The EU should return power to national governments

President Klaus (of the Czech republic – at time of writing the Czech republic holds the rotating president of Europe) does not think that the European Parliament can serve as a genuine representative of the citizens, because “there is no European demos”. A parliamentary democracy needs a government and an opposition, which the European Parliament lacks.[[http://www.federalunion.org.uk/blog/2009/02/europe-needs-opposition.html]]
The European Union has a democratic deficit. This is where the European Union and its various bodies suffer from a lack of democracy and seem inaccessible to the ordinary citizen because their method of operating is so complex. The Council of the European Union is not considered democratic (despite it being made up of the heads of the member governments) while the European Commission in many ways performs the function of an executive without being elected in any way.[[http://europa.eu/scadplus/glossary/democratic_deficit_en.htm]] Only the European parliament is directly elected and it is the weakest institution.
As the institutions of the European Union have supremacy over the national institutions the EU cannot be democratically legitimised solely by the participation of the member governments. Therefore either there needs to be a much more powerful European Parliament to provide democratic legitimacy to the federal level or else the role of national parliaments has to be increased to make the EU a more standard international organisation and let the democratic legitimacy come from the national parliaments.[[Mihail Milev, A Democratic Deficit in the European Union?, Centre International de Formation Europeenne, p.12., http://www.geopolitis.net/EUROPE%20EN%20FORMATION/Democratic%20Deficit%20in%20the%20European%20Union.pdf]]

Having competition between various levels of government when they are all democratic can lead to better services and results for the people. They can see the effectiveness of their politicians at differing levels and there is increased competition for innovation in policies between the levels of government thereby allowing the voters to judge better in elections.[[Pierre Salmon, Assigning Powers in the European Union in the light of yardstick competition among governments, (January 2003), p.3, 7. http://www.u-bourgogne.fr/leg/documents-de-travail/e2003-03.pdf]] http://www.u-bourgogne.fr/leg/documents-de-travail/e2003-03.pdf]] 
 
1) Prof V Klaus is not a reliable source on democracy. He refuses to sign the Lisbon Treaty despite both Houses of the Czech parliament approving it. He is in a minority on other issues as well - e.g.: global warming. 
2) i) Yes, there is a democratic deficit but it is gradually being reduced through the E.P. acquiring additional powers as against the Council. Implementation of the Lisbon Treaty would greatly strengthen Parliament, and introduce a role for national Parliaments. These would substantially reduce the deficit further. 
2) ii) However, so long as MEP's are elected by proportional representation, whilst MPs are elected by first past the post; the MEP has substantially greater credibility than his/her Westminster confrere. 
2) iii) The consultative bodies, (both elected and self appointed), think-tanks, university co-operation, and others offering advice or being consulted by the Commission or Parliament, give the 'political classes' (OK: - chattering classes) perhaps a greater input into policy making , than can be claimed for civil society in the UK.