They and Cyprus show that the idea that the EU could more effectively deal with problems in member states than in candidate states is a delusion.

It's not delusion: it works. These problems are headaches, sometimes long and painful ones, but they do not turn into international crisis, hot or cold wars. just that is worth it, even if it's never counted as an achievement.

Just like Italy having the same interest rates as Germany: sure their debt and economy is a problem, but it's not a crisis that destabilises several countries.

How quickly we forget what the alternative looked like.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes