The 'United States of Europe' (sometimes abbreviated 'U.S.E.' or 'USE') is a name given to several similar speculative scenarios of the unification of
Europe, as a single nation and a single
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.
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 civil service (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 common
space agency (the
European Space Agency), 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 thirteen
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.
The EU, however, does not have a single government, a single foreign policy set by that government, or a single taxation system contributing to a single
exchequer.
The European Union does not include every nation in Europe and there is no consensus among the existing members towards becoming even a
Confederation. There is also significant
internal opposition to the concept in many member states.
Ever closer union
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 so often, and in such varied contexts, that they no longer have a definite
constitutional equivalent.
In the United States of America, 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.
[1][2]
Opposition
The term "United States of Europe", as a direct comparison with the United States of America, would imply that the existing
nations of Europe would be reduced to a status equivalent to that of a
U.S. state, losing their national
sovereignty in the process and becoming constituent parts of a European
federation. Just as the the United States of America has evolved from a
confederation (under the 1777
Articles of Confederation) into a federation, the term "the United States of Europe" might also be used to describe a potential confederation of independent states. Those who oppose and criticize forming a federation or confederation of European states may be termed
Eurosceptics; however it should be noted that opposition to the creation of a European federation does not equate with opposition to the European Union or the process of
European integration.
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 much of the European continent is still not in the EU. Frequently, commentators exclude
Russia, a partially 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 about
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 (including
London,
Paris,
Berlin and
Madrid).
United States of Europe as a superpower
The United States of Europe is widely hypotheticised, fictionalised, or depicted as a
superpower as powerful as, or even more powerful than, the United States of America. 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 United States of America in the 21st century. Leonard cites seven factors:
Europe's large population,
Europe's large economy, Europe's low inflation rates,
Europe's favourable climate,
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 organization or
quality of life (when measured in terms such as hours worked per week and income distribution)
[3] Some experts claim that Europe has developed a sphere of influence called the
Eurosphere.
History
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 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 an "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."
[1]
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.â€
[4]
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."
Victor 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 happily 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
March 1,
1871.
Trotsky raised the slogan "For a
Soviet United States of Europe" as early as 1923. "The United States of Europe" was also the title of two books published in 1931: by French
politician Edouard Herriot and by British civil servant Arthur Salter.
Winston Churchill
The term "United States of Europe" was used by
Winston Churchill in a famous speech
[5] 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 its
Empire and the United States.
[6]
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).
[7] 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.
Guy Verhofstadt
Following the negative referendums 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]
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, 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 3 great superpowers on Earth. Although most of europe is frozen it still appears to be very powerful and controls the Union of African Sates. It loses control of most of Europe in the intal PAC invasion. In the Expansion Northern Strike the E.U 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 ''
[8]. Star Trek also mentions a loose confederation of European nations called the
European Hegemony.
Another
science fiction where the United States of Europe is mentioned is the British
science fiction television series ''
Doctor Who''. In Doctor Who, the United States of Europe has its capital in London, the British king as its emperor, a system of government very similar to that of Britain, the pound as its currency, English as its official language, and the
British imperial system as its system of measurement. Its government runs and controls a secret organization, originally founded by
Queen Victoria and controlled by the British government, which studies and deals with paranormal and extraterrestrial phenomena, called the
Torchwood Institute.
See also
★
Guy Verhofstadt
★
European Constitution
★
Pan-European identity
★
European integration
★
History of the European Union
★
New England Confederation
★
Pro-European
★
Potential Superpower (European Union)
★
Euroscepticism
★
Eurocentrism
★
Europatriotism
★
World government
★
United States (disambiguation)
★
Unification (disambiguation)
★
European Civil War
References
1. http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/ramosmrosovsky200412200804.asp
2. http://chronicle.com/free/v51/i44/44a01201.htm
3. Europe: the new superpower by Mark Leonard, Irish Times, Accessed March 11, 2007
4. 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.
5. Speech online at [2]
6. Mauter, Wendell: "Churchill and the Unification of Europe" in ''The Historian'', 61(1), Fall 1998, pp. 67-84. Cited online at [3]
7. Franz Josef Strauß. ''The Grand Design: A European solution to German reunification''. English translation: London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1965.
8. European Alliance
External links
★
Political speeches by Victor Hugo: Victor Hugo, My Revenge is Fraternity!, where the term United States of Europe was first used
★
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
★
Euroesprit - EU Flag & Symbols Site
★
Europe United
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