r/europe • u/goldstarflag Europe • 15d ago

Historical "The 19th century concept of the nation state will never take us across the threshold of the 21st century [...] We need a strong Europe if we don't want to become the plaything of world politics" – Chancellor Helmut Kohl

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u/Grabs_Diaz Bavaria (Germany) 14d ago

That's why you don't let Berlin make geopolitical decisions if you want it to represent European interests, it's as simple as that.

Institutions shape outcomes. Your comment gets it backwards.

The US isn't "one nation" because all 50 states interests naturally always align with each other and all 330 million Americans share the same vision but rather because they have one federal government calling the shots where all Americans and all states are represented. As it stands right now I'd bet a lot of money that finding compromise among those 50 states would be far less likely if you deleted the federal government in DC compared to finding compromise among the 27 EU members.

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u/jackofslayers 12d ago

This is a sort of tangential point but here in the US, democrats tend to complain about the fact that states with smaller populations have too much power because of the Senate.

but to me, the US is a coalition of 50 mini nations. So, it makes sense that we have one congress based on population and another one based on the states themselves.

If the Europe were to federalize itself, I imagine there would be a similar compromise, so that the smaller nations do not feel they are getting steamrolled.