An earthquake has hit Europe. The move towards ever closer union turns out not to be inevitable. This is a source of both pleasure and pain: pleasure over the humbling of arrogance and pain at the triumph of reaction.

Before the vote, Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg's prime minister and current president of the European Council, declared that France and the Netherlands should re-run their referendums, if necessary, in order to obtain the "right answer". Mr Juncker is all too representative of the contemporary European elite, which does not merely deserve, but needs, the kicking the French have given it.