Milan — THE British have a reputation for being calm under pressure. It’s a stereotype, sure, but it’s something I noticed time and again in the decades I spent working in and reporting on the country, from my interactions on the street to the goings-on in Parliament. It’s written into their literature and their language, all of which seems intended to remind the world of a simple fact: They will not overreact. Rudyard Kipling’s famous lines — “If you can keep your head when all about you/Are losing theirs and blaming it on you” — are not just words from a poem. Together, they express Britain’s creed.

Admirable, of course. But when it comes to Europe these days, the British are not keeping their heads at all. The prelude to the referendum on Britain’s membership in the European Union, to be held on June 23, is turning out to be everything but calm and composed. The British are excitable, passionate, emotional.

The two camps — should we stay or should we go? — have been at each other’s throats for some time. The “debates” on TV and in Parliament regularly devolve into shouting matches. Concessions recently gained by Prime Minister David Cameron in Brussels will not change this. The decision of his rival Mayor Boris Johnson of London to support the “Brexit” camp will make the struggle even more heated.

The British have always looked down on Southern Europeans — including us Italians — as dangerously emotional. But this time, they are following our lead. And this is unfortunate, as the rational arguments are all on one side.