The first time we left a law-making, tax-collecting, over-regulating, European super-union was in 1534. The taxes then went to Henry VIII’s treasury rather than the Borgias’. The oceans were freed for our global exploration (the Pope had declared the Atlantic a Spanish possession). A revolution in trade and industry was triggered.
A fuller (and better) description can be found here:
Free of strangulation by Brussels (or Rome), Europe can (and did) flourish.
This EU Won't Work 