Quote Originally Posted by Lither_1927 View Post
Two simple answers.

The EU is very protectionist. The UK are more free market orientated than the protectionist EU.

The democratic deficit is of lack of accessibility to the ordinary citizen, or lack of representation of the ordinary citizen, and lack of accountability of European Union institutions
In what areas is the EU very protectionist?

The whole point is it's a free trade area, so anyone operating within that area is competing with all the other countries within that free trade area whether they like it or not.

In general the trade tariffs are very low as well for countries outside of the EU.

Yes the agriculture industry is supported, predominately to allow traditional less intensive farming methods to survive in the face of modern industrial mega farms