Impasse

Here's the rub of it: the UK cannot, in all conscience,
proceed to further integration with the EU even where
it seems to make sense given the size and needs of this
country. Turns out that the English Monarchy is Head of
State in a number of former colonies with ceremonial
duties but - in Canada, for example - with reserve powers that come
into play in difficult times: dissolving Parliament, declaring war
or signing treaties. Something of a parental role, if you wish.
The rest of the EU is at the point where it needs to get on
with it and integrate immigration, social policy, things that don't
make much sense  without common Defense as well. Angela  Merkel
made a European decision when she allowed all those migrants into
Germany. Thus, the current Brexit impasse.

This reading of the situation is true enough but it is also superficial, and
I might add, part of the problem. The EU has been silent and patient,
perhaps dangerously so. Territory and power have been the stuff of
European history. Looking to the future, Europe does indeed need to
get on a schedule of agreements on its issues. Perhaps not precisely the
ones in the current Brexit, but a wider set. You've got this, Europe!