"Europeans now see the union as undermining their ability to control their destiny"

So says Charles A. Kupchan from The Washington based Council on Foriegn Relations.

It is apparent to him that while the EU is getting stronger - in relation to the creation of of fiscal/transfer/debt union, it is losing any popular support it ever had,

On the economic front, Europe’s leading members – even if belatedly – are likely to take the necessary steps to stabilize the eurozone. The stakes are simply too high for France and Germany to let the euro fail. The likely outcome in the long run is greater convergence on fiscal policy – which the introduction of the euro should have entailed to begin with – and debt instruments backed by the collective eurozone. Deeper integration on fiscal policy will ultimately strengthen the EU – even if it means the consolidation of a multi-speed Europe and convinces members like Britain, which is determined to maintain its monetary and fiscal autonomy, to keep their distance from the common currency.

He says, which is undoubtedly true and no doubt is warming the cockles of those who have always striven for one country called Europe. Sucess is in their grasp... But, but...

The core of the problem is that the EU is becoming increasingly divorced from the European street. Since its inception, the project of European integration has primarily been an elite effort. Publics have been either disengaged or passively supportive.

But no longer; the EU has been politicized. In beer gardens in Munich, cafés in Paris, and tavernas in Athens the electorate is finally animated by the project of European integration. The EU, however, is the object of scorn, not affection. The rejection of the Constitutional Treaty, enlargement, immigration and the desirability of open borders, the financial downturn and the costs and benefits of a shared economic destiny – these developments have provoked considerable public ire. The EU is no longer a distant and elitist – even if benign – undertaking; many Europeans now see the union as undermining their ability to control their destiny.

Indeed. Of course without democratic and popular support, without legitimacy, then the peoples of Europe will not feel they have consented to the great strides in European integration being accomplished over the next few months. and if they have not consented, then what sort of ocracy have we got within the EU? If it isn't democracy, what is it?

And if it isn't democracy, how do the people change the elite's decisions?