Can anyone actually demonstrate to me that we are undergoing "ever-closer union"? Seems to me that there are plenty enough squabbles about contributions, migrants, borders, Greece, etc., that, if anything, are keeping EU countries more at arms length from each other. I am having this suspicion that "ever-closer union" is becoming one of those politically-useful but vacuous phrases such as "hard-working families", "benefits lifestyle", "people who do the right thing", "giving parents choices", "United States of Europe", etc. Every time I hear one of these, or any of several others, it sets my sceptic's antennae atwitching.