The debate about the type and extent of regulation we need in the EU is an important one - important enough that we should be careful to avoid scoring cheap party-political points, or over-simplifying arguments for rhetorical effect. We can get regulation right or wrong; it can be good or bad, restrictive or liberating – at European level just as at national or local level.

Yet Eurosceptics portray EU level legislation as Brussels bureaucrats imposing burdens on businesses. This is wrong on two counts.

Firstly, on the “bureaucrats”. The European Commission does not decide on EU laws – it merely makes proposals. All European legislation has to be approved both by the Council and the European Parliament. The Council consists of national ministers from each Member State, members of their national government - and these are not people with a vested interest in limiting their own margin of manoeuvre through commonly-agreed rules! No European legislation can be adopted without persuading a hefty majority of them of its necessity: even a qualified majority is well over two-thirds of the votes in the Council. European legislation simply is not adopted against the will of the member states.

Second, on the “burden”. When we get it right, European legislation is an exercise in cutting red tape. One patent instead of twenty-five; one trademark and registration form and fee instead of twenty-five; one administrative document for our lorries at frontiers instead of the forty-something there used to be; one single set of standards for the single market instead of having to adapt production lines to twenty-five divergent ones.

Of course, as at every level of governance, mistakes can be made - and, as with all mistakes, the response should be to correct them. The idea that Britain (for example) should withdraw from the EU because you don't like a particular EU agreement is as silly as saying that, say, Yorkshire should withdraw from the UK because you don’t like the Education Bill.

Besides, it's important to look at the big picture. The total economic benefits to European citizens of the existence of the European common market, created by having common regulations for that market in many fields, is (according to pre-enlargement studies in 2002) some extra €164.5 billion to our collective GDP – approaching €2000 per family every year.

So let us unite on getting EU regulations right. Let's focus on the reality, not the theology - and certainy not on the fantasies conjured up by Eurosceptics!