Making the EU democratic is desirable but risky

Over the weekend Switzerland held its national elections, while a few days before that EU leaders agreed on a new treaty in Lisbon. The two events had no direct connection, because Switzerland is not an EU member. However, a Swiss would have little difficulty understanding the EU's institutional quarrels. Switzerland has been successfully dealing with the challenge of keeping a multi-confessional, multi-lingual society together for more than 150 years, while respecting a large degree of auton...