CORONAVIRUS has caused the whole world to run around like headless chickens, not knowing what to do, and the worst affected countries so far have brought in draconian measures to try to halt the spread of the virus. Italy is a case in point, where pictures of the deserted streets look like they come from some dystopian film from the future.

My sympathies go to the Italian people, who are no doubt suffering greatly from this state of affairs.

Now we hear the virus is gathering numbers as it continues to roll out across Europe to France, Germany, and of course, here.

But what have the European Union done to help this state of affairs; absolutely nothing. It has been left up to national governments to deal with it while the EU have (excuse the pun) literally washed their hands of the matter.

I hope the bureaucrats in the EU are still washing their hands, as it is surely a matter of time before the whole EU machinery will grind to a halt as the eurocrats will not be able to meet in Brussels or anywhere else.

This all goes to show what an ineffective organisation the EU is when it comes to a crisis, just as they were utterly ineffective when Russia invaded Crimea, or when the Balkans war happened. The EU left those matters to NATO, just as they have left the current pandemic to the World Health Organisation.

So why bother with the EU? I’m glad we have left.

Sara Grove, Mobberley