IN his latest EU federalist rant (You Say, Tuesday, April 8) Mr Spiteri questions my opinion that 15 - soon to be 25 - ancient and independent European countries cannot be successfully moulded into a single European Nation State.

He compares a Federal Europe with the United States of America (50 in number) and asks how this union will differ from it.

It's quite simple, Mr Spiteri. Every single one of the 50 US States is American. They speak the same language and share the same culture and values.

They share the same history and have the same ambitions, something the French have recently shown does not apply to Europe.

If you travel between one US State and the next you don't notice the difference - same people, same country.

Whether he likes it or not, this does not apply to Europe.

How different are the countries and peoples of say, Norway and Greece, or France and the UK? The answer is very different.

You cannot take 15 or 25 disparate countries, societies and cultures and mould them into one just by telling them what to do.

We are all different and most of us wish to remain that way. We do not wish to be dictated to.

It makes one wonder exactly what Mr Spiteri and his kind actually want from a federal EU - the member states can quite happily trade with each other without hindrance as they have done for decades without a political union, so who exactly will benefit from federalism apart from those in power ?

Please continue to print Mr Spiteri's federalist diatribes. I'm certain he's persuading more people to be wary of the EU than I could ever hope to do.

GARY WEBB,

Worcester.