User:Ssolbergj/Federal Europe

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.

There are no current formal plans for the EU to declare federal status, although some see it as what would be the final step of European integration. In the past however, various empires and military powers have achieved control over large parts of the European continent, and often introduced state-like structures by force. Notable among these are the Roman Empire, the First French Empire, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

The most recent, and the only 'attempt' based on factual democracy and voluntary enlargement, is the European Union. 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 term "United States of Europe" is often used among writers of speculative fiction and science fiction, political scientists and futurologists, drawing parallels to the United States of America. This concrete comparison provokes opposition among some EU citizens.

History
Throughout the centuries, various empires and military powers have achieved control over large parts of the European continent through military conquest. To maintain control over such vast distances, over time and without e.g. modern means of communication, a certain degree of self-governing would be considered necessary; hence the modern definition of a federation can be used. The degree of central governing has differed.

Roman Empire


In Ancient Rome, a province was the basic, and until the Tetrarchy (circa 296), largest territorial and administrative unit of the empire's territorial possessions outside of the Italian peninsula. The word province in modern English has its origins in the term used by the Romans.

Provinces were generally governed by politicians of in the Roman senate, usually former consuls or former praetors. A later exception was the province of Egypt, incorporated by Augustus after the death of Cleopatra: it was ruled by a governor of equestrian rank only, perhaps as a discouragement to senatorial ambition. This exception was unique, but not contrary to Roman law, as Egypt was considered Augustus' personal property, following the tradition of earlier, Hellenistic kings.

First French Empire


During France's occupation of neighboring parts of Europe during the French Revolutionary Wars, it established republican regimes in these territories. The French Republic claimed to support the spread of the republican principles in Europe, but most of these client republics, or sister republics, were in fact a means of controlling the occupied lands through a mix of French and local control. The republics typically based their existence on the presence of French troops; on the other side, the French administration often ruled with the only purpose of draining as many resources (food, money and soldiers) as possible for the benefit of France. The institution of republican governments, promoting nationality over the rule of the royal families (Bourbons, Habsburgs) set the stage for the appearance of nationalist sentiment in all Europe, which significantly influenced the course of European history (see 1830 and Revolutions of 1848).

'Third Reich'


Under the Nazi Germany rule in World War II, outside of what was directly annexed into Germany were the regional territories created in occupied lands. In many areas, occupied territories called Reichskommissariat were set up. In the occupied Soviet Union territories, these included the Reichskommissariat Ostland and Reichskommissariat Ukraine. In northern Europe, there was the Reichskommissariat Niederlande (Netherlands) and Reichskommissariat Norwegen (Norway) which were designed to foster German colonization. In 1944, a Reichskommissariat was founded in Belgium and northern France, previously known as the Military Administration of Belgium and North France, where travel restrictions were enforced in order to foster German colonization.

European Union
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. 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 weilding certain supranational powers strictly related to economy and trade, to 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. 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.

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'
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 use longer time.

Superpower prospect
The European Union has been called an emerging superpower by academics. T.R. Reid, Andrew Reding and Mark Leonard, 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). On the other hand Laurent Cohen-Tanugi 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.

'United States of Europe'
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 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.

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. 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'.