Britain鈥檚 historic referendum result doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean the end of the European Union, but it will certainly force the EU to change, experts say.

Ian Lee of Carleton University predicts that the EU will stay intact 鈥� Britain included -- but will become a 鈥渓ooser federation鈥� that looks more like Canada.

that those predicting 鈥渄oom and gloom and recessions and so forth are making a fatal mistake.鈥�

鈥淭he biggest loser last night was the bureaucracy in Brussels,鈥� he said, referring to the European Parliament and related institutions based in the Belgian capital.

Lee said that people will look back in a few years and see Thursday鈥檚 vote as 鈥渢he catalytic event that caused transformation in the EU structure.鈥�

鈥淚 think they鈥檙e going to evolve and restructure towards a much looser confederation where the individual powers like Germany and the U.K. will be much stronger,鈥� he said.

鈥淚n fact, it鈥檚 going to look a lot more like Canada, where we have a strong central government but yes, strong provincial governments 鈥� except over there they will be called states: France, Germany, Italy etc.鈥�

鈥淚t will be much stronger and they will end the meddling of Brussels, who many in Europe see as an unaccountable bunch of bureaucrats,鈥� Lee added.

Philip Giurlando, a political scientist from Trent University in Peterborough, Ont., told 麻豆传媒 Channel that, although anti-immigrant sentiment many have tipped the scales in favour of 鈥渓eave,鈥� many Brits opted out of the EU simply because 鈥渢hey are convinced that they are tied to this dysfunctional body.鈥�

He points to a weak response to the migrant crisis and the economic collapse in Greece as examples of recent EU dysfunction.

But he doesn鈥檛 see this as the end either.

shows 48 per cent of Italians, 41 per cent of French citizens and 34 per cent of Germans would vote to exit the EU if given the chance. But Giurlando points out that referenda in those countries will only happen if voters choose anti-EU parties such as France鈥檚 National Front, in elections over the next few years. Polls so far suggest that鈥檚 unlikely.

And while he believes citizens of those countries would 鈥減robably鈥� vote to leave today, European leaders have plenty of time to 鈥渁ddress the dysfunctional aspects of the EU, and in that case, more voters would be willing to stay.鈥�

Richelle Harrison Plesse, a French journalist, told 麻豆传媒 Channel that, while the 鈥楤rexit鈥� has 鈥済iven a boost to Euroskeptic far-right parties,鈥� she points out that 鈥渁lmost half of those in the U.K. did vote to remain.鈥�