Losing the UK wouldn't be so bad for Europe

The London-based Centre for European Reform, has just published a report identifying more specific effects that a British exit, or Brexit, might have on the EU. It didn't find too many of them. The UK's departure might actually be beneficial to the bloc's cohesion, though it'll lose an important voice on policy matters.

...The CER also points out that Northern European countries such as the Netherlands would still advocate relatively liberal policies within the EU, though they won't be as vigorous as the Brits in defending free trade. "There has been a broad consensus across the Union in favor of moves to liberalise markets for goods, services and labor," the think-tank's report says. "Much of this has been driven by eurozone countries' attempt to improve their competitiveness."

... According to the Center for European Reform: Brexit would encourage those in America who dismiss Europe as a region of sclerotic economic growth with a dysfunctional political system and who argue for more US engagement with booming Asian economies compared with Europe.
..."Germany's preponderance in the EU has grown in the past five years, because of the disengagement of the UK, the relative weakness of both France and the European Commission," the Center for European Reform report says. "This situation is not in Germany's interests or those of the other member-states."