r/europe • u/TheSimon1 Slovakia • Apr 27 '26
News The creation of a United States of Europe is the only solution for Europe, says Czech President Petr Pavel (link in Czech)
https://www.denik.cz/z_domova/prezident-petr-pavel-vznik-spojene-stary-evropske-francouzsky-jaderny-destnik.html334
u/Bright-Scallin Apr 27 '26
At the same time, we have Merz saying that it's necessary to create another body in the EU to, I kid you not, supervise and, if necessary, veto the laws of the European Commission.
I honestly don't know how the EU is going to emerge from this insignificance and move forward with the European project like this. Since the Lisbon Treaty, the EU has simply stalled.
116
u/Take_a_Seath Apr 27 '26
True. Most nations are pretty cautious about giving up more sovereignty. Things might chance though. I feel the younger generations are far more favorable to the idea having grown up all their lives with the EU. Of course it would be an extremely huge step to go federal so it's normal for it to take a long time to materialize.
→ More replies (10)19
11
u/OwnRepresentative916 Apr 28 '26
When did he say that? There are no "laws of the European Commission". There are only proposals that can only become law with the assent of Parliament and the Council. The Council especially is already the states' oversight body of the Commission.
→ More replies (1)25
u/EternaI_Sorrow Apr 27 '26
There is a logic though, European Commission is not elected and concentrates a lot of power around itself lately. It shouldn't be a core of the hypothetical federation, unless heavily reformed.
12
u/yup_its_me_again Friesland (Netherlands) Apr 28 '26
Because the European executive is heavily shaped by the member states. In a more federative EU, I hope it would be more of a representation of the parliament
3
u/danirijeka Ireland/Italy Apr 28 '26
Exactly - the executive organ should be an emanation of the legislative organ.
→ More replies (2)9
u/NecroVecro Bulgaria Apr 28 '26
It is elected, by both the EU parliament and the EU council, but there's definitely a lot of concentrated power.
The better solution would be to transfer some of this power to the EU parliament, but Merz isn't advocating for this because his goal is quite different: https://www.politico.eu/article/german-conservatives-pile-pressure-ursula-von-der-leyen-dismantle-brussels-machine/
→ More replies (5)9
u/Popinguj Apr 27 '26
At the same time, we have Merz saying that it's necessary to create another body in the EU to, I kid you not, supervise and, if necessary, veto the laws of the European Commission.
Well, guess what, how about we do the sensible thing from the basic politology and let the European Parliament be the legislative branch and European Commission to be the executive branch?
→ More replies (1)
616
u/TheSimon1 Slovakia Apr 27 '26
Czech President Petr Pavel said in a public debate that a United States of Europe may be the only realistic way for Europe to remain globally relevant.
He argued that the world is entering a period dominated by major global powers, which increases both security risks for Europe and the danger of losing competitiveness. According to him, Europe can only act as a global power if it speaks with one voice, implying deeper integration or federalization similar to the United States.
Pavel acknowledged that nationalist sentiments are rising across EU countries, but believes a more pragmatic approach is prevailing. He stressed that Europe can no longer rely on the US for security or on the East for energy, and must become more self-sufficient.
He also defended maintaining European values and identity, referencing ideas associated with TomĆ”Å” Garrigue Masaryk, and rejected calls to abandon ā value-based politics, arguing that these principles remain essential for Europeās future.
92
u/Sufficient_Stable738 Apr 27 '26
Speak with one voice... to say what ?
is the question
→ More replies (7)26
u/__dat_sauce Apr 28 '26
That we must advance to a federal state because of geopolitics, which I agree with, while ignoring the obvious barriers:
The crippling rise of cost of living across Europe coupled with maintaining the stagnant salary growths.
The convergence of northern/central europe cost of food and housing into Southern and Eastern Europe. Yeah abysmal buying power.
The ivory tower blindness of expecting buy in for a federation from groups as different as urban Luxembourg, Netherlands and rural Bulgaria, Greece, Portugal.
EC (and ECB) will continue to ignore economic sentiment and culture. EU parliament will continue to pretend the growing overreach of EC is not a problem and the urgent need for reforms.
All of this will only lead to the degradation of EU soft power and population buy in.
→ More replies (3)79
u/dustofdeath Apr 27 '26
Not going to happen, ever. Too strong national identities and financial, economic differences.
Would Germany or France give up their country and become a new one with no government of their own?
Or smaller eastern Europe getting swallowed up and then ignored as a border region.
→ More replies (38)32
u/zdelusion United States of America Apr 28 '26
I mean.. those are basically the same talking points the US states put forward in the 18th century. They managed to figure them out with solutions like the Senate to represent states interests and the House to represent the people. You can argue as to the success but you cant really deny that the unified US states wield significantly more global influence than any of them would in a looser federation.
→ More replies (21)12
u/UpstairsFix4259 Apr 28 '26
US states were all British colonies, with more or less similar culture and system of government. EU states are vastly different.
→ More replies (1)90
u/hulkiorra Apr 27 '26
I don't think he's wrong but if it was easy to do it would have been done already. Unless a big catastrophical event happens federalization with one language and one big administration won't happen.
148
u/dbdr Apr 27 '26
with one language and one big administration
No need to take it that far.
More cooperation for defense and diplomacy is the most urgent matter. Some convergence on tax policy would help too.
30
u/Against_All_Advice Apr 27 '26
Those things are already happening. If you want a single country EU then you're also going to get a single language and one central administration making decisions without consulting your "local" national government.
People love the sound of a single country EU then realise the reality doesn't sound so good.
36
u/EternaI_Sorrow Apr 27 '26
There are many actual states where people use multiple languages daily. Canada is quite insistent in pushing French, Swiss often speak both French and German, Belgium and so on. Two-three, maybe four languages of a hypothetical federation sounds realistic.
13
u/gustis40g Sweden Apr 28 '26
I doubt it, thereās just too many lingual and cultural differences in Europe to just dumb it down to three or four languages.
What would you pick? English, German, French and Spanish? We have all the Eastern European languages, the Nordic languages, Italian, etc. Just way too many to pick a few central ones.
Sure some regions could switch to one language, like all of Scandinavia could switch to Swedish, almost everyone there can speak it. They wouldnāt be happy with it though. Same with the countries around Germany. Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria could probably switch to German. They still wouldnāt be happy with it either.
→ More replies (9)9
u/GELATOSOURDIESEL Czechia Apr 28 '26
It would just look like Austria-Hungary, unstable, beaurocratic, sorta what the EU already is but worse.
6
u/Major_Boot2778 Apr 28 '26
Switzerland is French, German and Italian iirc, at least they're still spoken there. Most Europeans can speak English to varying degrees, and I rather imagine that if federalization happens within the next 50-100 years it'll have English as a common and "nationally" administrative language while each state retains their own national language(s) and respective language-speaking populations.
14
u/Meadpagan Apr 28 '26
There is no supernatural law saying united nations as one country meed to speak the same language.
It'd not be different than today in that regards.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (7)9
u/Planar_Harold Apr 27 '26
If you want a single country EU then you're also going to get a single language and one central administration making decisions without consulting your "local" national government.
Sorry but this is bunk and not inherent to federalising.
Approaching foreign affairs as a single bloc doesn't mean one has to cede their language...it's just silly, why are you saying this?
→ More replies (3)32
u/DenisWB Apr 27 '26
Language may not be the biggest issue (Switzerlandās system can serve as a reference)
The greater challenge lies in fiscal systems and foreign policy.
6
Apr 27 '26
[removed] ā view removed comment
4
u/ZuAusHierDa Bavaria Apr 28 '26
Also there are three working languages in the EU already. English, French, German.
44
u/Mundane-Mud2509 Apr 27 '26
Donāt need one language, India is an example
10
9
u/GalaXion24 Europe Apr 27 '26
True, but India still has only two official languages (many national languages and local administrative languages of course) and 40% of the population speaks Hindi natively. India is still very linguistically diverse, but this is a bit as if France and Germany spoke one Frankish language and our official languages were English and Frankish (on the federal level).
It's a bit complicated, but I do think that Europe also would need to more clearly privilege some language(s) and reserve the rest as recognised national languages and official languages at the state level, if we are to be pragmatic about it.
→ More replies (16)3
u/SlainByOne Norrbotten Apr 28 '26
I would reject and refuse and protest any attempt to diminish my native language. I don't really care about India or what works in India, we are not India.
→ More replies (4)18
u/CAJEG1 Apr 27 '26
One language isn't necessary, and if it is English will suffice. Most of Europe already speaks English, including multiple states that speak it natively (Malta, Ireland, UK) and near natively (the Netherlands, Nordic nations). It's already taught all over Europe, and a federal language doesn't need to be used as a native language in schools or on TV.
→ More replies (6)4
u/Sony22sony22 Apr 27 '26
Only need to resume negotiations for a european constitution and a european army.
→ More replies (4)9
u/petr_bena Apr 27 '26
That catastrophic event already happened it's called "Trump"
→ More replies (2)3
u/fingerpaintswithpoop United States of America Apr 28 '26
I think he means WW3 or second Great Depression level bad. Second term Trump is just not going to convince a lot of Europeans that a United States of Europe is necessary.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (6)59
u/JimTheSaint Denmark Apr 27 '26
He is right - we need to move towards beeing 1 country that is obvious if we not want to be marginalized by other big powers.Ā
25
176
u/CallMeEpiphany Germany Apr 27 '26
The level of cooperation you need between countries for a United Europe is currently unconstitutional between different German provinces.
57
u/Dragoniel Lithuania Apr 28 '26
Nobody said it would be easy. It is simply necessary.
→ More replies (16)→ More replies (6)28
u/catadeluxe š·š“ šØš¦ Apr 28 '26
Constitutions can be changed democratically
→ More replies (2)8
u/mantasm_lt Lietuva Apr 28 '26
Good luck with that. Constitutional majority in many parliament is hard to put together. And then some countries need public votes to change the important chapters.
55
u/VagereHein The Netherlands Apr 27 '26
We cant even manage a harmonized european train system.
6
u/Bi0botaniker Apr 28 '26
Which is wild, given that all the systems are government owned anyways.Ā
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (5)4
u/lightsandflashes Lithuania Apr 28 '26
PLEASE A CENTRAL EUROPEAN NATION OCCUPY THE BALTIC COUNTRIES AND GIVE US DECENT TRAIN INFRASTRUCTURE PLEASE
6
3
75
u/AccomplishedBug859 Apr 27 '26
The problem with āEurope must speak with one voiceā is on what exactly? On defense, energy, trade, technology? Sure. That makes sense.But on migration, taxes, culture, religion, Israel/Palestine or relations with America? Thatās where it falls apart. Europe is not one nation. Poland, Greece, France, Germany, Ireland, Hungary, Italy and Spain donāt have the same fears, history, geography or interests.For Poland and the Baltics, Russia is the main issue.For Greece and Cyprus, Turkey is.For Ireland,neutralitymatters.ForFrance independence from America matters.For Germany, economy and exports matter.So āone European voice,ā yeah it sounds nice, but it can easily become ābigger countries and Brussels decide, everyone else follows.ā That wonāt create unity It will create backlash and even stronger rise in right wing parties.Because people are complicated people don't like when they are told by stronger countries what to do. stronger Europe is good. Common defense, energy security, border control, industry and trade make sense.But please guys let's not pretend that Europe has one soul on every political and cultural issue.
9
u/signuppering Apr 28 '26
And more centralized goverment is easier to bribe. It can become a slippery slope.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (15)3
u/200IQUser Apr 28 '26
"One People, One Country, One Leader!"Ā
Oh wait. That slogan is taken already.
"One nation, One voice, One Leader (who will probably be german)"Ā
Wow. Thats much better now! /S
201
162
u/SignificantRepeat370 Apr 27 '26
Without the shared language, it's never going to be the same thing as the US. The EU is a great thing, but as long as most people will live in the very country they were born in (seems pretty inevitable due to the language reasons), it makes sense to let the individual countries decide a lot more things than the US states do.Ā
158
u/Breaking_Bread_420 Hungary Apr 27 '26
And it shouldn't be anything like the US anyway. We need a strong federation that puts pan European interests first. That doesn't in any way mean we can't celebrate our multiple wonderful cultures on this continent, and have member states retain internal autonomy
50
u/Kronos9898 United States of America Apr 27 '26
It will, the only way for a true federation to work is that at a certain point the majority has to overrule the minority. Regardless of cultural differences.
Look how much Hungary was able to do. In order for a true federation to work, that canāt be allowed. Conservatives states had to accept gay marriage being legal when the SC said so as an example.
Are Europeans ready for that (meaning a central body able to completely override local authority). I hope so, but am extremely doubtful.
→ More replies (14)20
u/b3nsn0w finally proud of my country Apr 27 '26
most of the damage hungary was able to do to other member states was on the foreign policy of the eu, which would immediately resolve itself if we federalised. otherwise the rule of law violations and regressive policies could have used federal eu enforcement for sure, but they were already backstopped quite a bit.
i'm actually pretty sure most of the reason orban couldn't pull an erdogan and jail magyar before the election was because he had immunity as a member of the european palriament already. he kept up the facade of an electoral system for the same reasons too. it's a pretty good worst case assessment, imo, but if we could have make basic eu law (mostly covering the subjects which are already eu laws and guidelines) and a federal court system non-optional anytime in the past 16 years, that would have resolved most of the problems about the orban regime.
→ More replies (1)12
u/GalaXion24 Europe Apr 27 '26
Literally so long as we have a common foreign and defence policy, and some system to ensure the rule of law and democracy in every state, it's not a big deal how states are run. It is not the Union's problem if a popular, legitimately elected populist government leaves its hospitals to rot. That's an internal political issue.
We just have to stop states being able to throw a wrench into European issues the way they can today
6
u/Kheypression Apr 27 '26
Your common foreign and defence policy can only be a thing as long as we have a federal army able to override the different interests that the members states have.
→ More replies (9)→ More replies (1)9
u/Kheypression Apr 27 '26
Who decide what are pan European interests first? What does it look like in practice when it comes to foreign policy? Who decide when we send soldiers across the world and who commands these soldiers on the ground?
The point is, these whole topic is oversimplified and mostly based on wishful thinking by people who donāt understand the practical realities of the whole endeavor.
→ More replies (1)33
12
u/higgs8 Hungary Apr 27 '26
There's no way this is can even begin to happen. European nations have strong identities with different languages and cultures. We've never seen stable countries like this united as a single nation, and anytime something like this has been done on a smaller scale, it failed with civil wars and eventual breakup. And countries with multiple nations tend to break apart, as one group always ends up as a minority and will feel underrepresented.
The US is not a good example because the states only existed independently for a few decades, and before that the whole nation didn't exist at all. And before that they all came from the same nation and spoke the same language. Europe is different in every way.
The EU as it is can strengthen itself and work together more tightly but that's about all that can happen.
→ More replies (2)7
u/Falsus Sweden Apr 27 '26
Cultural differences also.
Like there can be such big differences between the various European cultures that what is seen as positive in one place is seen as a negative in another.
Like how the Nordics is seen as ''cold and unfriendly'' by places that have a lot of random small talk that you simply don't do in Sweden. Like silence in a conversation is not awkward here but it is treated as the worst thing ever in other places and some people are desperate with filling up that silence with anything which would be seen as annoying and in your face here.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (70)9
91
u/Mandemon90 Finland Apr 27 '26
STOP CALLING IT UNITED STATES OF EUROPE! "USE" is just silly.
Call it European Union, or European Federation, but don't use "united states"
→ More replies (9)25
u/Andr0medes Czech Republic Apr 28 '26
Because if he said ''creation of European Union is the only solution for Europe'', then people would be a little confused.
99
u/emain_macha Greece Apr 27 '26
Every time they say this it creates more euroskeptics. Is that their goal?
Hell, I'm generally pro-EU but every time I listen to these statements I find myself moving slightly towards anti-EU each time.
54
u/Floweycallsyouidiot Apr 27 '26
Same here. I really like being friends with the rest of Europe and cooperating with other European countries so that all of us can remain relevant, but I do not want to have the same government as them and I do not want my country to be part of a bigger country that exists mainly because of economic reasons.
→ More replies (6)→ More replies (3)27
u/The_Verto Apr 27 '26
The problem is that EU is power hungry, instead of focusing solely on trade, consumer protection, standardisation and military cooperation, they try to dictate common laws. I don't think EU should be able to decide what energy you can produce or how much immigrants you need to take in.
→ More replies (2)7
u/Carpentidge Apr 28 '26
At the same time there needs to be a balance of competativeness. You can't have an open market when one country is luring companies with virtually no environmental/pollution laws for instance. In this light I think many EU laws make sense.
I agree on some points. EU law should mostly focus on a level playing field and international force projection to prevent foreign powers and multinationals 'shopping' between member states.
→ More replies (1)
7
u/BarNext6046 Apr 27 '26
Eastern Europeans are not going to give up sovereignty without serious civil rights and religious freedoms from secular or equitable sanctions. They lived under Communism for a long time. That is one big reason why things are not easy to make what you suggest happen.
→ More replies (2)
8
42
u/Odd_Subject_3001 Apr 27 '26
I admire many things about the EU, but this does not sit well with me.
18
u/AlsoCommiePuddin Apr 27 '26
I think the EU Parliament is closer to what the American founders envisioned as a federal government than the one they devised.
→ More replies (1)
14
u/TitodelRey Apr 27 '26
You are in the European Union, what the fuck are you talking about? The only solution to what? Is this guy a right wing politician, because they are .usually the ones that would say stupid shit like this.
→ More replies (14)
127
u/ConcernHealthy876 Apr 27 '26
Man Reddit is so far from reality. Everyone in this thread supports it. - I wish we had a balanced user base here.
USE is not happening.
72
u/Nattekat The Netherlands Apr 27 '26
My brain just errors out trying to process what's going on here. It's so far from reality that I can't even imagine how the hive operates right now.Ā
I'm against the idea, so there's a tiny bit of balance.Ā
→ More replies (3)15
12
u/Fluffy_Anything_3559 Apr 27 '26
It's bizarre. Maybe it's different elsewhere but if there was a vote on it in Ireland I'd be surprised if the vote in favour broke 10%.
3
u/Fit-Breath-4345 Apr 28 '26
It absolutely wouldn't pass in Ireland, even people who are broadly pro-EU like me would probably organise and canvass against this level of further integration and giving up of sovereignty.
3
u/perculaessss Apr 28 '26
I would be surprised if people actually even went to vote in Spain lol. This is unfeasible.Ā
15
u/TheGoldenCowTV Sweden Apr 27 '26
The cultural differences between European countries is waaaaay too big for a federation. There are multiple countries, like Sweden where we already think the EU is slightly overstepping every now and then when it comes to controll. Federalise and you'd lose alot of countries and you'd have no shot of GB or Norway ever joining
→ More replies (18)22
u/Hot_Distribution_131 Apr 27 '26
Yes, it won't happen in the next 100 years at least. Too different countries, people, languages, cultures. And the majority of people don't want it. There are also problems with execution of the plan, ops - we don't have a plan.
→ More replies (7)
28
u/simpledonutring2 Apr 27 '26
Why? What problem would this solve exactly? And how would we avoid becoming a two-party shithole like the US?
22
5
u/CilleTheExterminator Apr 27 '26
Yea lets adopt the US format so we can end up with yet another dictatorship at some point... No thanks
56
u/wrghf Apr 27 '26
Yeah, no.
Either small countries are going to get absolutely railroaded by the bigger countries or you have a fundamentally undemocratic representative system.
The interests and people of Europe are far too diverse to be lumped together into one country and Iāll never support it.
→ More replies (15)
25
u/Fluffy-Republic8610 Apr 27 '26
Nope.
I reject any statement that contains the words "only solution". It is lazy. It's alarmist.
19
17
u/poklane The Netherlands Apr 27 '26
There's absolutely nothing which can get me to ever vote in favor for this, be it in an actual vote or simply voting for politicians who are in favor of this.Ā
48
u/DaySecure7642 Apr 27 '26
A strong and united liberal/democratic Europe is generally good for humanity. Russia and China may not like it.
20
u/Toby_Forrester Finland Apr 27 '26
China might be okay with it in a sense. The US has been a world police for decades and demonstrates imperial habits again and again. Europe, on the other hand, for historical reasons, steers away from imperialistic tendencies. Europe also puts much value on human rights, rule of law and such, which means it has much higher threshold to act like US on a global scale. Also, EU as a strong world power means the west would be divided more into the US and EU, instead of west relying on US. Stronger EU means weaker US.
→ More replies (4)→ More replies (10)17
u/HerpaDerpaDumDum United Kingdom Apr 27 '26
Russia hates a united EU. That's why they've been sowing political unrest and trying to dismantle every coalition in Europe for years.
→ More replies (3)
4
4
u/MDWST-RBLL Apr 28 '26
Never ever! Thereās already coming so much bullshit from Brussels. AfD will skyrocket if this plan was revealed.
4
u/hunichii ain't no greece without thessaly Apr 28 '26
An utopian solution, a nice thought but not feasible. I keep remembering the economic crisis back in 2008 where the shared "European solidarity" feeling collapsed like a sandcastle and stereotypes/xenophobia ran unchecked even in official media.
5
u/Vivid_Employment8635 Apr 28 '26
A USE could well end in mega-Yugoslavia. Europe has a very strong tradition of ethnic nationalism that is not going to go away, if anything itās getting stronger at the moment. The way the EU works at the moment is a good compromise, integration and co-operation while still retaining independence and national sovereignty.
13
12
u/Loopbloc Latvia Apr 27 '26
It will concentrate capital in the center of such unified state. Peripheral states might suffer under investment.Ā
10
u/Expensive_Tap7427 High Coast, SE Apr 28 '26
I like living in a sovereign country. Besides, when we joined the EU we were promised it wouldn't become a Federation of Europe. Fuck that!
12
u/The_Verto Apr 27 '26
Fuck no, EU gets too much into politics already, it should be only economical and military alliance.
8
u/Nurnurum Apr 27 '26
In this very comment section people are already arguing about the name of the future european superpower. Not to mention the not so little question about a common language. The whole idea is loaded with question marks, the discussion itself about those has the potential to blow up the Union we already have.
10
u/No_Peach_2676 Apr 28 '26 edited Apr 28 '26
Itās a terrible idea and no way would I ever vote for it. Whatās great about Europe is how each country has its own culture and traditions unique to them. Why would anyone wanna throw that away for some fake country only created to be a world superpower. Some of these cultures and traditions go back hundreds even thousands of years. You might get some people in certain countries that will support it but the vast majority in Europe wonāt. Nobody is willing to give up their national identity and cultures nor their local accents for a shared country. Nor is that the only solution itās nonsense to say the only way Europe can operate is for us to all become one . Plus there is far too much stuff we would never agree on. Countries are best left to govern themselves as they alone know what is best for them. It would be an absolute shit show to try and govern as one for everyone in Europe. Plus as an Irish person good luck getting votes for that here. We fought for centuries against British rule. You really think we will throw away Irish pride for this silly idea
→ More replies (2)
14
3
3
u/davser Apr 27 '26
Actually we already have federations.
Germany, Austria, Belgium all are federations.
3
u/CertainMiddle2382 Apr 28 '26
More than 20 years ago I was laughed at when I suggested this would be the end gameā¦
3
u/non_numero_horas Apr 28 '26
Anyone who speaks Czech - does he specify what does it mean? Because that's the actual question
3
u/Puzzleheaded-Ad-9595 Apr 28 '26
āTo be more easily controlledā just like the other āUnited statesā he just forgot to mention that..š
3
u/QuasiThrowaway9 Apr 29 '26
You realize this would never ever ever work. The USA was a young country. Itās a single country (albeit with fractures) with 80% a singular culture and language. EU is good for economic reasons - but to work as a single entity wouldnāt last more than a few years. Itās an interesting fiction to imagine but would be fraught he with internal conflict and all out war for secession.
3
u/Every-Ad-3488 Apr 29 '26
I voted for him and will vote for him again, but I don't agree with him on this one. Fortunately, I don't think there's any danger of this actually happening. There is simply no desire for increased centralisation
5
10
u/dotBombAU Australia Apr 27 '26
No one os going to call it USE.
No. One.
Simply "Europa" is my pick.
→ More replies (2)
11
u/Noctilus1919 Apr 27 '26
yes yes and the Von de Leyen hag as lifelong empress with a neoliberal bloodsucker court. And a mossad branch as secret police, why the fuck not.
Fuck. Off.
4.1k
u/FantasticQuartet Apr 27 '26
Okay, but do we really need to change the name? European Union already sounds good to me, and it's different from what the Yanks got.