Mr van Reybrouck blasted the “invisible” European Union administration for dictating the political behaviour of member states like a 20th-century colonial government.
The Belgian historian said: “The European Commission is like the colonial administrations of the past: it despises the people.
“We live under the yoke of an omnipresent administration, invisible, which controls our existence in the most minute details.
“The EU is also working with local potentates, while at the same time appearing to improve the lives of many.”
Mr van Reybrouck called out Brussels bosses within the Commission for their attempts to silence the voices of European citizens by perpetuating a “democratic deficit” within the EU institutions.
He continued: “We have an organ of co-decision, the European Parliament. It has more powers than the consultative organisations of the colonial period, but always less than the European Commission and the European Council. The democratic deficit is not filled.
“There are many who consider the EU haughty and elitist. As per corollary, the EU wants to distance itself from the people more and more. Living in Europe in 2017 increasingly resembles living under the ending days of a colonialist government.”
The historian added that Brexit had highlighted the fundamental crisis the European Union is facing, suggesting that the failure to democratise would lead to the “quick end” of the European project.
Writing in Le Monde, he said: “Brexit has now become a fact, and the profound crisis that Europe is facing is long from being over. The European adventure, as the overseas adventure, could reach an abrupt end.
“Europe has made serious mistakes in the 1990s, including the idea to adopt a common currency in 1992 without the development of necessary monetary management, financial or economic institutions beforehand.
“And that idea to abolish internal borders after 1993 without seriously reflecting about external borders, with all the possible repercussions on asylum and migration management.
“If the EU does not democratises itself radically, the end could come very quickly.”
It comes after it was revealed Brussels is pressing ahead with plans to expand its EU empire by setting a date for absorbing several Balkan nations.
European Commissioner Johannes Hahn said the move was sparked by the resurgence of Russia, the migration crisis, Turkey’s authoritarian regime and the wish to bolster European integration after the UK vote for Brexit.