FEDERAL EUROPE
A STRONG EUROPE
Frequent questions
1 / What is the purpose of European construction?
Schuman, Monnet and Adenauer wanted a European federal state.
The EDC, which they supported, aimed to create a single European army and thus a single european federal government.
2 / What federalism did the founding fathers want?
They wanted a European government with federal responsibilities like the United States or Switzerland. They wanted the opposite of independent regions without a central European power. On the other hand, they wanted each local state (France, Germany, etc.) and each region to have broad powers.
3 / Is the EU viable without the desire to create a European state?
Without the will to create a sovereign European federal state, the states and the populations revive the competition between them once most of the cooperations have been put in place.
The state is the main actor of public life. As the movement towards mutually beneficial integration slows down or ends, the sovereign European states begin to compete with each other in order to defend their particular interests. They do it within the framework of the cooperation. This leads to a gradual dismantling of these cooperations
After a movement towards union from 1950 to 1990 pushed by the establishment of useful cooperation, a movement towards disunity is currently in place in Europe with resurgence of competition between European states and the eventual disappearance of the EU .
Moreover, a single currency is not sustainable in the long term without a European state, which strengthens the movement towards disunity.
4 / Does not the functionalist method of small steps permit one day to create a European state?
No because the political sphere has a logic different from the economic sphere. While it is possible to deepen economic integration discretely and gradually, political integration requires strong and clearly stated political will. However such a political will must apply in the first place in France and in Germany because these two countries are necessary and sufficient to create a viable and attractive European state.
5 / Can we create a European federal state without a European nation?
Given the legitimacy of the local European nations and because any state is backed by a nation, trying to create a European federal state without legitimizing it by the existence of a great European nation grouping the small European nations is not possible.
6 / Is there a European nation?
55% of Europeans favored the United States of Europe in 1985. Integration into a federal state with a federal monetary nucleus or even a federal army (CED project) occurs within Europe. The European culture is decisive in Europe.
So there is a great European nation that brings together the small nations of Europe.
It is the awareness of this nation by itself that is insufficient, because of the anti-federalist and local sovereignist policy or the universalist drift of the political class.
Universalism is in principle the opposite of cultural identity.
Human rights and rationality are universal values that each high culture, to varying degrees, shares. But human rights and rationality are not the essence of a culture. The essence of a culture is constituted by specific intellectual, social, legal, family, productive and state forms. Cultures are units that enable people to realize themselves. An individual is nothing without his culture. A culture can do without any perticular individual. The existence of cultures explains the existence of national-civilisational collective life and prevents a purely individualistic and universalistic life. Culturalism therefore comes before universalism.
7 / If there is a European nation why are not many people aware of it at the moment?
There is an increasingly important awareness of European culture and therefore of the European nation (European culture is decisive in Europe from ancient Greece to the Industrial Revolution). But this awareness is still weak
The lack of awareness is due to the attitude of the political class in Europe who constantly extols local identity and local interests (French, German, Italian etc), for opportunism. It is also the result of the falsification of history at school and in the newspapers, a legacy of the historical rivalry between European states.
In Switzerland, there has always been a Swiss nation, but the short-sighted policy of cantons has long blocked Swiss national awareness for the formation of a Swiss state. European patriotism is weaker than patriotism. German at birth but it is comparable to Swiss patriotism at birth
8 / Did the founding fathers of Europe believe in a European nation?
Schuman, Monnet and Hallstein implicitly accepted the idea of a European nation, since they wanted a federal European state. Yet there is no example of a state that is not backed by a nation or a people.
9 / Is the European Union an unequaled construction in history?
No, to say that the EU is an unparalleled construction is a utopia: nothing in history is separate and transcendent. The EU is actually a confederation (i.e. federation of states). There have already been federations of states: Switzerland, Germany, Scandinavia. What we observe is that a confederation is transformed into a federal state (Switzerland), otherwise it disappears (Scandinavia)
10 / Given the strength of local European nations, is it possible to create a European federal state?
In the 50s and 60s, it was planned to create a European federal state as soon as possible through the EDC. Germany, Italy and the Benelux countries were in favor. De Gaulle was opposed, as the European army was to be placed under American command. But General de Gaulle was an authentic federalist, of a very statist type, because he wanted to see the emergence of an independent Europe based on a european people and a single European government, so as to avoid the need for majority voting by heads of government on major issues. It is possible to create a European federal state in the short term, as it is above all a question of political will.
11 / Given the strength of euroscepticism today, is it feasible to create a European federal state?
cause of the rejection of Europe because this project does not bring effective solutions, no shared future and causes problems (fiscal and social dumping, poorly defended borders, imbalance in the euro zone).
Euroscepticism can only be defeated if the confederal project is replaced by a federal project. Only a federal state can propose effective solutions in terms of purchasing power thanks to the reduction of the cost of the debt, in terms of social and tax harmonization, in the promotion of employment through the effective defense of european commercialinterests. in the field of European border protection, with regard to the control of the management of European countries, and only a European federal state can offer a shared future.
12 / Given the lack of a sufficiently developed European public space, is it possible to create a European federal state?
Federal or similar states were created in a context of weak public space (Switzerland, Italy, India) which did not have a common language. It is therefore all about creating a federalist political party present in every key European country and with an effective strategy and a coherent doctrine to be able to convince voters.
13 / Will voters not be afraid by the prospect of creating a European state?
55% of Europeans were in favor of the United States of Europe in the 1980s. In the 1950s and 1960s it was planned to create a European army and then a European state with the Hallstein plan. Voters will not be scared. They will be reassured that Europe knows where it is going and what it wants.
14 / Are not the European Commission and the European Parliament becoming more important and will they not one day be able to create a European State?
Mistrust of the EU is growing, with the result that governments are refusing to give more power and resources to the EU. The European budget has stagnated at around 1% of European GDP for 30 years, and is declining in value with Brexit. This shows that the movement towards a European state can not come from the European Parliament and the European Commission because their political will and their political power is far too weak against the European states.
15 / Does not sovereignty belong to the States?
Yes sovereignty belongs to the States. But the exercise of this sovereignty depends on the power of a state.
It is therefore necessary to unite the European states in a European federal state in order to have effective sovereignty.
The EU can not be sovereign because it has no state (so no effective army, no effective diplomacy, no adequate budget, no industrial policy, no fiscal policy, no unity of decision).
The EU has at best a half state. It therefore has at best only half sovereignty, which does not work. The EU only makes sense as a transition to a European federal state.
France, Germany and the other local European states exercise most of the sovereignty, under very unfavorable conditions and with almost no effectiveness.
16 / Is a small state like Switzerland or Singapore not more efficient than a big state? Does the creation of a federal state necessarily lead to war?
Switzerland or Singapore benefit from the international order provided by the Chinese and American superpowers and are independent because there is a balance between the superpowers. Without superpowers and without the European Union recurring wars and widespread economic instability would exist in Asia and Europe. The birth of the Indian union, for example, did not produce a civil war. Pakistan and India are born parallel. There has only been inter-religious confrontation that is not conceivable in the European context.
17 / Are the pro Europeans all progressive and the anti-Europeans all populists ?
Although some supporters of a strong Europe are progressive some progressives want a weak Europe, they refuse the creation of a European federal state enjoying a national identity. Some populists want a strong Europe because they are ready to support the creation of a federal state based on a European national identity and a social Europe. .
This is not the populist progressive debate but the debate Strong European Europe weak confederal Europe that is decisive for our future
18 / Are the main parties in a position to create a European federal state?
The main parties do not have the will to create a European state since they would then necessarily have to explain that the great European nation is the head of the small nations of Europe and that their country will be placed under the authority of a European government for the essential questions ..
But this is not profitable in the short term and is not compatible with their ideas based on the preeminence of the local nation (France, Germany etc).
Nor do they have a European party leadership that can effectively coordinate actions in several European countries. For them the proposal of creation of the United States of Europe is at best a gadget used when it is opportune and abandoned as soon as the first difficulties appear.
19 / Is Europe based on the notion of geographical proximity?
No. Because where does Europe stop then? In China, Vietnam, South Africa? If the division of the world into nation states was due to a geographical factor, why is there an Iranian state and an Iraqi state, American and Mexican, Chinese and Russian etc? It is a cultural factor that is at work: A Chinese does not reason and does not live like an Indian. Similarly an Indian does not live and does not reason like an American etc ...
Making Europe without a European national identity and therefore without a European cultural identity and solely on the basis of the concept of neighborhood is not possible.
20 / Is the Europe of the cooperating nations not more realistic?
This Europe is the current Europe that does not work because each nation state defends its particular interests which leads to an inefficient European system and its rejection by the electorate.Would France be a power and would it be sovereign if it had no government and if its the 18 regions were content to cooperate? Would the US be a power and would it be sovereign if it did not have a federal government? Europe does not have a budget worthy of such a name, no army, no diplomacy, no efficient energy policy, no effective tax policy, and so on. The Europe of nations is Europe without an army and wihtout a governement, a weak Europe condemned to incantatory universalism and Atlanticism.
21 / Did not the Europeans reject the march towards more Europe in 2005?
The draft European constitution of 2005 did not propose a strong, effective and democratic federal Europe. He proposed a Europe of nations (ie a community of European nations), weak, incomprehensible and undemocratic since the main decision-making body of the EU, the European Council, is not answerable to the electorate of European citizens nor to the the European Parliament.
22 / Was Jean Monnet Pro American?
The goal of Jean Monnet was to unite Europe in a federal state. To achieve this goal he relied on support in Europe and outside Europe available in his time, including the US. This is not extraordinary: Cavour relied on France and Napoleon III to unite Italy and thereby gave Nice to France, George Washington on France to obtain American independence, Mao on the Soviets to create modern China etc.
The draft CED submitted the use of European defense forces to a US authorization but this price to pay for US support was perhaps not relevant. Once the European federal state was constituted, the Europeans may have had the military and budgetary means to do without American protection by revising constitutional provisions or treaties if necessary.
23 / Is there a European people?
It is the European culture that allows the Swiss people to exist as a European people with Germans, French and Italians.
There is a European people as there is a Swiss people. The European people have European culture, which can be described as essentially Romano-Germanic and Christian, on which their national identity is based. European culture is the fundamental element of the cultures of the various European countries.
24 / Is it possible to create a European government given the weak feeling of belonging to Europe?
The feeling of belonging to Europe ie the European national feeling is still weak but it exists. History shows that the creation of a federal government can be achieved in a democratic way with a still weak sense of belonging provided that there is a strong political will because the populations find their interest there: it was the case of the India, Switzerland and the USA.
The existence of a federal government then accelerates the development of a sense of national belonging
25 / Are the interests of European countries not too divergent to create a European government?
Most of the interests of the European countries, be it in internal security, external security, the grand European market, the constitutions of European industrial groups, European energy policy, European infrastructures and European research are convergent.
This convergence is due to the unique and very strong interdependence of European countries in cultural, health, human, commercial, financial, industrial, military and security matters.
The diverging interests that may remain are the result of the absence of a European government capable of promoting european interests vis-à-vis the rest of the world and of organizing the solidarity of interests between European states.
The lack of a common future embodied by a European state capable of defending European interests impels each state to only defend its particular interests,
26 / Would not it be better to set up a small European Council with a qualified majority vote on fiscal and military issues?
This solution is not efficient because such a Council could divided itself on essential fiscal and military matters leading to its paralysis. Such a council would also be inclined to divide itself because this Council will be made of of heads of state responsible to their local electorate only.
In addition this solution is not democratic because this Council will not be responsible to the European electorate or to the European legislature.
Moreover, no European state will agree to give up its military and budgetary sovereignty and transfer it to the European level without strong pro-European political force.
For such a pro-European political force to emerge, it must offer the electorate an effective and accountable European government.
If it proposes a small European Council that can divided itself on key issues, it will not be efficient, not democratic and will not convince voters.
27 / Why not first create a eurozone budget managed by a eurozone parliament?
As this Parliament will not be financed by its own resources and will not dispose of most of the proceeds of taxes in Europe, it will not be able to produce significant common European goods (army, energy equipment, river infrastructure) and it will not be able to control the management of European countries through financial incentives and strong political legitimacy. This type of semi-federal solution can not be accepted by European creditor countries because it encourages the fiscal drift of debtor countries and does not provide any significant benefits to creditor countries that are net contributors.
Furthermore, the European federal government would not be forced to come to the aid of the local European debtor states because these debtor states can no longer threaten to end the European single market, because they can no longer return to their old currency. A European federal government is therefore also in the interest of the creditor countries in Europe
Finally, only a European federal governement can efficiently control the financial management of the local European States and thereby prevent financial irresponsabitity leading to the downgrading of european credit rating. It can do so through federal taxation powers and through federal redistribution powers. Such powers stem from the federal powers and competences needed to conduct efficient centralized policies on important matters and to promote territorial cohesion.
28 / Is not it better to set up military cooperation with a common set of industrial weapons while maintaining the sovereignty of the states over their armed forces?
If each state retains its army, it will have no effective command, no clustering effect to achieve the critical size needed in a military specialty such as space or cyber, and no economies of scale.
Where would the US Army be if it were divided into 50 armies each commanded by an American governor?
Moreover cooperation between states does not work in the medium or long term because each sovereign state militarily defends its particular interests at the expense of other states even if all these states belong to a common civilization, this was the case for example in ancient Greece with the Peloponnesian War, in Renaissance Italy with the wars of Italy, in 18th century Germany with the wars of the Revolution and the Empire. .
29 / Is Europe not a civilization rather than a nation?
Europe is indeed a civilization. But a civilization is a great nation that includes many small nations like Chinese civilization, Indian civilization, Russian civilization, Arab civilization, Turkish-Iranian civilization. North American civilization, African civilization.
A great nation civilization can be politically united or quasi united (China, India, USA) or it can be politically divided (Europe, Arab World, Turkish-Persian world, Latin American world, African world).
30 / Why should France give up its nuclear strike force and put it under the control of a European federal government?
The French nuclear strike force is a major asset for France and for Europe. Nevertheless, this strike force can not be enough to ensure our safety, especially given the technological evolution. Probably within a few decades, the superpowers will be able to destroy by a pre-emptive strike the nuclear capabilities of small and medium-sized countries, including their submarine component.
European events
07/12/2017 Yougov: 30% of French and German supporters in the United States of Europe
07/12/2017 Martin Schulz: The United States of Europe by 2025, SPD party day speech
22/09/2017 Theresa May: we are part of the European nation, speech of florence
07/08/2017 Pope Francis: Europe must have a federal structure as soon as possible, La Respubblica
1 / What is the purpose of European construction?
Schuman, Monnet and Adenauer wanted a European federal state.
The EDC, which they supported, aimed to create a single European army and thus a single european federal government.
2 / What federalism did the founding fathers want?
They wanted a European government with federal responsibilities like the United States or Switzerland. They wanted the opposite of independent regions without a central European power. On the other hand, they wanted each local state (France, Germany, etc.) and each region to have broad powers.
3 / Is the EU viable without the desire to create a European state?
Without the will to create a sovereign European federal state, the states and the populations revive the competition between them once most of the cooperations have been put in place.
The state is the main actor of public life. As the movement towards mutually beneficial integration slows down or ends, the sovereign European states begin to compete with each other in order to defend their particular interests. They do it within the framework of the cooperation. This leads to a gradual dismantling of these cooperations
After a movement towards union from 1950 to 1990 pushed by the establishment of useful cooperation, a movement towards disunity is currently in place in Europe with resurgence of competition between European states and the eventual disappearance of the EU .
Moreover, a single currency is not sustainable in the long term without a European state, which strengthens the movement towards disunity.
4 / Does not the functionalist method of small steps permit one day to create a European state?
No because the political sphere has a logic different from the economic sphere. While it is possible to deepen economic integration discretely and gradually, political integration requires strong and clearly stated political will. However such a political will must apply in the first place in France and in Germany because these two countries are necessary and sufficient to create a viable and attractive European state.
5 / Can we create a European federal state without a European nation?
Given the legitimacy of the local European nations and because any state is backed by a nation, trying to create a European federal state without legitimizing it by the existence of a great European nation grouping the small European nations is not possible.
6 / Is there a European nation?
55% of Europeans favored the United States of Europe in 1985. Integration into a federal state with a federal monetary nucleus or even a federal army (CED project) occurs within Europe. The European culture is decisive in Europe.
So there is a great European nation that brings together the small nations of Europe.
It is the awareness of this nation by itself that is insufficient, because of the anti-federalist and local sovereignist policy or the universalist drift of the political class.
Universalism is in principle the opposite of cultural identity.
Human rights and rationality are universal values that each high culture, to varying degrees, shares. But human rights and rationality are not the essence of a culture. The essence of a culture is constituted by specific intellectual, social, legal, family, productive and state forms. Cultures are units that enable people to realize themselves. An individual is nothing without his culture. A culture can do without any perticular individual. The existence of cultures explains the existence of national-civilisational collective life and prevents a purely individualistic and universalistic life. Culturalism therefore comes before universalism.
7 / If there is a European nation why are not many people aware of it at the moment?
There is an increasingly important awareness of European culture and therefore of the European nation (European culture is decisive in Europe from ancient Greece to the Industrial Revolution). But this awareness is still weak
The lack of awareness is due to the attitude of the political class in Europe who constantly extols local identity and local interests (French, German, Italian etc), for opportunism. It is also the result of the falsification of history at school and in the newspapers, a legacy of the historical rivalry between European states.
In Switzerland, there has always been a Swiss nation, but the short-sighted policy of cantons has long blocked Swiss national awareness for the formation of a Swiss state. European patriotism is weaker than patriotism. German at birth but it is comparable to Swiss patriotism at birth
8 / Did the founding fathers of Europe believe in a European nation?
Schuman, Monnet and Hallstein implicitly accepted the idea of a European nation, since they wanted a federal European state. Yet there is no example of a state that is not backed by a nation or a people.
9 / Is the European Union an unequaled construction in history?
No, to say that the EU is an unparalleled construction is a utopia: nothing in history is separate and transcendent. The EU is actually a confederation (i.e. federation of states). There have already been federations of states: Switzerland, Germany, Scandinavia. What we observe is that a confederation is transformed into a federal state (Switzerland), otherwise it disappears (Scandinavia)
10 / Given the strength of local European nations, is it possible to create a European federal state?
In the 50s and 60s, it was planned to create a European federal state as soon as possible through the EDC. Germany, Italy and the Benelux countries were in favor. De Gaulle was opposed, as the European army was to be placed under American command. But General de Gaulle was an authentic federalist, of a very statist type, because he wanted to see the emergence of an independent Europe based on a european people and a single European government, so as to avoid the need for majority voting by heads of government on major issues. It is possible to create a European federal state in the short term, as it is above all a question of political will.
11 / Given the strength of euroscepticism today, is it feasible to create a European federal state?
cause of the rejection of Europe because this project does not bring effective solutions, no shared future and causes problems (fiscal and social dumping, poorly defended borders, imbalance in the euro zone).
Euroscepticism can only be defeated if the confederal project is replaced by a federal project. Only a federal state can propose effective solutions in terms of purchasing power thanks to the reduction of the cost of the debt, in terms of social and tax harmonization, in the promotion of employment through the effective defense of european commercialinterests. in the field of European border protection, with regard to the control of the management of European countries, and only a European federal state can offer a shared future.
12 / Given the lack of a sufficiently developed European public space, is it possible to create a European federal state?
Federal or similar states were created in a context of weak public space (Switzerland, Italy, India) which did not have a common language. It is therefore all about creating a federalist political party present in every key European country and with an effective strategy and a coherent doctrine to be able to convince voters.
13 / Will voters not be afraid by the prospect of creating a European state?
55% of Europeans were in favor of the United States of Europe in the 1980s. In the 1950s and 1960s it was planned to create a European army and then a European state with the Hallstein plan. Voters will not be scared. They will be reassured that Europe knows where it is going and what it wants.
14 / Are not the European Commission and the European Parliament becoming more important and will they not one day be able to create a European State?
Mistrust of the EU is growing, with the result that governments are refusing to give more power and resources to the EU. The European budget has stagnated at around 1% of European GDP for 30 years, and is declining in value with Brexit. This shows that the movement towards a European state can not come from the European Parliament and the European Commission because their political will and their political power is far too weak against the European states.
15 / Does not sovereignty belong to the States?
Yes sovereignty belongs to the States. But the exercise of this sovereignty depends on the power of a state.
It is therefore necessary to unite the European states in a European federal state in order to have effective sovereignty.
The EU can not be sovereign because it has no state (so no effective army, no effective diplomacy, no adequate budget, no industrial policy, no fiscal policy, no unity of decision).
The EU has at best a half state. It therefore has at best only half sovereignty, which does not work. The EU only makes sense as a transition to a European federal state.
France, Germany and the other local European states exercise most of the sovereignty, under very unfavorable conditions and with almost no effectiveness.
16 / Is a small state like Switzerland or Singapore not more efficient than a big state? Does the creation of a federal state necessarily lead to war?
Switzerland or Singapore benefit from the international order provided by the Chinese and American superpowers and are independent because there is a balance between the superpowers. Without superpowers and without the European Union recurring wars and widespread economic instability would exist in Asia and Europe. The birth of the Indian union, for example, did not produce a civil war. Pakistan and India are born parallel. There has only been inter-religious confrontation that is not conceivable in the European context.
17 / Are the pro Europeans all progressive and the anti-Europeans all populists ?
Although some supporters of a strong Europe are progressive some progressives want a weak Europe, they refuse the creation of a European federal state enjoying a national identity. Some populists want a strong Europe because they are ready to support the creation of a federal state based on a European national identity and a social Europe. .
This is not the populist progressive debate but the debate Strong European Europe weak confederal Europe that is decisive for our future
18 / Are the main parties in a position to create a European federal state?
The main parties do not have the will to create a European state since they would then necessarily have to explain that the great European nation is the head of the small nations of Europe and that their country will be placed under the authority of a European government for the essential questions ..
But this is not profitable in the short term and is not compatible with their ideas based on the preeminence of the local nation (France, Germany etc).
Nor do they have a European party leadership that can effectively coordinate actions in several European countries. For them the proposal of creation of the United States of Europe is at best a gadget used when it is opportune and abandoned as soon as the first difficulties appear.
19 / Is Europe based on the notion of geographical proximity?
No. Because where does Europe stop then? In China, Vietnam, South Africa? If the division of the world into nation states was due to a geographical factor, why is there an Iranian state and an Iraqi state, American and Mexican, Chinese and Russian etc? It is a cultural factor that is at work: A Chinese does not reason and does not live like an Indian. Similarly an Indian does not live and does not reason like an American etc ...
Making Europe without a European national identity and therefore without a European cultural identity and solely on the basis of the concept of neighborhood is not possible.
20 / Is the Europe of the cooperating nations not more realistic?
This Europe is the current Europe that does not work because each nation state defends its particular interests which leads to an inefficient European system and its rejection by the electorate.Would France be a power and would it be sovereign if it had no government and if its the 18 regions were content to cooperate? Would the US be a power and would it be sovereign if it did not have a federal government? Europe does not have a budget worthy of such a name, no army, no diplomacy, no efficient energy policy, no effective tax policy, and so on. The Europe of nations is Europe without an army and wihtout a governement, a weak Europe condemned to incantatory universalism and Atlanticism.
21 / Did not the Europeans reject the march towards more Europe in 2005?
The draft European constitution of 2005 did not propose a strong, effective and democratic federal Europe. He proposed a Europe of nations (ie a community of European nations), weak, incomprehensible and undemocratic since the main decision-making body of the EU, the European Council, is not answerable to the electorate of European citizens nor to the the European Parliament.
22 / Was Jean Monnet Pro American?
The goal of Jean Monnet was to unite Europe in a federal state. To achieve this goal he relied on support in Europe and outside Europe available in his time, including the US. This is not extraordinary: Cavour relied on France and Napoleon III to unite Italy and thereby gave Nice to France, George Washington on France to obtain American independence, Mao on the Soviets to create modern China etc.
The draft CED submitted the use of European defense forces to a US authorization but this price to pay for US support was perhaps not relevant. Once the European federal state was constituted, the Europeans may have had the military and budgetary means to do without American protection by revising constitutional provisions or treaties if necessary.
23 / Is there a European people?
It is the European culture that allows the Swiss people to exist as a European people with Germans, French and Italians.
There is a European people as there is a Swiss people. The European people have European culture, which can be described as essentially Romano-Germanic and Christian, on which their national identity is based. European culture is the fundamental element of the cultures of the various European countries.
24 / Is it possible to create a European government given the weak feeling of belonging to Europe?
The feeling of belonging to Europe ie the European national feeling is still weak but it exists. History shows that the creation of a federal government can be achieved in a democratic way with a still weak sense of belonging provided that there is a strong political will because the populations find their interest there: it was the case of the India, Switzerland and the USA.
The existence of a federal government then accelerates the development of a sense of national belonging
25 / Are the interests of European countries not too divergent to create a European government?
Most of the interests of the European countries, be it in internal security, external security, the grand European market, the constitutions of European industrial groups, European energy policy, European infrastructures and European research are convergent.
This convergence is due to the unique and very strong interdependence of European countries in cultural, health, human, commercial, financial, industrial, military and security matters.
The diverging interests that may remain are the result of the absence of a European government capable of promoting european interests vis-à-vis the rest of the world and of organizing the solidarity of interests between European states.
The lack of a common future embodied by a European state capable of defending European interests impels each state to only defend its particular interests,
26 / Would not it be better to set up a small European Council with a qualified majority vote on fiscal and military issues?
This solution is not efficient because such a Council could divided itself on essential fiscal and military matters leading to its paralysis. Such a council would also be inclined to divide itself because this Council will be made of of heads of state responsible to their local electorate only.
In addition this solution is not democratic because this Council will not be responsible to the European electorate or to the European legislature.
Moreover, no European state will agree to give up its military and budgetary sovereignty and transfer it to the European level without strong pro-European political force.
For such a pro-European political force to emerge, it must offer the electorate an effective and accountable European government.
If it proposes a small European Council that can divided itself on key issues, it will not be efficient, not democratic and will not convince voters.
27 / Why not first create a eurozone budget managed by a eurozone parliament?
As this Parliament will not be financed by its own resources and will not dispose of most of the proceeds of taxes in Europe, it will not be able to produce significant common European goods (army, energy equipment, river infrastructure) and it will not be able to control the management of European countries through financial incentives and strong political legitimacy. This type of semi-federal solution can not be accepted by European creditor countries because it encourages the fiscal drift of debtor countries and does not provide any significant benefits to creditor countries that are net contributors.
Furthermore, the European federal government would not be forced to come to the aid of the local European debtor states because these debtor states can no longer threaten to end the European single market, because they can no longer return to their old currency. A European federal government is therefore also in the interest of the creditor countries in Europe
Finally, only a European federal governement can efficiently control the financial management of the local European States and thereby prevent financial irresponsabitity leading to the downgrading of european credit rating. It can do so through federal taxation powers and through federal redistribution powers. Such powers stem from the federal powers and competences needed to conduct efficient centralized policies on important matters and to promote territorial cohesion.
28 / Is not it better to set up military cooperation with a common set of industrial weapons while maintaining the sovereignty of the states over their armed forces?
If each state retains its army, it will have no effective command, no clustering effect to achieve the critical size needed in a military specialty such as space or cyber, and no economies of scale.
Where would the US Army be if it were divided into 50 armies each commanded by an American governor?
Moreover cooperation between states does not work in the medium or long term because each sovereign state militarily defends its particular interests at the expense of other states even if all these states belong to a common civilization, this was the case for example in ancient Greece with the Peloponnesian War, in Renaissance Italy with the wars of Italy, in 18th century Germany with the wars of the Revolution and the Empire. .
29 / Is Europe not a civilization rather than a nation?
Europe is indeed a civilization. But a civilization is a great nation that includes many small nations like Chinese civilization, Indian civilization, Russian civilization, Arab civilization, Turkish-Iranian civilization. North American civilization, African civilization.
A great nation civilization can be politically united or quasi united (China, India, USA) or it can be politically divided (Europe, Arab World, Turkish-Persian world, Latin American world, African world).
30 / Why should France give up its nuclear strike force and put it under the control of a European federal government?
The French nuclear strike force is a major asset for France and for Europe. Nevertheless, this strike force can not be enough to ensure our safety, especially given the technological evolution. Probably within a few decades, the superpowers will be able to destroy by a pre-emptive strike the nuclear capabilities of small and medium-sized countries, including their submarine component.
European events
07/12/2017 Yougov: 30% of French and German supporters in the United States of Europe
07/12/2017 Martin Schulz: The United States of Europe by 2025, SPD party day speech
22/09/2017 Theresa May: we are part of the European nation, speech of florence
07/08/2017 Pope Francis: Europe must have a federal structure as soon as possible, La Respubblica