European Council President Donald Tusk has sounded the alarm, warning that Eurosceptic movements are gaining momentum in the EU because the dream of a federation-like union being pushed by EU leaders is out of touch with the views of ordinary Europeans.

“The specter of a break-up is haunting Europe. A vision of a federation doesn’t seem to me like the best answer to it,” Tusk said at a meeting of the European People’s Party, the biggest bloc in the European Parliament, Reuter reported.

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Addressing fellow EU leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker, Tusk took a shot at the idea, popular among EU conservatives, of creating a more federalized Europe. European leaders who pursue what Tusk called utopian “illusions” are not in tune with their own peoples,’ who do not share their “Euro-enthusiasm.”



“Obsessed with the idea of instant and total integration, we failed to notice that ordinary people, the citizens of Europe, do not share our Euro-enthusiasm. Disillusioned with the great visions of the future, they demand that we cope with the present reality better than we have been doing until now ... Euroscepticism [has] become an alternative to those illusions.”



“It is us who today are responsible for confronting reality with all kinds of utopias – a utopia of Europe without nation states, a utopia of Europe without conflicting interests and ambitions, a utopia of Europe imposing its own values on the external world,” the former Polish prime minister said.

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As European Council president, Tusk said that it was time for “an honest and open debate on the subject.”



Speaking just a month before a British referendum on whether to stay in the bloc, Tusk called the possibility of a “Leave” vote a risk to the European Union, pointing out that the Brexit debate has been mostly focused on fears that greater EU integration means a loss of sovereignty for the UK.



British Prime Minister David Cameron has called a referendum to decide whether Britain should leave the 28-nation European Union, which is to be held on June 23.