Every bloody country calling itself a democracy pays lip service to democracy, Jim, and the EU as a body is no worse than any individual state. In fact, most EU law is achieved by consensus among the 28 (and is NEVER imposed from on high by "unelected bureaucrats,' etc). As I said, there are absurdities and there are certainly instances of democratic deficit, as we saw with Greece (though I doubt that the EU can match Theresa May when it comes to that. Ask Gina Miller. Ask the idiot Cameron. Ask the MPs deprived of their promised vote last month. Ask the people lied to by the daubings of "democrats" on that red bus). Of course, the bigger and more cumbersome a body is, the harder it is to be democratic. Ask the Turks and Indians, and the US currently proves the point beautifully. Tell me of any democratic country you know in which democracy proceeds flawlessly.