do you guys think that within the next hundred years Europe will fully unify into the United States of Europe?
Just wondering as an American watching the EU pool resources and mostly work for the same common goals over my lifetime.
To clarify, I'm not saying that this would be a part of the United States of America, but a separate world power.
I truly hope so. And the best time to initiate this project is right now, when all of Europe is facing same issues that unite us
I agree with you. But we have a problem that the US didn't have: we all speak vastly different languages.
The US did have that problem, too. There were settlers from all european countries who spoke all different languages, plus natives (albeit that the natives were genocided over time, so their languages were sorted out the other way), and at one point during the constitution process they had a vote on which language should become official. And it almost was german, btw.
Languages are just ways of communication. We will find a way to communicate, its not a problem. We all speak English, French, German or smth else that allows us to speak to most other Europeans
Our real problem are nationalistic movements in many EU countries that oppose EU's further integration
I hope within a hundred years, the entire globe can unite and we can all just be Earthicans.
Edit: What hateful POS is against worldwide unification?
OPA will not stand for continued interference from the inners!
Beltalowda!
Beltalowda!
All earthicans are equal. Some earthicans are.more equal than others...
Hey, I am.
We are now nemesis... Nemeses... Nemesiss?
I'll be dead in the ground before I have to share a countrya Lithuanian
I've always been partial to Earthers (or Terrans).
Tellurian is less obvious, but I much prefer the sound of it
Isn't that every nationalist on the planet?
As a Canadian, could it be rebranded to Western Democratic Union (or something), so we can join? Also it might help UK undo its mistake if it didn't have to admit its mistake.
You're technically still ruled by the british monarch, no?
Problem solved!
Why should we meet you half way? Just move Canada to Europe instead.
I don't think so. Of course it's hard to predict what Europe will look like in 100 years, but I'd like to image the EU more as a service provider for its member states. Maybe the military will be combined and the economy is already very much linked together which will increase. But I don't think the member states will cease to exist as sovereign nations. Europe is far more diverse not only in language but also in culture. That is in my opinion a strong feature of the union as it is a union in diversity.
Probably not - it’s the continent that invented the term “balkanisation” after all. Also, at the moment the UK is on the outs and tinpot Orban is on the ins, so god knows where that is going.
Im not european but a guy had an interesting take with it being more unified but like the swiss system where the cantons (ie in this case countries) hold a lot of power.
I hope for a small core of countries that further integrates their military, which can then later be joined by other countries. If smaller countries like Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Ireland (+ Scotland after their independence) got together in the near future and instead of each rebuilding (I suspect their armies have all been severely underfunded in the last 2 decades) their army separately, build one stronger new army, then they would all be stronger for it.
The eu as it already exists could use some fundamental rule changes to deal with internal abuse. Orban has been a pseudo dictator for years now, and he just needs 1 other eu country to side with him to shield Hungary from real consequences. So what's especially needed is more democracy and less veto powers.
Things like education, culture, social welfare, ... are imo better done on a regional level and thus should not be fully integrated.
Edit: I added the "fully" because I think it would be good for the eu to set out a standard framework for compatibility and/or minimum standards, but the actual implementation should be left to the regions imo.
History comes in cycles. We're entering an era of strong nationalism so I can't believe that would happen any time soon. But once the world runs out of oil, the climate is decimated, and population comes crashing down because of restrictive immigration laws, there will be a sharp curve to the left and pro-EU that could lead to more interest in federation.
Or not, and the EU will continue to crumble during the water wars.
There are at least a half a dozen countries in the EU with 1000 years of history behind them. I wonder how that weight of history blends with what the modern world requires.
It's not like these countries are stuck in the past. They evolved like the rest of the world.
The city I live in was once the capital city of a duchy. It even had a palace that unfortunately burned down completely. There are talks to rebuild it. But it costs so much and nobody knows what to do with all the space it would provide.
If anything the current trends seem to be more nationalist (and fascist), so I highly doubt it.
I can see the 'Core EU' uniting into a single state like a United States of Europe or a European Federation but not the whole of the EU or Europe.
The 'Core EU' are the member states that push for further integration like France, BeNeLux and Germany. But there are member states that don't want to give Brussels more power like Hungary.
This can cripple the EU. A merger state would dominate all votes with their larger population and number of representatives. There could be no decision without the approval of them. For example a qualified vote requires states with at least 65% of the EU population. FR+GER+BE+NE+LUX together represent ~41% of the total EU population and can therefore block every vote. They could create some kind of duopoly of the merger state and EU remnants to balance power somehow.
The EU always was neither fish nor fowl, why not make it weirder? 🤪
Well I hope so.