"The European ideal," writes The Telegraph's Simon Heffer, "was about subjugating the national interest, often by less than democratic means, to ensure that something called 'Europe' functioned as a single economic concern." While some countries offered referendums to decide on pro-EU political changes, they often offered referendums again if the results didn't turn out the way pro-EU leaders wanted. Because of such seemingly undemocratic practices, Heffer won't be shedding tears if the economic glue of the zone--the euro--goes away anytime soon:

How the euro, and the countries that comprise it, have got away with this for so long is a mystery to most rational people. We may not yet have had the emperor's clothes moment, but it cannot be far off....We may indeed be about to see an economic debacle of unprecedented proportions in the recent history of the developed world. We shall just have to steel ourselves for it. It may, though, have the legacy of ending the neo-sovietisation of our continent, and allowing a resurgence of democracy in Europe and among European peoples; which would prove, at last, that every cloud does indeed have a silver lining.

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Heather Horn