From the Guardian

An interesting letter about the current situation with the EU from today's Guardian...

"True to form the Irish political establishment and the EU elites are beginning their manoeuvres to circumvent or negate Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon treaty (Loathing of elections has led British democracy to atrophy, June 18).

Irrespective of the wide variety of reasons that contributed to the no majority, there was an instinctive underlying affirmation of democratic principles. The proportion of national legislation and the extent of governance originating at the EU level require the exercise of representative parliamentary democracy broadly similar to, but separate from, the exercise of parliamentary democracy at the national level. The EU's citizens are being denied their fundamental right to vote in, or vote out, those who govern them at the EU level. The core democratic principle is: "We will not accept your governance unless you seek our consent on a regular basis."

Although theoretically representative of the EU's citizens, the European council is too far removed from their scrutiny or control. At the very least, the Commission should be elected by the European parliament and be accountable to it. It would not require much effort to amend the current treaty to include this simple, but far-reaching, provision.

The EU will lurch from crisis to crisis, undermine its considerable achievements to date, and destroy its international credibility if the EU elites continue to avoid seeking the consent of its citizens to be governed.

Paul Hunt

Haywards Heath, West Sussex"