It's almost like people completely understand the need to pool sovereignty up to and including the nation state level, but simply can't get their heads around anything beyond that.
I'll be honest - until the last 2-3 years, I never understood how important national identity was for so many people. {Don't get me wrong, I love being an Englishman abroad, but I'll mock my own nation's failings mercilessly.}
But I've also studied enough history to know that the EU allowed our nation to punch far above our weight, so I would have thought the more nationalist types would approve. How wrong I was.