[Itse]

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

I was listening to BBC radio on the drive in this morning, and one of the guys they were interviewing was talking about a rise in anti-EU sentiment throughout Europe. There seems to be a growing discontent with how Brussels stands above the local governments, and the guy flat out said the EU has to reconsider how it operates, or the entire thing could collapse.

I believe this is very much true. EU is certainly facing a lot of criticism and the number of supporters it has seems to be diminishing.

Various nationalist groups have always hated EU, but after the fiasco that has been the handling of the Greek crisis (and the financial crisis in general), scepticism towards "The Great European project" is I would say pretty widespread.

The racist rhetorics of the 'leave'-camp have probably done more to make EU look good than anything EU itself has managed to do in recent years. But of course that's a temporary thing. It seems EU is only really popular is in Eastern European countries looking for protection from Russia.

I think it's worth remembering that major political upheaval in Europe has been predicted by many for a while now, due to the changing global economical landscape, vast immigration created by climate change and the fast widening divide between the rich and the poor.

In that light Brexit might barely qualify as a prolog when all is said and done.

If this is accurate, then the EU itself has to tread carefully. Even without that, for the EU to 'shiv' Britain would be counterproductive. They are still a financial power within Europe, and it would make no sense to cut off their nose to spite their face.

I doubt there's anyone in EU that wants to spite Britain. For the pro-integration people EU is the means to an end, not the end itself. They'll want to keep the integration going despite the result. The pragmatics will want to be pragmatic. The sceptics will want to create a positive precedent for an exit from EU. Essentially everyone wants things to go smoothly.