A general Election without a bit of Europe-bashing: out of the question.

Europe continues to engender not only passionate economic and political debate but also arguments of history and culture. But this is only half the story. The trouble with the European Union is it is never just a question of choosing between one manifesto and another. Whichever political party wins, Britain's future relationship with Europe will still be difficult to ascertain.

The European pond is bigger than the national one and the water is far murkier. Such is the complex world of EU law-making. Brussels is the point at which national and European political mandates overlap and collide.

The compromise between the two, which could be called the "European" way, is laboured. In certain policy areas, such as company law, the way can be agonisingly slow.

In the UK, Brussels may be referred to as a monolith but it certainly is not. Brussels is home to three main European institutions - Commission, Parliament and Council of Ministers - which provide the mainstay of EU governance.

The Commission puts forward proposals for new legislation, the Parliament amends and, following recent changes, co-legislates along with the Council. The last is the direct representative of EU member states.

In practice, the situation is much more untidy as one topical example bears this out. For years, proposals have been on the table for the harmonisation of rules which would make cross-border acquisitions and mergers less of a minefield. The Commission drafted a proposal for harmonisation. Now it has the approval of the Council of Ministers, i.e. the equivalent of 10 Downing Street, across the European Union. Despite this, the proposed new legislation remains blocked by the European Parliament which favours granting executive boards greater defensive powers against unwanted take-overs.

The Brussels policy-makers will be keeping a close eye on UK electoral developments. The knock-on effects on the Brussels machinery of national elections remain highly unpredictable. In fact, many in the EU capital have learned to focus just as much on who loses a national election as who wins: after all, it has become something of a tradition in EU member states to give Brussels to the losing side as "compensation".

Probably no-one foresaw how Neil Kinnock would, from the jaws of defeat in domestic politics, snatch victory on the European stage to become the most influential British figure at the Commission. Predictions of this kind this time around will be even harder to come by.