The dream of European federation
There is a big dream in the heads of many proponents of the EU. Dream of the federalization of Europe and creating of the United States of Europe of some sort. But can this dream ever materialize? Isn't federalized Europe only a chimera, non-achievable idea which following will lead to a worse scenario than the current state of things?
To answer this question, let's examine the role model for this plan – the United States of America. How similar the US really are to Europe? To understand the core of the US, we need to look back to its foundation and the reasons for its foundation. USA, similarly to for example Australia, were founded by an outcasts. People who were either not wanted in Europe for their beliefs or people who felt they are not wanted in Europe for their background, be it national or social. The first group is probably best represented by the Puritans, who started to settle in America after 1620s. The second group is represented by a poor people from Ireland, Italy, Hungary or other places – people who weren't prosecuted for their beliefs, but who didn't felt welcome in their respective states. These people started settling in America centuries later, but created an important part of the society. However, unlike the above-mentioned Australia which served as a penal colony, these people chose to emigrate to the new continent voluntarily. They chose to leave almost everything they had and decided to build a new, fairer, home far away from places where they were not wanted anymore.
I see this element, sacrifice of same sort, as a crucial point in the US history as these people, the outcasts, were determined to create a new society, new order of things. During the whole centuries-long process of establishing the USA, as we know them today, it was never important where had the people come from, what had they done in Europe or what had been their personal beliefs. What was important was their determination to create a new, more liberal, state of things. This is the reason why the US, up until very recently, protected personal liberties of its citizens. Freedom of speech, property right, right to a fair trial. These human rights have been protected, sometimes even to an extent which we in Europe can never understand.
This situation has been described as „political nation“. Nationality has never been the primary issue in the USA, the most important trait was devotion to the ideas upon which were the USA founded. Even the only war that affected the USA directly, the Civil War, wasn't being fought for a nationalistic reasons, but for ideological ones. Unlike some European ideologies putting the nation on a pedestal, the ideological disputes leading to the Civil War didn't consist of a national question, but rather rather the question of a further economical and social development so to say.
Now, let's take a brief look into the European history and foundation of the society. Was the society founded by the outcasts who left the place they felt wasn't suitable for them? Were the European states founded upon some philosophical idea? Or was it vice versa, that the ideas the modern states are founded upon came after the predecessors of the modern states had been already established?
European states have never been based upon ideas. The states have been established upon the national key. As was discussed in the previous article here and here there has always been some notion of a nation. Certain groups of people living in a certain area sharing certain cultural and linguistic similarities have always stuck together, eventually creating nations as we know the today. But the nations have never shared any common ideology. The European states founded on a national, rather than political, bases have always focused primarily on their own goals, their own people.
While the USA were founded by a shared idea, no such thing existed in Europe. Even though we are being told otherwise, people from, for example, Poland and people from Spain have literally nothing in common. They live thousands of kilometres apart, they have got different language, different culture, different history. We do not even have to compare such distant states. Take France and Germany (and Germanic states established before the German state was united). What has been the only thing these two states have always had in common? War. If not open conflict, at least years of feuds or proxy wars where both states supported rival parties. The same can be said about France and Spain. Spain and England. England and France. The Netherlands and Spain. The Netherlands and England, etc. If one were to be pessimistic, he could call the European history the history of conflicts.
Establishing the fact that the USA were founded on a completely different premise than European states, there is one question remaining. Can we build an European federation after centuries of wars and land disputes?
To answer that, let's first answer another questions. Is the past being left in the past? Or do past acts still haunt some European states and its citizens? Has Germany moved over its dark history? Has all the former disputes amongst states been resolved? I am afraid the answer is no. And the answer will always be no.
While the founders of the USA had made a difficult choice to leave everything behind and establish a whole new order, it has also given them certain advantage. They were surrounded by a people with a similar background, similar stories, people who came with some unresolved issues, but these issues were unresolvable in their positions as they were attached to their former land. Therefore, the people overcame their former issues as the reasons of their issues were no longer with them and focused only on one thing – establishing the new society, new state eventually.
People in Europe do not have this possibility. They still live in the same place as their ancestors and therefore live with the unresolved issues from the past. It is easy to say that the past is the past and it is time to move on, to establish a „new Europe“, similarly as people in the USA established their country. But to do this we would have to consider another thing. Is it possible to find a common idea that all the different people from all over Europe would follow? Is there even an idea so strong that would convince the people to overcome their fear and disputes? And ultimately, is the idea of the above-mentioned „political nation“ sustainable?
These questions are, in my opinion, necessary to answer before we start thinking about some sort of a federal Europe. And I will try to elaborate on these questions in my next posts.
I see this element, sacrifice of same sort, as a crucial point in the US history as these people, the outcasts, were determined to create a new society, new order of things. During the whole centuries-long process of establishing the USA, as we know them today, it was never important where had the people come from, what had they done in Europe or what had been their personal beliefs. What was important was their determination to create a new, more liberal, state of things. This is the reason why the US, up until very recently, protected personal liberties of its citizens. Freedom of speech, property right, right to a fair trial. These human rights have been protected, sometimes even to an extent which we in Europe can never understand.
This situation has been described as „political nation“. Nationality has never been the primary issue in the USA, the most important trait was devotion to the ideas upon which were the USA founded. Even the only war that affected the USA directly, the Civil War, wasn't being fought for a nationalistic reasons, but for ideological ones. Unlike some European ideologies putting the nation on a pedestal, the ideological disputes leading to the Civil War didn't consist of a national question, but rather rather the question of a further economical and social development so to say.
Now, let's take a brief look into the European history and foundation of the society. Was the society founded by the outcasts who left the place they felt wasn't suitable for them? Were the European states founded upon some philosophical idea? Or was it vice versa, that the ideas the modern states are founded upon came after the predecessors of the modern states had been already established?
European states have never been based upon ideas. The states have been established upon the national key. As was discussed in the previous article here and here there has always been some notion of a nation. Certain groups of people living in a certain area sharing certain cultural and linguistic similarities have always stuck together, eventually creating nations as we know the today. But the nations have never shared any common ideology. The European states founded on a national, rather than political, bases have always focused primarily on their own goals, their own people.
While the USA were founded by a shared idea, no such thing existed in Europe. Even though we are being told otherwise, people from, for example, Poland and people from Spain have literally nothing in common. They live thousands of kilometres apart, they have got different language, different culture, different history. We do not even have to compare such distant states. Take France and Germany (and Germanic states established before the German state was united). What has been the only thing these two states have always had in common? War. If not open conflict, at least years of feuds or proxy wars where both states supported rival parties. The same can be said about France and Spain. Spain and England. England and France. The Netherlands and Spain. The Netherlands and England, etc. If one were to be pessimistic, he could call the European history the history of conflicts.
Establishing the fact that the USA were founded on a completely different premise than European states, there is one question remaining. Can we build an European federation after centuries of wars and land disputes?
To answer that, let's first answer another questions. Is the past being left in the past? Or do past acts still haunt some European states and its citizens? Has Germany moved over its dark history? Has all the former disputes amongst states been resolved? I am afraid the answer is no. And the answer will always be no.
While the founders of the USA had made a difficult choice to leave everything behind and establish a whole new order, it has also given them certain advantage. They were surrounded by a people with a similar background, similar stories, people who came with some unresolved issues, but these issues were unresolvable in their positions as they were attached to their former land. Therefore, the people overcame their former issues as the reasons of their issues were no longer with them and focused only on one thing – establishing the new society, new state eventually.
People in Europe do not have this possibility. They still live in the same place as their ancestors and therefore live with the unresolved issues from the past. It is easy to say that the past is the past and it is time to move on, to establish a „new Europe“, similarly as people in the USA established their country. But to do this we would have to consider another thing. Is it possible to find a common idea that all the different people from all over Europe would follow? Is there even an idea so strong that would convince the people to overcome their fear and disputes? And ultimately, is the idea of the above-mentioned „political nation“ sustainable?
These questions are, in my opinion, necessary to answer before we start thinking about some sort of a federal Europe. And I will try to elaborate on these questions in my next posts.
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