Quite. Despite a lot of the economic arguments against brexit being quite compelling, it's hard to get past the overall picture of around four nations (including France and Germany) being net spenders that underwrite the entire expansionist project at tremendous cost. If the EU were just honest about this and said it was a price we have to pay for a stable continent and the projection of soft power into the former Soviet bloc I'd probably see the value. They don't make this (actually quite reasonable) case because in doing so they would be admitting their federalist agenda.
Good grief. "If it's not one wrong explanation it must be my other wrong explanation". Or this: the value of the single market far outweighs the net contributions.
https://www.statista.com/chart/amp/18794/net-contributors-to-eu-budget/