Here's the part that I don't get about the European Union: creating a federal state out of a collection of independent states is not that easy. Germany and Italy didn't manage it until the late 19th century. There are really only two viable models: the Swiss/American republican model, and the Austrian/Russian imperial model. The first looks more attractive but is much harder to achieve. The Swiss Confederation and the United States of America were both formed initially as a wartime alliance against much stronger external enemies, not simply because someone thought it was a great idea and drew up a constitution. Both have had to carefully circumscribe the powers granted to the central authority to prevent it from becoming an imperial state. Both countries were nearly destroyed by civil wars. The EU constitution has none of the safeguards against an overreaching central government that we have found necessary (and even sometimes insufficient), and no reliable way of resolving conflicts among its members. It thus remains vulnerable to both dangers.
They speak of creating a United States of Europe. I think it is more likely that they will revive some sort of Holy Roman Empire. Having concentrated power in the center, and removed democratic checks on its exercise and aggrandizement, there is little to prevent some would-be tyrant from completing its concentration in his hands. The optimistic case is that the inability to resolve internal differences may cause the EU to peacefully fall apart, possibly due to some crisis in the Euro and wide differences in economic conditions among the EU member states.
Here's the part that I don't get about the European Union: creating a federal state out of a collection of independent states is not that easy. Germany and Italy didn't manage it until the late 19th century. There are really only two viable models: the Swiss/American republican model, and the Austrian/Russian imperial model. The first looks more attractive but is much harder to achieve. The Swiss Confederation and the United States of America were both formed initially as a wartime alliance against much stronger external enemies, not simply because someone thought it was a great idea and drew up a constitution. Both have had to carefully circumscribe the powers granted to the central authority to prevent it from becoming an imperial state. Both countries were nearly destroyed by civil wars. The EU constitution has none of the safeguards against an overreaching central government that we have found necessary (and even sometimes insufficient), and no reliable way of resolving conflicts among its members. It thus remains vulnerable to both dangers.
They speak of creating a United States of Europe. I think it is more likely that they will revive some sort of Holy Roman Empire. Having concentrated power in the center, and removed democratic checks on its exercise and aggrandizement, there is little to prevent some would-be tyrant from completing its concentration in his hands. The optimistic case is that the inability to resolve internal differences may cause the EU to peacefully fall apart, possibly due to some crisis in the Euro and wide differences in economic conditions among the EU member states.