AKIPRESS.COM - On the grounds of the Petit Palais in Paris stands a bronze statue of Winston Churchill. It was sculpted by a Frenchman and recalls the day in November 1944 that the British Prime Minister visited the French capital soon after the end of the Nazi occupation.

The statue was erected in tribute to Churchill's wartime leadership -- but also his vision for Europe. A few months after that visit to Paris, Churchill spoke of the need "to re-create the European family," with Germany and France at its heart, CNN reported. 

"We must build a kind of United States of Europe," he said.

More than 70 years later, the European family seems altogether more enthusiastic about the project than Churchill's own compatriots.

The front page of El Pais, Spain's leading daily newspaper, shows a woman standing in front of Parliament in London holding aloft a "Together Stronger" banner. In France, Queen Elizabeth II and Mr. Bean share the front cover of the weekly Marianne, with the banner "Ils sont fous, ces Anglais." Swedish tabloid Dagens Nyheter has a map of Britain drifting away from Europe with the text "Mind the Gap."

The message from Europe to British voters, who face a referendum Thursday on whether to leave the European Union, is -- mainly -- "Please don't go."

Some convey the message as a plea. Europe needs Britain's defense capabilities at a time when Russia is saber rattling, they say. It needs Britain as a balance to German dominance inside the EU and as a counterweight to the Franco-German obsession with regulation.

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny wrote Monday in The Guardian: "The EU needs renewal and we need a strong UK at the table to help drive the reform agenda that can help the union regain competitiveness and growth."