re: Democracies; the vertuous cycle
To paraphrase Bowser's question, what happens when a member of the EU doesn't agree with something?
There are more ways to put a boot on someone's neck than by using armed forces. Most likely EU outcome over the next few years is going to be bureaucratic rot. The culture of the EU attracts that sort of person who thinks there should be rules over how big the holes in Swiss cheese are, and I don't see this as a good thing in the long term. I readily agree that my own government has a lot of problems in this area.
An interesting article on this subject here.