What is European federalism?
A long-form introductory guide to European federalism, its origins, its ideas, and its main political battles.
It is almost impossible to summarise the idea of European federalism in a single article. I will not pretend that I can outline, in a few paragraphs, the vast array of ideas, conceptions, history and thinking that the federalist movement developed over the years.
Nonetheless, just like for the European project, it is not because the task looks mighty impossible to complete that one should refuse to give it a try. It is also for me—as a new member of the federalist movement myself— a way to understand better, to draw a map of the federalist ideas, the origin of the movement and its main political battles.
This guide does not engage any of the federalist organisations that I work with or for. It is solely the fruit of my understanding of federalist ideas, proposals, and insights that I gathered as Policy and Communications Officer of the UEF, the main organisation promoting federalist ideas.
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Federalism: The United States of Europe?
When one hears about ‘federalism”, a few references come to mind. The first one is related to the political organisation in Europe. Federalism brings along another term: unitary states.
The first assumption would be to consider that the federalist movement is trying to establish a European-wide political organisation that would oversee, with large autonomy, the national components of the member states.
And while this idea is correct, I think it is not one that should deserve most of our attention.
In a federal system, where does the authority of the central power end? What are the prerogatives of the states that compose it? You will have as many answers to these questions as there are federalists. That is why this question is not the most important to consider.
The second idea that comes to mind is the phrase “the United States of Europe”. It is true that the European Union is often compared (and compares itself) to the United States of America. And while the USA is a well-established federalist state, and if European federalists draw important ideas from the American experience (notably through the teachings of its founding fathers—such as Alexander Hamilton and his Federalist papers), European federalism is and must be radically different from its American counterpart.
Once achieved, the federal organisation of Europe will have little in common with other federalist states such as the USA, Germany, or Switzerland, often cited as benchmarks for Europe. Europe is being built by small steps, crisis after crisis, and with new structures added onto an institution that has already adopted federal prerogatives (although federalists would argue that the EU is far from the federal Europe they advocate for).
To understand European federalism, one must go beyond this aspect of federal vs unitary states or the creation of a system that would be a European variant of the American model.
Beyond federalism: European political unity
The federalist movement is deeply rooted in its history. Altiero Spinelli, widely regarded as a founding father of the European project and the omnipresent figure of the federalist movement, illustrates this point.
Young Altiero Spinelli wrote the Ventotene Manifesto, the founding document of the modern federalist movement, on the Italian prison island of Ventotene, jailed for his anti-fascist and pro-communist views. With inmates, he devised a roadmap for a new political organisation of Europe that would prevent wars between European nations and the persistence of nationalism.
But the case for a United Europe was not born on Ventotene. It draws its origin in ancient Rome, saw a temporary medieval consecration under the rule of Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire, and found an idealised act in the Christian ecclesia, the assembly of all Catholics, then the dominant religion in Europe.
Adding to this list the totalitarian experiences of the last century, we discover a recurring pattern: the historical attempt at unifying Europe was one of violence, brute force, or coercion. European federalists claim that the unity of Europe will be realised once and for all under the values of democracy, citizen participation, and diplomacy.
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The call for a Convention
From this commitment, European federalists believe that a united and federal Europe will be done, to paraphrase US President Abraham Lincoln, “… by the people, for the people.”
As such, giving a Constitution to Europe is of the greatest importance, and an objective to achieve as soon as possible.
This Constitution should be drafted, first and foremost, by European citizens themselves, through the establishment of a Convention. If the Convention on the Future of the European Union of 2002 was not properly speaking a Convention of citizens, the recent Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE) and its citizen panels gave momentum to the idea that the European Convention could be drafted by randomly-selected citizens from the European member states, with care for representing all socio-economic groups, and in particular young people.
Harmonisation and the common European identity
Another aspect of the federalist approach is to harmonise Europe between its member states, regions, as well as citizens.
At the moment, much of the life of European individuals fall under national jurisdiction. This creates profound inequalities between European citizens. Federalists argue that Europeans should enjoy the same rights, possibilities and freedom across Europe. Only a federative political entity would have the power to enforce this idea.
A lot has been said about a common European identity. Opponents to the European projects argue that federalists want to create an impossible identity to replace national identities. Federalists argue that there will be no creation, but rather the sublimation of a European identity that exists alongside national, regional, and other socio-economical, religious, or sexual identities.
It is undeniable that a European identity exists. Europeans have actually more in common with each other than Americans or Chinese do with each other. European share values, a taste for art and culture, and a multi-century-long history. These are components of a shared identity that does not negate nor replace the existing national or local ones.
A stronger Europe in a multipolar world
Another aspect of the federalist fight is to reinforce Europe on a global scale. In a world that is increasingly violent and unstable, where power tends to concentrate among continent-countries (Russia, India, Brazil, USA, etc.), the federative approach seems to be the only alternative for a peaceful and multipolar world.
To federate Europe under a common diplomatic and strategic objective, Europe will be more powerful than it is at the moment. A federation of European diplomacies will do more than the sum of individual approaches.
Federalists believe that multilateralism is the only approach to global relations that can guarantee sustainable peace and global collaboration. To do that, European federalism is included in a larger network of global federalism.
Conclusion
This piece could have been continued with chapters on the federalist movement, and the organisations that compose it. I also would like to explore in the future the question of federalism in the multi-crisis era, especially with regard to the conflict in Ukraine.
This will be for another time. This article already is far longer than expected already, but I hope it delivers a first introduction to European federalists and federalist ideas.
I hope you liked it. Don’t forget to subscribe to The Beubble and not miss a thing on European policies and politics.
Alexandre Météreau is the author of The Beubble, and a specialist in European policies and politics. Discover more about Alexandre at alexandre-metereau.eu.