
For the EU, the timing of Brexit could not have been worse. More than seven years after the eurozone debt crisis hit, Europe’s economies remain fragile. Russia continues its saber rattling on the eastern periphery. The refugee crisis has exposed deep divisions across the continent over immigration. And antiestablishment parties on both the right and the left that question the value of the EU have gained ground. In the 1957 Treaty of Rome, which established the EU’s predecessor, Europe’s leaders envisioned “an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe.” Six decades on, that notion has never seemed more distant. Read more here.