I do wish that Cameron would give us the opportunity to vote for our removal from the EEC. It doesn't seem to have done the ordinary people much good, but no doubt it has vastly benefitted the financiers and business moguls to get their snouts in the Great Trough over there. Culturally, 'Europe' can never be cohesive. It's far too complex and varied, as you say, agriculturally, industrially, historically. There are also too many aggressively chauvinistic leaders who can never agree because naturally each is rooting for his/her own country's interests (and of course, their own private gains). On a small scale, (in my personal experience) committees are tricky and seldom achieve a good outcome unless all the members are basically of one mind. On a large scale, where entire nations are involved, it can only be a total disaster.