'The EU: The Truth About The Fourth Reich - How Hitler Won The Second World War' argues the single currency, the free market and even the phrase "United States of Europe" were all dreamt up by high ranking Nazis, including the Fuhrer himself.



It also claims the only country which benefits from the EU is Germany - just as Hitler planned.

A spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats - which its leader Nick Clegg describes as the "party of in" when it comes to the EU - dismissed the authors of the book as "peddling outlandish myths".



The book, co-written by Daniel J Beddowes and Falvio Cipollini, says: "What is the EU for? Who really benefits? And the answer is of course Germany.



"It is no coincidence that just about every country in the European Union is getting poorer while Germany continues to get richer and richer.



"We may think we won the Second World War. But we lost. It is no surprise that we are all living in the Fourth Reich.



"Knowingly or not those who support and defend the European Union are supporting the Nazi legacy."



Under a chapter heading 'The EU was inspired an designed by Nazis', the authors claim: "Hitler was the man who gave bones to the dreams first expressed by Charlemagne and Napoleon but the finishing touches to the EU as we know it were put in place during World War II by a man called Walther Funk, who was President of the Reichsbank and a director of the Bank for International Settlements.



"It was Funk who predicted the coming of European economic unity. Funk was also Adolf Hitler's economics minister and his key economics advisor."



It continues: "The Nazis wanted to get rid of the clutter of small nations which made up Europe and their plan was quite simple. The EU was Hitler's dream."



The book argues it is no coincidence that the EU is so close to Hitler's plan for post-war Europe.



According to the authors: "In 1945, Hitler's Masterplan was captured by the Allies. The Plan included details of his scheme to create an economic integration of Europe and to found a European Union on a federal basis.



"The Nazi plan for a federal Europe was based on Lenin's belief that 'federation is a transitional form towards complete union of all nations'.



"It is impossible to find a difference between Hitler's plan for a new United States of Europe, dominated by Germany, and the European Union we have today."