Sir,

Referring to your article Volkswagen restructuring: EU powerless; absolutely no, Belgium should not get special financial support. The unfortunate workers will get Belgian state benefits which are quite generous. Let the Belgian state foot the bill without the rest of the EU tax payers chipping in.

I live in a region where many foreign companies have pulled out, one example being the formerly large Siemens chip plant not far from where I sit now. I personally was made redundant last year when Honeywell pulled the plug on a 30 year old local business it acquired 4 years earlier. I'm now back in work, it wasn't easy, but I didn't expect the EU to top up the meager UK benefits I did receive.

Belgium is one of the most retrogressive states in the EU when it comes to globalisation attitudes, and it just sits there and whines about the downside when factories close, but if it weren't for foreign companies Belgium would be an industrial wasteland. Thank goodness Belgium doesn't have much political clout, otherwise it would be an even worse drag on the EU than France."

Charles Marriage

Newcastle upon Tyne, UK