Waves of xenophobia have been unleashed. Vitriolic tabloids have helped to whip it up....Marine Le Pen is now demanding Frexit – an EU referendum for France. Brexit could thus be the first step in the disintegration of the EU – unless the EU can rapidly democratise. Its internal contradictions mean it is unlikely to be capable of the drastic reform required to save it. That would mean the European Commission becoming directly electable and accountable. It would mean Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations not being held behind closed doors. It would mean an end to a neoliberal, corporate EU and a return to the original post-war European project of social democracy.