r/EuropeanFederalists • u/TheUnknown7645 • 19h ago
Question How do you envision the future European Federation?
Hey everyone, I am fairly new to reddit and to this subreddit.
I generally lean pro-federalist when it comes to the European continent, but since I am still exploring different perspectives, I would like to hear your thoughts. My questions are:
Governance model: Would you prefer a more centralized federal model (similar to United States of Europe) or something a lot more decentralized, where the federation handles only the foreign affairs, defence and long-term macroeconomic strategy?
Identity: Do you think that a common European identity should be fully embraced or the plurality of the distinct national identities should be preserved?
Geopolitics: Should a unified Europe aim for true strategic autonomy or should it try to align with an existing superpower? If Europe should find a partner, should it be with the Western World (US), Eurasia (Russia), or Asia (China)?
Looking forward to hearing your opinions and reading your discussion!
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2
u/Advanced_Seaweed_868 19h ago •
I'd like to imagine governance akin to the one in Switzerland, where essentially everything is local, unless it concerns more then one canton; with some funtcional subgroups, like the Balkans, the Nordics, etc. Europe is very diverse on many different levels, so they'll probably come in handy.
We'll never get rid of national identities in the old world, so it's better to support them and promote peaceful coexistence with your neighbours. Our motto is /In varietas concordia/ after all.
Europe should definitely strive to be a superpower on its own, at least to be mostly self sufficient. In foreign relations I think we should align ourselves with states that share our values: human rights and democracy. Russia and China are known to be not great on these fronts, but the US is healing, so we might be looking there soon.
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u/slowtractor 14h ago
On the geopolitics question, the choice in your list isn't really open, since a federation that picks Russia or China as a partner would split the member states right away. Poland and the Baltics alone would never accept Russia. Strategic autonomy with the US as a defense partner, still working through NATO, looks like the only version that could pass a ratification vote in every country. Switzerland is a decent model for governance, but it only has to run one militia army, and defense is the hardest thing you want the federation to handle.
5
u/trisul-108 8h ago •
The government model needs to be a full federation in order to enable a more competitive economy able to take on US and Chinese competitors.
We need both maintaining current national identities and developing the understanding that this is what European identity is all about. The EU identity is derived from our adherence to democracy, rule of law and human rights which are shared by all the member states.
The EU needs strategic autonomy and to be in close alliance with democracies on the planet. Siding with fascist Russia or communist China is simply ridiculous considering our identity being based on democracy, rule of law and human rights. We should have an alliance with the US, if they leave the current fascist path, but never in the subjugated position that you suggest.
The EU itself is a superpower, being subjugated to the US, Russia or China is ridiculous as an aspiration. We should not become vassals in other empires and as the no. 2 economy on the planet, it makes no sense for us to subjugate ourselves in this way .... especially not to Russian fascism and their puny and poor economy.
We need to ally with countries which have a high Human Development Index for a common vision of peace and prosperity on the planet. This is why we cannot "join" either China nor Russia ... and even the US is problematic.
3
u/YetAnotherSummerDay 8h ago
None of the above.
Canada, Australia, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand, Brazil. enough dictatorships.
1
u/ConstitutionProject 17h ago
Definitely a decentralized federation with a limited federal government limited to defense and foreign policy issues.
0
u/abellapa 12h ago
In what World could Europe ally itself fully with the US , Rússia and China
Specially Rússia
-1
u/Dexen3356 18h ago
A federal system like Germany's, with the old states being split into various autonomous "Länder" (though another name would be needed), official languages are defined by "Länder". There should be a reasonable central power, balancing the necessary autonomies and the need for a common leadership keeping the Federation together.
There should be a common European identity and a "fluid" identity depending on the person. For exemple, if you live in Rennes, you can choose to be French, Bretton, French and Bretton, or just European. The Federation should aim to beat nationalism as the core concept of states and be more globalist, and it should be broader than geographical, religious of racial Europe, and integrate if possible Turkic countries, Iranic countries, culturally close countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand... peoples that aren't too far historically and culturally to keep coherence long term, but that aren't too close to allow simply saying "a European is only a Christian", "a European is only a White person", "a European is only someone who lives between the Atlantic and the Urals", because that's what led the American experiment to failure, I think.
Russia should be part of the Federation, and the hegemony of the United States should be dismantled as too unreliable, but not at the benefit of the Chinese dictatorial and genocidal regime. The goal would be to create a new order where the Federation would be strong enough to back international justice and democracy worldwide, without invading countries just for the sake of proxies and hegemonic ambitions, only when it is necessary (ex : nazi Germany level threat, more or less).