They just don’t get it, do they? Of all the stupidities aired by EU policymakers in response to Britain’s referendum vote, there are two standouts.

One was the verdict of Herman Van Rompuy, former president of the European Council. Cameron’s decision to hold a referendum, he said, was “the worst policy decision in decades”.

You’ll be relieved to learn that Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission (Europe manages to have no less than five separate presidents), doesn’t agree.

In fact, he says, “borders are the worst invention ever made by politicians”. This from someone who while prime minister of Luxembourg cynically used sovereign borders to make Luxembourg into Europe’s premier tax haven.

Even acknowledging that this latter remark was made in the context of the migrant crisis, it goes to the heart of what’s gone wrong with the European Union. For together with Mr Van Rompuy’s condescending dismissal of the democratic process, it displays a deep contempt at the heart of the European project for the collective will and concerns of the people.

As the economist Joseph Stiglitz, notes in a compellingly argued new book on the failure of the European project – The Euro, and its threat to the future of Europe – on virtually every occasion when voters have been directly consulted, they have rejected the idea of further integration.