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Alan Sked, UK Independence party

The notion of a "democratic deficit" is a piece of Europhile propaganda assuming acceptance of European union as a political aim. For those of us who see no need for a European superstate and no popular demand for one, particularly in the UK, a European Union with institutions of even perfect political accountability would be unacceptable.

A democracy requires a demos and no European demos exists. We want to run our own affairs without being overruled by foreign majorities or courts. We know that across the Atlantic there is a mature democracy called the United States which has accountable institutions. We have no wish to belong to it either, despite its much greater democratic credentials. That does not make us anti-American and opposition to European union does not make us anti-European. We merely have a different vision of Europe as a continent of freely-trading, democratic nations, whose peoples have governments accountable to themselves alone. Europe does not need a European superstate. It would cause international tension and eventual European civil war.