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The increasing power of the EU's supranational bodies (EP pictured), and further integration in areas such as defence, are often seen as signs of the federalisation of the EU.

Federal Europe is a speculative scenario where a politically united Europe, usually in the modern context of the European Union (EU), would acquire the full features of a federation. Currently there are no plans for the EU to declare federal status, although some see it as what would be the final stage of European integration.

The European Union is the most recent attempt to create a united Europe, and the first that is based on democratic principles and voluntary enlargement. Its member states have throughout fifty years been intergovernmentally pooling powers, harmonised national policies and created supranational institutions. How far this integration should go, and whether or not federalism is desirable, is subject to much debate.

Although often limited to certain fields of policy, the current nation-like features of the EU include the European Parliament, a common civil service (the European Commission), a single Foreign Representative, a common Security and Defence Policy, a supranational court (European Court of Justice) and a record of deploying many peacekeeping forces. Most of the Union also has open internal borders and the euro is adopted by most EU countries as a shared single currency.

The European Union, which operates through a hybrid system of intergovernmentalism and supranationalism, is not a federation – though some academic observers conclude that it has many of the characteristics of one, after 50 years of institutional evolution.^[1]

"United States of Europe" is a term often used among writers of speculative fiction and science fiction, political scientists and futurologists. It draws parallels to the United States of America. ^[2] This concrete comparison provokes opposition among some EU citizens.

In the past, various empires and military powers have achieved control over large parts of the European continent, and often introduced imperial structures by force. Notable among these are the Roman Empire, the First French Empire, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

European Union

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Further information: European Union, European integration, and European Union member state

The political climate after the end of World War II favoured unity in Western Europe, seen by many as an escape from the extreme forms of nationalism which had devastated the continent.^[3] One of the first successful proposals for European cooperation came in 1951 with the European Coal and Steel Community. Since then, the European Community has reformed itself from being an organisation creating and ensuring internal free trade through wielding certain supranational powers strictly related to economy and trade, to one in which a whole range of policy areas where its member states believe they benefit from working together.

The process of intergovernmentally pooling powers, harmonising national policies and creating and enforcing supranational institutions, is called European integration. 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.

Debate on European unity is often vague as to the boundaries of 'Europe'. The word 'Europe' is widely used as a synonym for the European Union, although much of the European continent is still not in the EU.

'Multi-speed integration'

Main article: Multi-speed Europe

A thesis, sometimes referred to as a 'Multi-speed Europe', envisions an alternative type of European integration, where the EU countries who want a federal EU, can boost their own integration, while other countries may go at a slower pace. Specific current examples include the Euro, the single currency not used by all members, and the Schengen Agreement for common external border controls without inter-state frontiers, but which includes some states that are not in the EU but which does not include all states that are in the EU.

Superpower prospect

Main article: Potential superpowers#European_Union

The European Union has been called an emerging superpower by academics.^[4][5][6][7] T.R. Reid,^[8] Andrew Reding^[9] and Mark Leonard,^[10][11] believe that the power of the European Union will rival that of the United States in the 21st century. Leonard cites several factors: the EU's large population, large economy, low inflation rates, the unpopularity and perceived failure of US foreign policy in recent years, and certain EU members states' high quality of life (when measured in terms such as hours worked per week).^[12] On the other hand Laurent Cohen-Tanugi^[13] states that the EU as a whole has consistently suffered from a growth deficit vis-a-vis the US, high unemployment, and public deficits even while most member states of the EU lagged substantially behind the US in R&D investment, technological innovation, and, since 1995, productivity gains.

Since the term "superpower" often is related to military might, European military integration is also seen as a factor for the European Union's superpower prospect. Two states (Denmark and Ireland) have positively opted out of any military integration proposals.

'United States of Europe'

The term "United States of Europe" is used by some futurists as a possible scenario in which the European Union would become a federation, mirroring the history of Constitution of the United States of America.

In fiction

• Carole Carlson, identified in print as C. C. Carlson, is a professional writer and ghostwriter "coauthoring" many books in print. In 1970, when scandals began to rock the Worldwide Church of God, she teamed up with Hal Lindsey to write a religious best seller called The Late, Great Planet Earth. This book, which sold millions of copies in the 1970s, was made into a movie starring Orson Welles. It followed much of the same prophetic storyline concerning the rise of a powerful state in Europe, as previously told by Herbert Armstrong.

• 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.

• 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.

• Andrew Roberts's book The Aachen Memorandum details a United States of Europe formed from a fraudulent referendum entitled the Aachen Referendum.

• In the expansion pack Euro Force of the computer game Battlefield 2, the European faction is portrayed as a single army. In the computer game Battlefield 2142, Europe is portrayed as one of the three great superpowers on Earth. Although most of Europe is frozen it still appears to be very powerful and controls the Union of African States. It loses control of most of Europe in the initial PAC invasion. In the Expansion Northern Strike the EU recaptures all of Europe.

• In the computer game Shattered Union, set in a future civil war in America, the European Union is portrayed as a peacekeeping force.

• The 'United States of Europe' figures as the goal of secret cabals in various conspiracy theories, see Priory of Sion - the cabals apparently preferring to borrow their constitutional structures from the USA.

• References to a United States of Europe, or a similar European Alliance, have also existed in episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.^[14] Star Trek also mentions a loose confederation of European nations called the European Hegemony.

• 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'.

• In Grand Theft Auto IV when on its' fictional internet there are travel sites for the United States of Europe.

See also

• Federation
• Consociationalism‎
• Nation state
• Sovereignty
• Pan-European identity
• History of Europe
• History of the European Union
  • Potential superpower status
  • European integration
    • Multi-speed Europe
• World government
• European Civil War

References

External links

• Political speeches by Victor Hugo: Victor Hugo, My Revenge is Fraternity!, where he used the term United States of Europe.
• Towards a United States of Europe, by Jürgen Habermas, at signandsight.com
• History and institutions of the united Europe since 1945 : European NAvigator
• European Integration: Westphalian Cooperation or Federalization?

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