When we have (mostly British) commentators airily telling us the EU is a meaningless shell we could throw aside as useless tomorrow, we need to remember the essential point of unity through economic alliance that was at the origin of the EU.

My feeling is that the approach/process Europeans have had to follow in our common quest for peaceful, mutually beneficial economic and regulatory unity is in itself as important as the unity achieved. Decades of long long, slow, patient, time-consuming  and often extremely tiresome discussion and negotiation founded on the need to seek consensus while taking different priorities and points of view into account, the habit of seeking common ground and gradually building on it - it is this painstaking process that has enabled the nations of Europe to overcome the deadly rivalries, rancours and mistrusts of centuries.  If we as Europeans can really claim to have something to offer the world, a "lesson learned" that others can learn from if they wish, I think this is it.

"Ignoring moralities is always undesirable, but doing so systematically is really worrisome." Mohammed Khatami