United States of Europe

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This article is about a speculative European federation. For the current association of sovereign European states, see European Union. For an analysis of real world federalisation of Europe, see Federalisation of the European Union.
European Union
Council of Europe
European Economic Area

The United States of Europe, the European state,[1][2] the European federation, and Federal Europe are names used to refer to several similar hypothetical scenarios of the unification of Europe as a single sovereign federation of states, similar to the United States of America, both as projected by writers of speculative fiction and science fiction, and by political scientists, politicians, geographers, historians, and futurologists. At present, while the European Union (EU) is not officially a federation, various academic observers regard it as having the characteristics of a federal system.[3]

Specifically, the term United States of Europe – as a direct comparison with the United States of America – would imply that all the European states would acquire a status similar to that of a US state, becoming constituent parts of a European federation acting as one country.

History[edit]

Main article: Ideas of European unity before 1945

Various versions of the concept have developed over the centuries, many of which are mutually incompatible (inclusion or exclusion of the United Kingdom, secular or religious union, etc.). Such proposals include those from Bohemian King George of Podebrady in 1464; Duc de Sully of France in the seventeenth century; and the plan of William Penn, the Quaker founder of Pennsylvania, for the establishment of a "European Dyet, Parliament or Estates."

George Washington also allegedly voiced support for a "United States of Europe",[4] although the authenticity of this statement has been questioned.[5]

19th century[edit]

Felix Markham notes how during a conversation on St. Helena, Napoleon Bonaparte remarked, "Europe thus divided into nationalities freely formed and free internally, peace between States would have become easier: the United States of Europe would become a possibility."[6]

United States of Europe was also the name of the concept presented by Wojciech Jastrzębowski in About eternal peace between the nations, published 31 May 1831. The project consisted of 77 articles. The envisioned United States of Europe was to be an international organisation rather than a superstate.

Giuseppe Mazzini was an early advocate of a "United States of Europe", and regarded European unification as a logical continuation of the Unification of Italy.[7] He created the Young Europe movement.

The term United States of Europe (French: États-Unis d'Europe) was used by Victor Hugo, including during a speech at the International Peace Congress held in Paris in 1849. Hugo favoured the creation of "a supreme, sovereign senate, which will be to Europe what parliament is to England" and said "A day will come when all nations on our continent will form a European brotherhood ... A day will come when we shall see ... the United States of America and the United States of Europe face to face, reaching out for each other across the seas."

Hugo planted a tree in the grounds of his residence on the Island of Guernsey. He was noted in saying that when this tree matured the United States of Europe would have come into being. This tree to this day is still growing in the gardens of Maison de Hauteville, St. Peter Port, Guernsey, Victor Hugo's residence during his exile from France.

The Italian philosopher Carlo Cattaneo wrote, "The ocean is rough and whirling, and the currents go to two possible endings: the autocrat, or the United States of Europe". In 1867 Giuseppe Garibaldi and John Stuart Mill joined Victor Hugo at a congress of the League for Peace and Freedom in Geneva. Here the anarchist Mikhail Bakunin stated "That in order to achieve the triumph of liberty, justice and peace in the international relations of Europe, and to render civil war impossible among the various peoples which make up the European family, only a single course lies open: to constitute the United States of Europe". The French National Assembly also called for a United States of Europe on 1 March 1871.

20th century[edit]

Following the catastrophe of the First World War, some thinkers and visionaries again began to float the idea of a politically unified Europe. In 1923, the Austrian Count Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi founded the Pan-Europa Movement and hosted the First Paneuropean Congress, held in Vienna in 1926. The aim was for a Europe based on the principles of liberalism, Christianity and social responsibility.[8] Before the Communist revolution in Russia, Trotsky foresaw a "Federated Republic of Europe — the United States of Europe", created by the proletariat.[9]

In 1929, Aristide Briand, French Prime Minister, gave a speech before the Assembly of the League of Nations in which he proposed the idea of a federation of European nations based on solidarity and in the pursuit of economic prosperity and political and social co-operation. Many eminent economists, among them John Maynard Keynes, supported this view. At the League's request Briand presented a "Memorandum on the organisation of a system of European Federal Union" in 1930. In 1931, French politician Édouard Herriot and British civil servant Arthur Salter both penned books titled The United States of Europe.

During the World War II victories of Nazi Germany in 1940, Wilhelm II stated that "the hand of God is creating a new world & working miracles. ... We are becoming the United States of Europe under German leadership, a united European Continent."[10]

In 1941, the Italian anti-fascists Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi finished writing the Ventotene Manifesto, encouraging a federation of European states.[11]

The term United States of Europe was used by Winston Churchill in his speech delivered on 19 September 1946 at the University of Zurich, Switzerland.[12] In this speech given after the end of the Second World War, Churchill concluded that:

We must build a kind of United States of Europe. In this way only will hundreds of millions of toilers be able to regain the simple joys and hopes which make life worth living.[13]

Before the Second World War, Churchill favoured an isolationist attitude towards continental Europe. On 15 February 1930, Churchill commented in the American journal The Saturday Evening Post that a "European Union" was possible between continental states but without Britain's involvement:

We see nothing but good and hope in a richer, freer, more contented European commonality. But we have our own dream and our own task. We are with Europe, but not of it. We are linked but not compromised. We are interested and associated but not absorbed.[14]

Churchill's was a more cautious approach ("the unionist position") to European integration than was the continental approach that was known as "the federalist position".[15] The federalists advocated full integration with a constitution, while the Unionist United Europe Movement advocated a consultative body, and the federalists prevailed at the Congress of Europe.[15] The primary accomplishment of the Congress of Europe was the European Court of Human Rights, which predates the European Union.[16]

Prospects for closer union[edit]

The member states of the European Union do have many common policies within the European Union (EU) and on behalf of the EU that are sometimes suggestive of a single state. It has a common executive (the European Commission), a single High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, a common European Security and Defence Policy, a supreme court (European Court of Justice – but only in matters of European Union law), a peacekeeping force (Eurofor), and an intergovernmental research organisation (the EIROforum with members like CERN). The euro is often referred to as the "single European currency", which has been officially adopted by nineteen EU countries while seven other member countries of the European Union have linked their currencies to the euro in ERM II. In addition a number of European territories outside the EU have adopted the euro unofficially such as Montenegro, the Republic of Kosovo and Andorra.[citation needed]

The EU, however, does not have a single constitution, a single government, a single foreign policy set by that government, a single taxation system contributing to a single exchequer, or a single military. There is no such thing as a single European justice system, let alone a European prosecutor who could enforce European Union law in European trial courts independent of the courts of individual member states. There are no European trial judges who have sworn loyalty to Europe over loyalty to their home countries, and no European prisons. Without its own independent courts and prisons, the European Union's ability to curb corruption in member states is severely limited (especially in contrast to the federal government of the United States).[citation needed]

Schengen Area
Eurozone

Several pan-European institutions exist separate from the EU. The European Space Agency counts almost all the EU member nations in its membership, but it is independent of the EU and its membership includes nations that are not EU members, notably Switzerland and Norway. The European Court of Human Rights (not to be confused with the European Court of Justice) is also independent of the Union. It is an element of the Council of Europe which, like ESA, counts EU members and non-members alike in its membership.

At present, the European Union is a free association of sovereign states designed to further their shared aims. Other than the vague aim of "ever closer union" in the Solemn Declaration on European Union, the Union (meaning its member governments) has no current policy to create either a federation or a confederation. However, in the past, Jean Monnet, a person associated with the EU and its predecessor the European Economic Community did make such proposals. A wide range of other terms are in use, to describe the possible future political structure of Europe as a whole, and/or the EU. Some of them, such as United Europe, are used often, and in such varied contexts, but they have no definite constitutional status.

In the United States, the concept enters serious discussions of whether a unified Europe is feasible and what impact increased European unity would have on the United States of America's relative political and economic power. Glyn Morgan, a Harvard University associate professor of government and social studies, uses it unapologetically in the title of his book The Idea of a European Superstate: Public Justification and European Integration. While Morgan's text focuses on the security implications of a unified Europe, a number of other recent texts focus on the economic implications of such an entity. Important recent texts here include T.R. Reid's The United States of Europe and Jeremy Rifkin's The European Dream. Neither the National Review nor the Chronicle of Higher Education doubt the appropriateness of the term in their reviews.[17][18]

European federalist organisations[edit]

Various federalist organisations have been created over time supporting the idea of a federal Europe. These include the Union of European Federalists, the European Movement International and the European Federalist Party.[citation needed]

Union of European Federalists[edit]

The Union of European Federalists (UEF) is a European non-governmental organisation, campaigning for a Federal Europe. It consists of 20 constituent organisations and it has been active at the European, national and local levels for more than 50 years. A young branch called the Young European Federalists also exists in 30 countries of Europe.[citation needed]

European Movement International[edit]

The European Movement International is a lobbying association that coordinates the efforts of associations and national councils with the goal of promoting European integration, and disseminating information about it.[citation needed]

European Federalist Party[edit]

The European Federalist Party is the pro-European, pan-European and federalist political party which advocates further integration of the EU and the establishment of a Federal Europe. Its aim is to gather all Europeans to promote European federalism and to participate in all elections all over Europe. It has national sections in 15 countries.[citation needed]

Politicians[edit]

Guy Verhofstadt[edit]

Following the negative referenda about the European Constitution in France and the Netherlands, the Belgian ex-prime minister Guy Verhofstadt released in November 2005 his book, written in Dutch, Verenigde Staten van Europa ("United States of Europe") in which he claims – based on the results of a Eurobarometer questionnaire – that the average European citizen wants more Europe. He thinks a federal Europe should be created between those states that wish to have a federal Europe (as a form of enhanced cooperation). In other words, a core federal Europe would exist within the current EU. He also states that these core states should federalise the following five policy areas: a European social-economic policy, technology cooperation, a common justice and security policy, a common diplomacy and a European army. Following the ratification of the Treaty of Lisbon (December 2009) by all member states of the EU, the outline of a common diplomatic service, known as the External Action Service of the European Union (EEAS) was set in place. On 20 February 2009, The European Parliament also voted in favour of the creation of Synchronised Armed Forces Europe (SAFE) as a first step towards a forming a true European military force.[19] This short book is a summary of the condition the EU "idea" consequent to the "No" votes on the European constitution, in referendums held in 2005 in France and the Netherlands. In this book, the author enunciates his case forcefully for a stronger federal approach to the economic and political challenges the EU member states will face in the future.[citation needed]

Verhofstadt's book was awarded the first Europe Book Prize, which is organised by the association Esprit d'Europe and supported by former President of the European Commission Jacques Delors. The prize money was €20,000. The prize was declared at the European Parliament in Brussels on 5 December 2007. Swedish crime fiction writer Henning Mankell was the president of the jury of European journalists for choosing the first recipient. Mankell said, "The jury was sensitive to the political courage showed by the current prime minister of Belgium. In a Europe which has a lot of self doubt, which has a lot of questions about its own future, he offers a clear proposal for the future and gives reasons to believe in European construction."[citation needed]

While receiving the reward Verhofstadt said, "When I wrote this book, I in fact meant it as a provocation against all those who didn't want the European Constitution. Fortunately, in the end a solution was found with the treaty, that was approved."[20]

Viviane Reding[edit]

In 2012, Viviane Reding, the Luxembourgish Vice-president of the European Commission called, in a speech in Passau, Germany, and in a series of articles and interviews for the establishment of the United States of Europe as a way to strengthen the unity of Europe.[21]

Matteo Renzi[edit]

The Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said in 2014 that under his leadership Italy would use its six-month-long presidency of the European Union to push for the establishment of a United States of Europe.[22]

Opposition[edit]

The European Union does not include every nation in Europe and there is no consensus among the existing member state governments towards becoming even a loose confederation. There is also significant Eurosceptic opposition to European integration in many member states.[citation needed]

In June 2016, the UK voted 52% to 48% to leave the European Union.[23]

Polls[edit]

Attitude toward further development of the EU into a federation of nation states
  EU members with more people in favour of a federation than against it

According to Eurobarometer (2013), 69% of citizens of the EU are in favour of direct elections of the President of the European Commission; 46% are supporting the creation of a united EU army.[24]

Two thirds of respondents think that the EU (instead of a national government alone), should make decisions on foreign policy. More than half of respondents think that the EU should also make decisions on defense.[25]

44% of respondents support the future development of the European Union as a federation of nation states, 35% are opposed. The Nordic Countries were the most negative of a united Europe in this study. 73% of the Nordics opposed the idea.[26] A large majority of the people for whom the EU conjures up a positive image support the further development of the EU into a federation of nation states (56% versus 27%).[26]

Predictions[edit]

Future superpower[edit]

Main article: Potential superpowers

The United States of Europe is widely hypotheticised, fictionalised, or depicted as a superpower that is as powerful as, or more powerful than, the US. Some people, such as T.R. Reid, Andrew Reding, and Mark Leonard, among others, believe that the power of the hypothetical United States of Europe will rival that of the US in the twenty-first century. Leonard cites seven factors: Europe's large population, Europe's large economy, Europe's low inflation rates, Europe's central location in the world, the unpopularity and perceived failure of American foreign policy in recent years, and certain European countries' highly developed social organisation and quality of life (when measured in terms such as hours worked per week and income distribution).[27] Some experts[who?] claim that Europe has developed a sphere of influence called the Eurosphere.

A small power[edit]

Norwegian foreign policy scholar and commentator Asle Toje has argued that the power and reach of the European Union more closely resembles a small power.[28] In his book The EU As a Small Power, he argues that the EU is a response to and function of Europe's unique historical experience in that the EU contains the remnants of not one but five past European orders. Although the 1990s and early 2000s have shown that there is policy space for greater EU engagement in European security, the EU has been unable to meet these expectations.[29] The author expresses particular concerns over the Union's security and defence dimension CSDP where attempts at pooling resources and forming a political consensus have failed to generate the results expected. These trends, combined with shifts in global power patterns, are seen to have been accompanied by a shift in EU strategic thinking whereby great-power ambitions have been scaled down and replaced by a tendency towards hedging vis-à-vis the great powers. The author uses the case of the EUFOR intervention in Darfur and Chad to illustrate that the EU's effectiveness is hampered by a consensus–expectations gap, owing primarily to the lack of an effective decision-making mechanism. In his view, the sum of these developments is that the EU will not be a great power, and is taking the place of a small power in the emerging multi-polar international order.

Fiction[edit]

In the fictional universe of Eric Flint's best selling alternate history 1632 series, a United States of Europe is formed out of the Confederation of Principalities of Europe, which was composed of several German political units of the 1630s.[30]

Science fiction has made particular use of the idea: Incompetence, a dystopian novel by Red Dwarf creator Rob Grant, is a murder mystery political thriller set in a federated Europe of the near future, where stupidity is a constitutionally protected right. References to a European Alliance or European Hegemony have also existed in episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994). In the Spy High series of books for young adults, written by A. J. Butcher and set around the 2060s, a united Europe exists in the form of "Europa", and Andrew Roberts's 1995 book The Aachen Memorandum details a United States of Europe formed from a fraudulent referendum entitled the Aachen Referendum.[31]

Since the 2000s a number of computer strategy games set in the future have presented a unified European faction alongside other established military powers such as the U.S. and Russia. These include Euro Force, a 2006 expansion pack to Battlefield 2, and Battlefield 2142 (also released in 2006, with a 2007 expansion pack). In Battlefield 2142 a united Europe is shown as one of the two great superpowers on Earth, the other being Asia, despite being mostly frozen in a new ice age. The disaster theme continues with Tom Clancy's EndWar (2009), in which a nuclear war between Iran and Saudi Arabia, destroying the Middle Eastern oil supply, prompts the EU to integrate further as the "European Federation" in 2018. One game not to make bold claims of full integration is Shattered Union (2005), set in a future civil war in the U.S., with the European Union portrayed as a peacekeeping force. The video game series Wipeout, on the other hand, makes a clear federal reference without a military element: one of the core teams that has appeared in every game is FEISAR. This acronym stands for Federal European Industrial Science And Research. In the video game series Mass Effect set in the 22nd century, the European Union is a sovereign state.

In the backstory of the Fallout series, several European nations joined together after the end of the Second World War, becoming known as the European Commonwealth. Highly dependent on oil imports from the Middle East, the Commonwealth began a military invasion of the region in April 2052 once oil supplies began to run dry. This marked the beginning of the Resource Wars. After the oil dried up completely in 2060 and both sides were left in ruin, the Commonwealth collapsed into civil war as member states fought over whatever resources remained.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ The European Miracle: Environments, Economies and Geopolitics in the History of Europe and Asia p.107, by Eric Jones. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  2. ^ Implementing European Union Education and Training Policy: A Comparative Study of Issues in Four Member States p.44, by D. Phillips, Hubert Ertl. Retrieved 13 January 2015.
  3. ^ Kelemen, R. Daniel. (2007). "Built to Last? The Durability of EU Federalism?" (PDF).  Archived 20 January 2013 at the Wayback Machine. In Making History: State of the European Union, Vol. 8, edited by Sophie Meunier and Kate McNamara, Oxford University Press, p. 52.
  4. ^ J. William Fulbright (May 1948), "A United States of Europe?", The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Sage Publications, Inc. in association with the American Academy of Political and Social Science (257, Peace Settlements of World War II), pp. 151–156, JSTOR 1026642 
  5. ^ Disputed "Europe" on Wikiquote
  6. ^ Felix Markham, Napoleon (New York: Penguin Books USA Inc., 1966), 257 as quoted in Matthew Zarzeczny, Napoleon's European Union: The Grand Empire of the United States of Europe (Kent State University Master's thesis), 2.
  7. ^ Mazzini, Giuseppe (2009). "From a Revolutionary Alliance to the United States of Europe". In Steffano Reccia; Nadia Urbinati. A Cosmopolitanism of Nations. Princeton University Press. pp. 131–135. 
  8. ^ Internationale Paneuropa Union - Union Paneuropeénne Internationale - International Paneuropean Union
  9. ^ John Reed, "Ten Days That Shook The World", Boni & Liveright, New York, (March 1919) ch. 3.
  10. ^ Jonathan Petropoulos, Royals and the Reich, Oxford University Press (2006) p. 170
  11. ^ Bertrand Vayssière, "Le Manifeste de Ventotene (1941): Acte de Naissance du Federalisme Europeen," Guerres Mondiales et Conflits Contemporains (Jan 2005), Vol. 55 Issue 217
  12. ^ "Speech of Sir Winston Churchill". PACE website. Zürich, Switzerland: Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. 19 September 1946. Archived from the original on 18 Feb 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2013. 
  13. ^ Churchill, Winston (19 September 1946). Speech to the Academic Youth (Speech). Zürich, Switzerland. Archived from the original on 2 May 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2013. 
  14. ^ Biddeleux, Robert; Taylor, Richard (1996). European Integration and Disintegration: east and west. Routledge. pp. 37–38. ISBN 978-0-415-13741-6. 
  15. ^ a b D. Dinan, 2005. Ever Closer Union, 3rd ed. ISBN 1-58826-234-0. pages 14–15.
  16. ^ D. Dinan, 2005. Ever Closer Union, 3rd ed. ISBN 1-58826-234-0. page 15.
  17. ^ "Carlos Ramos-Mrosovsky on United States of Europe on National Review Online". Archived from the original on 29 October 2008. Retrieved 2 October 2009. 
  18. ^ Making the Case for a United States of Europe - Research - The Chronicle of Higher Education
  19. ^ Bruno Waterfield in Brussels (18 February 2009). "Blueprint for EU army to be agreed". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 30 December 2014. 
  20. ^ "International news - euronews, latest international news". Archived from the original on 6 February 2012. Retrieved 30 December 2014. 
  21. ^ EUROPA - PRESS RELEASES - Press release - Why we need a United States of Europe now
  22. ^ "Italy to push for 'United States of Europe' when it holds the EU presidency". Telegraph.co.uk. 22 June 2014. Retrieved 30 December 2014. 
  23. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36534802
  24. ^ "European Commission - PRESS RELEASES - Press release - Making the European elections more democratic and boosting participation – Ground is prepared, say two Commission reports". Europa.eu. Retrieved 2016-01-24. 
  25. ^ http://www.reconproject.eu/main.php/RECON_wp_1119.pdf?fileitem=50512030
  26. ^ a b Standard Eurobarometer 79 Spring 2013
  27. ^ Europe: the new superpower by Mark Leonard, Irish Times, Accessed 13 March 2014
  28. ^ "The European Union as a Small Power". Retrieved 30 December 2014. 
  29. ^ Europe heads for Japanese irrelevance Financial Times
  30. ^ 1632 (trade paperback (July 2003) ed.). 1 November 2002. p. 655. President of the United States, Prime Minister of the United States of Europe 
  31. ^ Roberts, Andrew (1995). The Aachen Memorandum. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 9780297816195
  • Rüschenschmidt, Michael Josef (2010). Verfassung für die Vereinigten Staaten von Europa - Ein Entwurf - Ein Vorschlag für eine politische Vertiefung der europäischen Integration (Constitution of the United States of Europe - A Concept or Blueprint - A suggestion of a political deepening of the European integration) (in German). Münster. ISBN 978-3-86991-023-9. 

External links[edit]

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