Sorry Trossie, but it is a very Daily Mail anti-Europe attitude.
Years ago people would bang on about "bendy cucumbers" as reason to oppose European integration. Now we've latched on to "undemocratic".
When did you vote in members of the OFT?
Why are you happy to see a fully elected European Parliament as less democratic than the British government (completely unelected, unaccountable upper chamber and the head of state being born to be Queen)?
The OFT didn't say they saw no problem with the BMI / IAG deal, quite the contrary, they said they had very serious concerns about monopolies on certain routes, but felt that the European authorities were better placed to consider the whole of the deal, what with BMI/IAG being pan European.
The percentage slot allocation at Heathrow is not what is being looked into here. Lufthansa, Air France and KLM all have higher percentage slot ownership at their hubs. What is unique about the BMI/IAG merger is that IAG will have a monopoly on certain routes and with the slot constraints at Heathrow, no competitors are likely to come forward. Charles de Gaul, Schipol and Frankfurt are not at capacity, so anyone who wants to can move in and operate any routes that the dominant incumbent operates.
The EC has to make a judgement between the rights of the consumer who will lose out when monopolies are created, and the rights of BMI's staff who shouldn't have to loose their livelihoods.
We all hope and expect a sensible compromise; IAG being forced to cede slots to a competitor to allow them to operate on the routes that would otherwise become a monopoly.