Such reasoning is not hypocritical, or self-serving or sordid; it's simply out of date. To Germans of my generation (I am 40, roughly the median age there), the main geopolitical event of their lifetime was not the fall of Berlin, but the fall of the Berlin Wall. Patriotism was not a recruiting sergeant for fascism, but a liberating force which saw democracy restored to Central Europe. The shamanistic incantation, "we must do this for Europe", has consequently lost its force over them. The spell has been broken. They can see what every other nation in Europe can see: that the EU has become a self-serving racket, a mechanism to redistribute wealth from taxpayers to those lucky enough to be in the system. When Germany declines to carry the burden, when Atlas shrugs, it's over.

That's not to say, of course, that those in power won't defend their privileges frenziedly. There is, as I say, a deal of ruin in a union. But the EU has lost whatever legitimacy it once enjoyed. It may stagger on for another five years, or even another ten. But, if the happy events of 1989 teach us anything, it's that the end, when it comes, is more sudden than anyone had dared to hope.