And just about all EU member states have put the brakes on matters which weren't in their national interests.
I said that in another thread already: the EU members are only good Europeans as long as Germany pays. Once the handouts stop, they will all be back to their old ways of fighting with each other like little children on the playground. Real solidarity is almost non-existent.
Brexit will happen and there is no denying the spur for it was irresponsible and out-of-control immigration policies
That was part of the problem, but Farage and Johnson forgot to mention that many of the unwanted foreigners that "take away British jobs" are actually Commonwealth citizens who will enter the country in larger numbers anyway. The Brexiters pretty much voted against Europeans and for Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Nigerians. Their choice. I believe that Brexit is a big mistake and that the U.K. will pay dearly for it.
seeing how Greece literally was going up in flames based on dictates from Germany
I have no sympathy whatsoever for Greek politicians. They were responsible that the country defaulted several times on their debt already and they still let others pay for their "lavish" lifestyle of early retirement and not paying taxes. Screw them. Unfortunately, the honest and hard working Greeks are the ones who pay the price for the incompetence of their leaders - just like everywhere.
You do recall it was the Germans who told the Greeks they should sell their islands to help balance their books?
I found that rather funny, to be honest. After the smear campaign in the Greek media that compared Merkel to Adolf while at the same time calling every German a Nazi, the ungrateful pricks deserved much worse. I wish German tourists would've stayed away altogether and bankrupted the country. Greece doesn't belong in the Euro zone, and they were only able to get in because they cooked the books with the help of Goldman Sachs.