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", i.e. the heads of state of the 27 member countries. "

The Italian president is un-elected (chosen by parliament).

Also, what does this mean for Spain, whose head of state is a King?

Im sure "head of state" means "effective ruler of the country", a PM in Italy, the president of France. But ut just points to the Byzantine rules the EU has created in 20 (or is it 30? Or is it 70?) years.

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It is simply the real democratic leader of each country for lack of a better single phrase because countries that still have monarchies pretend their head of state is their monarch

There is nothing Byzantine about pragmatically accommodating the differences between the political systems of independent states

The alternative would be.... Requiring all states to not call their monarchs heads of state? Removing their monarchies? Having the same political system? Pointless dogmatism

The reason for the complex rules is not to let the Spaniards pretend their head of state is their head of state (few Spaniards do, it seems to me anyway). The reason is to insulate the power cupola from the vagaries of public opinion.

Which is the original argument here, namely that the EU has a large democratic deficit

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