EU constitution is one of the all-time great exercises in democracy

I WOULD like to clarify a number of points raised by Brian Flanagan in his letter ‘Small fry in the new EU superstate’ (Irish Examiner, July 15), referring to the new EU constitution which will be put to the voters in this and other member states.

1. His insinuation that there is even the remotest similarity between the unelected totalitarian dictatorship which ran the former Soviet Union and the European convention which produced the draft constitutional treaty beggars belief.

Unlike the politburo, the European convention drew its members from all sectors in European society in its deliberations: governments, parliaments, political parties, civil society, businesses, social partners, academics and non-governmental organisations.