OTOH, sometimes national governments will try establish policies at the EU level that they know will be unpopular at home, so can face their voters and claim th

OTOH, sometimes national governments will try establish policies at the EU level that they know will be unpopular at home, so can face their voters and claim they don't really want this, but look, that evil EU makes us. That was how the data retention laws were established before the European Court of Justice decided that it was illegal/unconstitutional (unsure what term to use here).