Brexit: Death knell for EU?

Britain's vote to become the first country to leave the EU opens up a Pandora's box of uncertainties threatening the survival of the whole post-war European project, analysts said yesterday.

The loss of one of its biggest members will at the very least force major changes on an embattled bloc faced with growing anti-European Union sentiment, a migration crisis and a struggling economy.

Calls for other referendums could in turn lead to a much looser grouping, and possibly even disintegration of a union established 60 years ago to restore security and prosperity to a Europe devastated by World War II.

The European Commission denied that the Brexit was the beginning of the end for the bloc, although EU President Donald Tusk had warned in the run-up to the vote that it could bring about the "destruction of not only the EU but also of Western political civilisation".

Janis Emmanouilidis, director of studies at Brussels-based think tank European Policy Centre, said the vote means "a lot of uncertainty -- for EU relations with Britain, for EU member states individually and for the bloc's place in the world."

"You have opened up the box towards an exit which is something which is sending a negative signal to the outside world but also to EU citizens in general," Emmanouilidis told AFP.

Chris Bickerton, a lecturer at Britain's Cambridge University and author of "The European Union: A Citizen's Guide", said it was a "very serious blow" but not necessarily fatal, given the "core role" of the EU in much of European political life.

"I don't think it would suddenly disappear but over the longer term, we might see it slowly decline and become something different," he told AFP, envisaging a "looser, ad-hoc" union.

The main fear in many European capitals is that either way, the result could trigger a domino effect of referendums in other countries.

French far-right leader Marine Le Pen immediately called for a referendum, a messeage echoed by far-right Dutch MP Geert Wilders.

The danger for the EU is that even after if it makes changes following the British referendum, it will still not be able to quell the forces of history tearing it apart.

"Yes, I think this is the end of EU. There is no way back from that. The EU has already passed away already," Dutch anti-Islam MP Geert Wilders told AFP.

"The genie cannot go back into the bottle, the patient has already passed away."

Italy's most prominent far-right politician, Matteo Salvini also said his country should follow Britain's example.

"Cheers to the bravery of free citizens," the leader of the anti-immigration, anti-EU Northern League wrote on Twitter. "Heart, head and pride beat lies, threats and blackmail. THANKS UK, now it is our turn #Brexit".

There were similar reactions from other European eurosceptic parties.

 In Denmark, the populist Danish People's Party (DPP), which has been calling for a renegotiation of its EU accords, hailed what it called a "courageous" British decision. But it urged everyone to "keep their heads" and wait to see what happened next.