Maybe we should have said more often how much we loved the idea of Europe: how it widened the horizons of our lives 1) to have the vision of building a "world" on a continent that has been at war in one way or another for centuries; 2) to see our children able to cross borders and go to school or work so easily in other countries whose languages they may have learned in school (our children had the good fortune to be tri-national from birth and bilingual from the time they started talking; in school they spoke two languages and learned two more--German, Italian and Russian, depending on the child--and regularly travelled "abroad" with their teachers). It was exciting. There was a European Dream quite distinct from the American one, less based on personal happiness and wealth.

Clearly not everyone has had the same experience. Rich countries with dominant languages, like the UK, have been flooded with young people from poorer nations. Polish workers kept a French electrician's costs down. Still, the redistribution of wealth did work in many directions, as some British farmers are belatedly discovering.

Where are the French politicians who are going to stop the Front National from using the Brexit as an argument in next year's French elections?

Beverley Bie Brahic