EU Olympic team plan 'bonkers'

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The Young European Federalists claimed the 27 EU states would have a far greater chance of topping the medals table if they competed under a single banner.

In an open letter to athletes, the group, which has 25,000 members, claimed the Team EU move would also combat nationalism.

The letter read: "If the project an 'EU Olympic Team', seems ambitious, the concept is rather easy to understand: At every international sports competition, we realise that if the European countries' medals were counted together, the European Union would have a much stronger weight in the traditional medals list and would be able to really compete with the USA, China or Russia."

In a table compiled by the organisation, the EU sit above China and the USA with 273 medals - including 84 golds.

But shadow Europe minister Mark Francois lambasted the idea, and questioned why EU Commission funds were being used to support the organisation.

He said: ""Britain's amazing athletes have shown us how Britain can be one of the best in sport.

"The German, French, Italian and Dutch teams have all done well too. It is frankly bonkers to claim that all our countries' athletes would do better if they were put into one team and made to compete under an EU flag.

"Why on earth is the EU Commission lavishing taxpayers' money on these Euro-federalists to come up with nutty ideas like this?

"Their EU funding should be scrapped and put to better use. Giving it back to European countries to help their sportsmen is one option that springs to mind."