THE 'No' campaign's supposedly pro-European attitudes have to be seriously questioned considering the central role Adolf Hitler plays in their latest advertising campaign.

To have Rik Mayall dressed as the dictator declaring "Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Euro" is an attempt to get over a serious political point: that the euro will lead to an undemocratic single European state.

Rather than the harmless joke they claim, this is the latest in a line of such comments from anti-Europeans.

Nicholas Ridley was famously forced to resign when he compared the euro with Hitler, while just last year Sir Peter Tapsell said that the Nazi Reichsbank first proposed the single currency.

For over half a century the European Union has helped ensure that Europe is peaceful, prosperous and democratic. The 'No' lobby know this but still try to pander to outdated stereotypes inspired by World War II. So much for any claims by the anti-euro campaign that they are not actually anti-European.

STUART MCNAMARA

Chair, North

London Branch,

European Movement.

July 12, 2002 10:01