JOHN Eakins (Letters, July 29) argues that the EU and Nato have helped to keep the peace since the Second World War — but this is improbable.

While European integration helped western Europe to regain its prosperity after the devastation of the war, the EEC — now the EU — soon became self-serving, expensive and bureaucratic.

The North Atlantic Treaty was signed in 1949 to enable joint defence against an attack from the Soviet Union.

But there is no evidence that the Soviets ever intended to launch such an attack.

There has been no war among the major European powers not because of the EU and Nato but because national policymakers understand that war costs more than it gains.

Both the EU and Nato are Cold War relics that owe their survival mainly to vested interests.

J Colman, Burnley (via email)