European Defence Community.

We should be cautious about the EU having an army of its own while being so sanguine about state brutality and growing right-wing euro-scepticism.

Thinking about it there’s probably not much to fear. After all this is the EU so it would be more about pork barrel than defence.

STEPHEN SOUTHAM
Mildmay Grove North, N1