(REUTERS) – The European Union’s authority is fraying as governments and politicians in many members challenge EU policies and take aim at “Brussels bureaucracy” in the aftermath of Britain’s vote to leave the 28-nation bloc. The Czech president and some contenders for the French presidency have called for their own referendums on continued membership of the pan-European economic and political community, although no such plebiscite is on the cards in the near future. Verbal assaults on the role of the European Commission and the European Parliament since the British shock almost two weeks ago look more like an attempt to appease domestic public opinion than a concerted drive to strip Brussels of its main powers. But they could further undermine the legitimacy of the EU’s common institutions in the eyes of citizens. France, facing a presidential election next year, has threatened to stop obeying EU rules on workers posted from one member state to another, which it says undercuts the jobs of native employees. President Francois Hollande has also demanded a rewriting of EU merger control rules and restrictions on state aid to industry to enable the creation of “European champions”. Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Sunday an