John Hume believed in the EU and building bridges | Letters

Hume was a fervent supporter of European integration, writes Harry Schneider, while Brian Simpson and Catharine Sadler remember his work and qualities as a leader

Among the many words written about John Hume recently, relatively little has been said about the European dimension of his beliefs. Reading Martin Kettle's comments (John Hume's politics went far beyond Northern Ireland - his vision is as urgent as ever, 5 August), I was reminded of a story I heard him tell more than once.

As a newly elected MEP in 1979, he went for a walk one evening across the bridge over the Rhine from French Strasbourg to the German town Kehl. In the middle of the bridge he stopped and imagined someone else standing there 30 years earlier - just after the second world war, with Europe lying in ruins. He used to say: If that person had proposed that in 30 years' time we would all be together in a united Europe, with the French still being French and the Germans still being German, they would have been sent to a psychiatrist."