But Germany's focus on discipline is arguably an attempt to fix a democratic deficit.
European politicians tend to talk about a democratic deficit without defining exactly what they mean.
The parliament has long accrued power by arguing that it offers a cure for the democratic deficit in European construction.
Indeed the institutional change most needed to remedy Europe's democratic deficit is not in Brussels or Strasbourg but in national capitals.
In normal times such compromises, checks and balances help with the democratic deficit by ensuring that states do not feel too trampled-upon.
The report also voices concerns about cuts at the BBC, saying they might impact on political coverage and contribute to a "so-called democratic deficit".
Mr Sejersted calls this a "great democratic deficit... but this is a kind of national compromise since Norway decided it did not want to join the EU".
The democratic deficit in Europe was growing, Ms Leadsom said.
As a consequence, getting the public out to vote for a highly-paid and relatively remote politician, to tackle a democratic deficit they weren't persuaded they had, was always going to be a hard sell.
The problem is that the Republican Party benefits from having a deficit while the Democratic Party benefits from getting rid of it.
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"He's promising a trillion-dollar tax cut and a trip to Mars... and he has a half-trillion-dollar deficit, " said Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean.
Ronald Reagan was said to be a small government type, non-defense discretionary spending somewhat reflected his desires over two terms, but the Democratic-led House voted for deficit spending on an annual basis.
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The first President Bush and a Democratic Congress came together to reduce the deficit.
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Now, to patch a budget deficit, Michigan's Democratic governor has suggested reincarnating its death tax.
This confronts the rot that has entered the Democratic and the Republican parties, and the astronomical deficit that America is suffering from.
In the 2010 gubernatorial election, Mr Kasich defeated the Democratic incumbent by promising to address a large budget deficit and stem a tide of job losses.
Democrats expected Conrad to put forward a Democratic budget that would have been the first detailed deficit reduction plan in three years, if passed by the committee.
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Democratic legislators balked at Mr Brown's previous plan to address the deficit.
The liberals and Democratic Party want to blame the Bush tax cuts, as if the deficit, appearing in 2008, was caused by tax changes in 2001 and 2003.
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Patty Murray (D-WA), who will be the Democratic co-chair of the panel, formally known as the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.
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At the time, with a Republican in the White House and Democratic-controlled Congress, the two parties were divided on how to deal with a deficit that had tripled during the Reagan Administration.
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Obama also confronted another concern expressed by opponents of Democratic proposals, pledging that any health care bill approved by Congress won't increase the federal deficit.
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