For many, particularly here, the EU is an institutional framework for international governance, which puts it against the neo-liberal narrative.  However, for many others, the EU is primarily a free trade agreement, epitomizing the victory of merchants over the medieval militarists who established castles every few kilometers on the Rhine River to soak the traders on their barges.

 I like that description of the debate.

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