To the hell with that I am not going to be positive!

Sadly it was a distant entity to most Brits. There are more UK citizens in Australia and the US than there are in the EU. Even then many of them never bothered to integrate and took the place with a sense of entitlement. The UK has opt outs of parts that have a huge impact i.e euro and Schengen. The EU flag is never displayed with pride but hidden away in buildings that had EU funding with most registration plates not having the EU flag.

When the EU was mentioned it was normally demonised by the media and by politicians. There was never any bother to be committed to that place due to fear of public backlash. So here we are months after a referendum won on the back of decades of lies and the worst campaigning on the eve of the start of the formal discussions about to leave one of the most successful projects ever.

To be honest. I think that asking what things you are going to lose is the wrong way to do that because the EU is more about strength the cooperation between a continent that has been at war for nearly all of its history.