The European Union

Today, the Netherlands proved that the European Union as some would like it to exist, is impossible.

I remember hearing about predictions for the Union in the late 1980s and thought that it would very interesting if only from a historical point. The prediction I saw on a television show about futurists and economists actually showed a map of the "United States of Europe." In high school, I was fortunate enough to have a very thorough education of Western Civilization and European history. In college I was able to take a study abroad trip to France and experience French and other European cultures first hand. What I learned then and have been predicting ever since is that a united Europe is nearly impossible in this day and age.

The overriding reason is that ever country in Europe has far too much nationalistic identity to accept a confederacy of nations as states. A majority of Europeans want the world to look to them as the dominant power in the world, but they are really only envisioning their country as that power, not a united Europe. There is nothing wrong with nationalism, but it is an impediment when it comes to agreeing to surrender some of your identity and ability to create wealth for yourself.

I last visited France in 1998, a few years before the conversion of money to the Euro. I felt, and still feel, that the conversion would make travel very convenient because I was always having to change money whenever I took a weekend trip to another country. One moment struck me as very telling of the future of unification. I was on a train from Munich to Paris when I decided to make a stop in the dining car for some dinner. I had some German Marks left over so I wanted to use them before I returned to France. I was trying to figure out what each coin was and apparently I slightly mispronounced the word "Mark." I know this because the waiter told me so in a very condescending manner. I thought to myself, "How is the Euro going to work here? People are so protective of their own identity that they will treat a paying customer like this."

Soon I came to realize that if they feel this way about their currency, how will a majority of the populations agree on anything? Perhaps that thought was a bit extreme but it appears that the general populations of some of the member countries don't support the plans quite as much as the politicians. I do not think that the European Union is doomed, but some concessions will have to be made that will most likely take the power out of the EU and at that point, a constitution would be rendered almost useless.