Confederation of the European Regions
The evolution of the European integration has been without any discussion remarkable. Just half a century ago millions of Europeans were being killed during two World Wars by their own European neighbours, and even much more recently a wall and an Iron Curtain divided the old continent. Now most of these countries are member of the very same European Union. Economically the EU has become one of the most important international actors and it has made many diplomatic efforts in important conflict situations all around the world. But of course this is only a part of the truth! On many major issues it seems still impossible to get to a consensus and that weakens the European position in the International scenery.
In this small essay, I would like to share my opinion about how to tackle these problems, constructing Europe upside down, taking into account the tendencies in the international scenery.
Tendencies in the international scenery
At the international level we could identify three important evolutions: Globalisation, Regionalisation and the disintegration of the nation state. Some of these tendencies might have existed before, but all of them at least intensified after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989.
Globalisation is both a trendy word and an issue of discussion and protest. But one thing is for sure; it’s a reality we cannot ignore. It is of course a very broad issue, but maybe its most important impact is on the economic level. Nowadays products are manufactured not in one place, but in several parts of the world, companies move as fast as the light; markets fall because of a crisis’s in third countries, Etc.
A second factor is the regionalisation, which could be seen as some sort of reaction to globalisation. Integrating various states, in several aspects, enforces the member state’s positions and makes it able to keep playing a significant role in the world scenery.
And last but not least, there is the disintegration of the traditional Nation States. Many now sill existing states have been founded in history just for the convenience of others. Many of those are strange constructions of several ethnic, linguistic, religious and/or religious groups and as a consequence today many of its inhabitants question these constructions. These claims for independence or autonomy are not limited only to the Basque country, but are present in many more places, such as Flanders, Corsica, Scotland, … Not to name all those outside Europe.
Europe Upside down
It might sound as if these three evolutions are completely incompatible, but they are not at all. They are instead connected one to each other. Regionalisation is as we already said, in some way, a reaction to globalisation. But also the disintegration of nation states should not necessarily contradict the other two developments. What we do have to do is starting to think upside down!
Our political systems should not be constructed from top to bottom, but the other way around. Logically than, the local level should come in the first place and the power of the following levels will be distributed according to the subsidiary principle. The nation state would become in this case an unnecessary level. Instead there would be a 3 level system: the municipality, the region and the European level. In this political system people could feel more involved in politics than anytime before.
The idea of a United States of Europe where Victor Hugo, Winston Churchill, Jean Monnet and more recently the former Belgian Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt, wrote about is out of date.
Instead of a European Union with member states such as France, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, … we would have a European Confederation of about 100 different regions (the number is of course discussible). In this system cultural, linguistic and religious diversity would be guaranteed, but within one unified European Union fully responsible for several important issues.
That means that we convert separatism into independentism. Although many politicians and journalists use both concepts as a synonym, there is a very important difference! While separatist movements only claim independence for their group or region, indepenentists don’t see their region or group totally isolated from their neighbours, but in a much broader context.
Conclusion
To counter the problems the European Union faces both from the inside and to guarantee its place in the international scenery a significant reform is necessary. The only way to succeed is to turn the EU structure upside down, whereby the local level will be somehow the most important, followed by the regional level and in the third place the European Union as a whole, forgetting about the nation states as they exist today.
The evolution of the European integration has been without any discussion remarkable. Just half a century ago millions of Europeans were being killed during two World Wars by their own European neighbours, and even much more recently a wall and an Iron Curtain divided the old continent. Now most of these countries are member of the very same European Union. Economically the EU has become one of the most important international actors and it has made many diplomatic efforts in important conflict situations all around the world. But of course this is only a part of the truth! On many major issues it seems still impossible to get to a consensus and that weakens the European position in the International scenery.In this small essay, I would like to share my opinion about how to tackle these problems, constructing Europe upside down, taking into account the tendencies in the international scenery.
Tendencies in the international scenery
At the international level we could identify three important evolutions: Globalisation, Regionalisation and the disintegration of the nation state. Some of these tendencies might have existed before, but all of them at least intensified after the fall of the Berlin wall in 1989.
Globalisation is both a trendy word and an issue of discussion and protest. But one thing is for sure; it’s a reality we cannot ignore. It is of course a very broad issue, but maybe its most important impact is on the economic level. Nowadays products are manufactured not in one place, but in several parts of the world, companies move as fast as the light; markets fall because of a crisis’s in third countries, Etc.
A second factor is the regionalisation, which could be seen as some sort of reaction to globalisation. Integrating various states, in several aspects, enforces the member state’s positions and makes it able to keep playing a significant role in the world scenery.
And last but not least, there is the disintegration of the traditional Nation States. Many now sill existing states have been founded in history just for the convenience of others. Many of those are strange constructions of several ethnic, linguistic, religious and/or religious groups and as a consequence today many of its inhabitants question these constructions. These claims for independence or autonomy are not limited only to the Basque country, but are present in many more places, such as Flanders, Corsica, Scotland, … Not to name all those outside Europe.
Europe Upside down
It might sound as if these three evolutions are completely incompatible, but they are not at all. They are instead connected one to each other. Regionalisation is as we already said, in some way, a reaction to globalisation. But also the disintegration of nation states should not necessarily contradict the other two developments. What we do have to do is starting to think upside down!
Our political systems should not be constructed from top to bottom, but the other way around. Logically than, the local level should come in the first place and the power of the following levels will be distributed according to the subsidiary principle. The nation state would become in this case an unnecessary level. Instead there would be a 3 level system: the municipality, the region and the European level. In this political system people could feel more involved in politics than anytime before.
The idea of a United States of Europe where Victor Hugo, Winston Churchill, Jean Monnet and more recently the former Belgian Prime Minister, Guy Verhofstadt, wrote about is out of date.
Instead of a European Union with member states such as France, Belgium, Germany, the United Kingdom, … we would have a European Confederation of about 100 different regions (the number is of course discussible). In this system cultural, linguistic and religious diversity would be guaranteed, but within one unified European Union fully responsible for several important issues.
That means that we convert separatism into independentism. Although many politicians and journalists use both concepts as a synonym, there is a very important difference! While separatist movements only claim independence for their group or region, indepenentists don’t see their region or group totally isolated from their neighbours, but in a much broader context.
Conclusion
To counter the problems the European Union faces both from the inside and to guarantee its place in the international scenery a significant reform is necessary. The only way to succeed is to turn the EU structure upside down, whereby the local level will be somehow the most important, followed by the regional level and in the third place the European Union as a whole, forgetting about the nation states as they exist today.
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