Definitely don't hold your breath.
There will be no introspection. There will be no reform. The path forward and the mission will not change. We can all see benefits to being in the EU but we can also see how much better it should have been for us as a country. By sweeping away trading barriers, Brussels ensured that the manufacturing giant that is Germany got stronger and stronger. As our heavy industry base declined, so our profile changed and we became a service dominated country. Our demand for imports grew to the extent where we now run a massive trading deficit with the EU, despite being in surplus in services. An unhealthy balance has been created because there was an unwillingness, from both sides, to recognise that the EU in its present format, doesn't best suit us.
I have waited years to be persuaded that the EU was going to undertake the sort of reform needed but they have continued hellbent on the path to expansionism. Whole swathes of their ' membership ' have been reduced to poverty stricken countries with mass youth unemployment. The golden vision is in reality, the silver lined Northern European dream.
Its single- mindedness is both its strength and its ultimate demise. It won't survive as it is and its leaders will not attempt any change. They see no reason to. They don't believe that political and economic history is against them. Theirs is the new way and the right way forward and there is no going back.
There will be a stronger Franco-German trading alliance. They see the dangers ahead. They can see splinters becoming cracks. This is the powerhouse core of Europe. Not this behemoth, getting ever bigger before it bursts, called the EU. European politics will determine the future of the EU and European politics is changing.
Brilliant post.