United States of Europe

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The United States of Europe is a name given to one version of the possible future unification of Europe, as a sovereign federation of states, similar to the United States of America. The analogy with the United States implies that the existing nation-states of Europe would be demoted to a status equivalent to the 50 U.S. states, losing their national sovereignty in the process. For this reason, the term is often used in a pejorative sense, by Eurosceptic opponents of further European integration. Confusingly, although the United States is a federation, the term United States of Europe is also used to describe a possible confederation of sovereign states. For most Eurosceptics, however, even a confederation is unacceptable.

The member states do have many common policies within Europe and on behalf of Europe that are sometimes suggestive of a single state. It has a common civil service (the European Commission), a single High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy, a common European Security and Defence Policy and a Supreme Court (European Court of Justice — but only in matters of European Union law). The euro is often referred to as the "single European currency". It has been officially adopted by 12 EU countries while 8 other member countries of the EU 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.

Europe, however, does not have a single government, a single foreign policy set by that government, a single taxation system contributing to a single exchequer, or a European Army.

Contents 1 Ever closer union 2 History 2.1 19th century 2.2 Winston Churchill 2.3 Franz Josef Strauß 2.4 Guy Verhofstadt 3 Geography 4 United States of Europe in fiction 5 See also 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Ever closer union

At present, the European Union is a free association of sovereign states 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. In the United Kingdom, in deference to widespread Euroscepticism, the terms are taboo. However, in the past, some prominent figures associated with the EU and its predecessor the EEC 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 so often, and in such varied contexts, that they no longer have a definite constitutional equivalent.

[edit] History

The concept has been found in such proposals as those from King George of Podebrady of Bohemia in 1464; the 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 wrote to the Marquis de La Fayette: "One day, on the model of the United States of America, a United States of Europe will come into being." [3]

[edit] 19th century

Felix Markham notes how during a conversation on St. Helena, Napoleon 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.”^[1]

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

The term 'United States of Europe' (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."

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 March 1, 1871. Trotsky raised the slogan "For a Soviet United States of Europe" as early as 1923. It was also the title of a 1931 book by French politician Edouard Herriot.

[edit] Winston Churchill

The term "United States of Europe" was used by Winston Churchill in a famous speech ^[2] which he delivered in 1946 at the University of Zürich. Churchill seems to have been deliberately vague about the status of Britain in such a Union, mentioning also its relationship with the United States and its (then) Empire. ^[3]

[edit] Franz Josef Strauß

Herbert W. Armstrong of the Radio Church of God (later renamed Worldwide Church of God), had prophesied the coming of a United States of Europe before the close of WWIII, and he later went so far as to name the German conservative politician Franz Josef Strauß as its future dictator. (Strauß had written a book titled The Grand Design, in which he set forth his views of the future of Europe). ^[4] Strauß seemed to play along with this portrayal, by becoming a guest of Armstrong in 1971 in his home and at his Ambassador College campus in Pasadena, California where he even agreed to appear on The World Tomorrow television programme. According to a document written by Armstrong in 1983, he became lasting friends with Strauß, but he could not understand why Strauß had returned the friendship.

[edit] Guy Verhofstadt

Following the negative referenda about the European Constitution in France and the Netherlands, the Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt released in November 2005 his book Verenigde Staten van Europa (Dutch for 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. [4] [5]

[edit] Geography

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 most of the European continent is still not in the EU. Frequently, commentators exclude Russia, a predominantly European country, from their ideals of inclusion. Indeed, whilst many in the EU are currently happy for the culturally European but geographically Asian country of Cyprus to be an EU member state, there is much debate on the Accession of Turkey to the European Union.

Many have also debated the location of a possible capital city of a united Europe. As the seat of the European Commission, the city of Brussels is the current de facto 'capital' of the EU. For some, Brussels is not acceptable as capital of a future unitary or federal state, comprising Europe as a whole. Some have suggested building a new capital, on a separate territory, comparable to the District of Columbia. Most other large cities in the EU have, at some time, been proposed as a possible capital city.

[edit] United States of Europe 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 (see above), 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 W. Armstrong.

Fatherland, an alternate history novel detailing a 1960s Europe dominated by a triumphant Nazi Germany.

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 Eric Flint's best selling alternate history 1632 series fictional universe, 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 for the computer game Battlefield 2, the EU faction is portrayed as a single army. In the upcoming computer game Battlefield 2142, the EU is portrayed as one of the 2 superpowers left on Earth.

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 similar European Alliance has also been mentioned in episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation [6].

[edit] See also

• Guy Verhofstadt
• European Constitution
• Pan-European identity
• Europe United
• European integration
• History of the European Union
• Pro-European
• Potential Superpowers - European Union
• European Union as an emerging superpower
• Euroscepticism
• United States of Africa

[edit] References

1. ^ 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.
2. ^ Speech online at [1]
3. ^ Mauter, Wendell: "Churchill and the Unification of Europe" in The Historian, 61(1), Fall 1998, pp. 67-84. Cited online at [2]
4. ^ Franz Josef Strauß. The Grand Design: A European solution to German reunification. English translation: London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1965.

[edit] External links

• Political speeches by Victor Hugo: Victor Hugo, My Revenge is Fraternity!, where the term United States of Europe was first used.
• Federal United Europe website Europe United's Website.
• Website of Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt
• Towards a United States of Europe, by Jürgen Habermas, at signandsight.com
• History and institutions of the united Europe since 1945 : European NAvigator