Why should Europe become a federation?

Photo: picture alliance / Bildagentur-online/Ohde

The idea of uniting Europe into a single federation has been on the minds of its supporters for over 100 years. Back then, this project was called the United States of Europe, but today it is simply referred to as the Eurofederation. Today, the European Union is one of the most integrated supranational structures on the planet. However, the time has come when the EU in its current form needs change. Below are the arguments in favour of a federation.

At this stage, the Union faces a number of problems that pose an existential challenge: blocking of key decisions by individual members, inconsistency in foreign policy between member states, blocking of enlargement due to historical disputes (Bulgaria-Macedonia) or simply far-fetched reasons (Hungary-Ukraine), transformation of the security situation in the world, uncertainty about security guarantees from the US, etc. Resolving these issues is a difficult task and requires profound reforms within the EU itself.

There are two camps offering their solutions

The first camp advocates transforming the EU into a purely economic union, which would return a large number of competences to the member states, but such a move would negatively affect the biggest supporters of this solution, the leaders of Eastern European countries, who live off European funds. If the Union becomes a purely economic union, then the richer members will rightly question the need for such funds and their replenishment.

Usually, the supporters of the first option are leaders of countries with authoritarian tendencies. EPA-EFE/Szilard Koszticsak HUNGARY OUT

The second camp seeks to transform the European Union into a federation. In this case, the biggest problem facing the EU today, the right of veto, will be eliminated. In federal states, entities do not block decisions made by the federal government. In this case, foreign policy would become more balanced, as there would be no need to persuade 27 countries to reach a consensus; defence would become a matter for the federal government, which would facilitate the coordination of defence modernisation, as the biggest complaint about the European defence industry is the lack of cooperation between countries and companies; The issue of enlargement will also become simpler. Currently, for a country to join, a positive decision by 27 members is required just to open negotiation clusters, then another decision by all members to close them and ratify the accession agreement in all parliaments, as well as the consent of the European Parliament. In a federal state, such a complex procedure is not necessary.

For example, in the United States, the decision to accept a new entity is made by Congress on the basis of clear rules, where there can be no situation in which American Samoa's accession to the United States is blocked by Hawaii due to historical disputes.

The association of supporters of the Eurofederation has existed since 1946

From an economic point of view, the creation of a European Federation makes sense. If it were to be created, it would have a population of 449 million, making it the third largest in the world, even exceeding the United States. If such a country were to emerge this year, its projected nominal GDP could reach $19,991 trillion, which is almost on the same level as China. Such indicators are significant when the world finds itself in a situation where the United States, surprisingly, voluntarily refuses to play the role of leader, and China is still unable to take this position due to the economic problems that have befallen the country after Covid-19. Accordingly, the leadership vacuum will only intensify, so a united Europe could fill in this gap, as it will have a sufficient population and economic base to take on the leadership role. We are no longer in the 19th century, when individual European countries could be among the world's powers, so only a united Europe is capable of this.

"But is it necessary to create a European Federation for this?" – In short, yes, it is necessary. If we go into detail, it is worth noting that the EU currently resembles a confederation in terms of its management structure, an association of states that have delegated some powers to EU structures. However, confederations are complex, unwieldy and often unprepared for serious challenges. Let's take two examples from history: the United States and Switzerland.

From 1781 to 1789, the United States was an association of 13 states, known as the Confederation (no, not that one), where each state had the right of veto, which made the entity dysfunctional, as both supporters and opponents of the federation understood. As a result, a constitutional convention was convened to draft a new constitution, which stated that the consent of nine states was sufficient to form a federation, and the rest could either catch up or be left behind. As a result, 11 states, including the largest states of New York and Virginia, formed the current United States. Rhode Island and North Carolina remained outside, refusing to join, but after some time they realised that they would not survive on their own. It took 30 months for all 13 states to finally join.

The situation with Switzerland is somewhat different, since the old Swiss Confederation was formed at the end of the 13th century, managed to win its independence from the Habsburgs and existed until the end of the 18th century, but the functioning of this state was confusing, as there were no authoritative ministries at the national level, and the parliament was severely limited in its powers. As a result, Switzerland was conquered by French revolutionaries. Even after the country's liberation, the situation did not improve, and disputes over the distribution of powers and political freedoms led to chaos and constant clashes. It was not until 1848 that a new constitution was written, transforming the confederation into the current federal Switzerland.

Both examples demonstrate that the confederative form is running out of steam and is unable to respond to challenges, often characterised by dysfunctionality. At the moment, the European Union has reached a point where everyone understands that some changes need to be made. One option is to transform the EU into a purely economic union, but this would make Europe vulnerable to the United States or China. Following the example of the authors of the US Constitution, it is possible to create a federation with the support of the largest states (France and Germany), which in turn would allow Europe to enter the world arena united and ready to respond more quickly to challenges.

However, one thing is certain: the current form of the European Union has outlived its usefulness, and a new one must be found.