I see your point, although I still can't shake the impression that the entire EU's shifting away from its potential of being the best example. Sure, it's down to individual people with individual views, but we're still to see if it's greater than the sum of its parts, to be honest...

Don't get me wrong, I'd still rather we have the EU than not have it, but I'd wish to see a lot more reasonable and rational minds on the council and have it be felt throughout its policies.

It's a democracy where the European Commission (which is actually the main governing body of the EU and not EP) is comprised of people put there by bureaucracies.

I don't think you get the EU. It's a failed attempt at powerful democratic version of USSR, that has been retconned into a successful confederacy, only it's not that too.