As we know, the great dream that has been shaping the political integration of Europe for 60 years is today facing what is called an "existential crisis" – one so profound as to call into question its continued existence.

The seemingly insoluble problems the European Union has brought upon itself crowd in from all directions: the slow-motion catastrophe of the euro, the unending flood of refugees; the deadly plague of terrorism; the approaching energy crunch. And now, amid that growing resentment right across Europe of all the EU stands for, it is also faced with the vote of one of its largest members to leave it altogether.

As a measure of just how desperately the EU has lost its way, it is worth taking a closer look at the symbolism of the venue chosen for last week's meeting of the leaders of Germany, France, and Italy, to discuss what they can do next to it all.

We were coyly told that the little island of Ventotene off Naples was where, in 1941, a prisoner of Mussolini's had written the visionary manifesto that looked forward to building, after the war, a "United States of Europe". What somehow got omitted was that Altiero Spinelli was a Communist (the Today programme merely described him on air as a "Fascist prisoner", although, lest this be misunderstood, that was edited out of their online report).