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In that time, the EU was forced to pay less attention to other problems among its member states. Problems that present a far greater long-term threat to the European project than Brexit ever could.

For the EU is being undermined by nations within its ranks ignoring the rule of EU law, deviating from Europe's high standards on human rights and laughing in the face of freedom of expression.

The court's words might be a little dramatic. The proposed reforms, which would allow the government to punish judges for engaging in political activity, ignore the EU's requirement that courts act independently of government. But that doesn't mean Poland is going to get kicked out of the EU.

First, you cannot officially expel an EU member state. It's possible to suspend a nation's voting rights under Article 7 of the treaty of the European Union, designed to punish nations that disobey the EU's founding principles. But they are officially still a member state. It would require unanimous agreement among the other member states to even have a vote on doing so. And no one who understands EU politics thinks there is any chance of this happening.

"Article 7 was never designed to deal with a situation where there was more than one delinquent state," says Ronan McCrea, professor of European Law at University College London.

Right now, there are several delinquent states causing havoc in Brussels. About 340 miles south of Warsaw, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban has spent the past decade presiding over assaults on his nation's courts, academic institutions, central bank and press.

These are merely the most egregious examples of member states undermining the EU's core principles.

Croatia's government is under pressure for failing to reform existing laws enough to protect journalists from facing legal suits for doing their job. There are similar criticisms of tight press control in Greece and Bulgaria. Bluntly, the old continent is hurtling towards a crisis in mutual trust on values and law. And trust is arguably the central pillar of European unity and stability.

Agata Gostyska-Jakubowska, a senior research fellow at the Centre for European Reform, explains that the "backtracking on the rule of law in any member states" creates "a challenge to the whole mutual trust. That is a founding principle for crucial projects such as the single market or justice."

The problem is that members of the EU are overseen by the European Court of Justice. National courts are expected to respect European law. McCrea explains that "the web of rules under which members states automatically recognize each others' decisions is threatened by undermining the rule of law. The EU is a very small bureaucracy. It largely depends on national judges and national civil servants to implement the law."

With so many European nations terrified at the prospect of the EU juggernaut taking a closer look at their alleged indiscretions, there is no way that as a bloc, the member states would give a green light to Brussels singling out one member. So Article 7 is a non-starter.

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Brexit was a distraction. Now Europe is facing a hellish 2020 - CNN