United States of Europe
The United States of Europe (USE for short) is the idea that the countries of the European Union (EU for short) will unite into a single sovereign state. It would be similar to the United States of America (USA for short).
The USE would have much more influence (politically, economically, militarily, culturally, etc.) at the international level than an EU member country alone. It would be the world's third most populous country with a population of almost 450 million people.[1] The economy of the USE would be the world's third-largest by GDP with almost 14 trillion euros.[2]
Some critics believe that there will not be a USE in the near future because they think that:[3]
-countries do not want to give up their national language for an official language of the USE
-countries do not want to give up their national identity
-countries with a small population do not want to end up as federal states with little voting weight
United States Of Europe Media
De jure status of possible future enlargement of the European Union: Current member states Former member state which has withdrawn from the EU: United Kingdom Candidates: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine Potential candidates that have applied for membership: Georgia (member of DCFTA) and Kosovo* (status disputed). States that have withdrawn their applications: Iceland, Norway, Switzerland
Attitude toward further development of the EU into a federation of nation states according to the Eurobarometer Poll of spring 2014 EU members with more people in favour of a federation than against it
References
Other websites
- Political speeches by Victor Hugo: My Revenge is Fraternity!, in which he used the term United States of Europe.
- Towards a United States of Europe by Jürgen Habermas, at SignAndSight.com