"As historians of Britain and of Europe, we believe that Britain has had in the past, and will have in the future, an irreplaceable role to play in Europe. On 23 June, we face a choice: to cast ourselves adrift, condemning ourselves to irrelevance and Europe to division and weakness; or to reaffirm our commitment to the EU and stiffen the cohesion of our continent in a dangerous world."
Or, as one of them put it "Europe made us".
Condemning ourselves to irrelevance? Were we irrelevant before we joined the EU? I don't think so. The way things are headed though Britain will be irrelevant if we stay in the EU, we'll just be a region in the EU superstate, dominated by Germany.
Europe may have "made us" when the time was right to join, but times change, and the current EU and the way in which it is heading isn't what people voted for back then and it's the reason why we're having this referendum now, because it's not what people want. The biggest reason most people who will vote to remain will do so because they think it's better the Devil you know, not because they want to be in the EU.