The EU is a construct of the national elites and of the member states. The EU's democratic deficit is structural and the member states are responsible for it, but there's no other structure they could have built. However, the Democracy™ rhetoric forces the states to introduce formally democratic elements which then get a life of their own, such as the Parliamentary Assembly becoming a directly elected Parliament, so far without legislative initiative but which recently acquired more codecision and accountability power (and it flexed its muscles with the appointment of the Barroso commission, REACH, Bolkestein and the CIA prison/flight ad-hoc committee).

In other words, the EU has a democratic deficit but by creating it the member states sowed the seeds of their own loss of sovereignty to a truly democratic EU maybe in the next 50 years.

Giscard's decision to call the new treaty a "Constitution" backfiring and getting a life of its own (with the majority of people in the EU favourable to a constitution but not this one, and two failed referenda in founding member states) is another case where the present not totally democratic structures contain the seeds of their own replacement by truly democratic ones.

Assuming we keep the eyes on the ball and don't let the Neoliberals run with it, or the US put in wedges and trojans.

"It's the statue, man, The Statue."