Federalism: The Leavening Agent Missing from the European Union

The European Union can never fulfill its moniker of the "United States of Europe" because the United States of America was formed early - before distinct and irreversible identities of the States were formed - with a powerful federal government.  Federalism is what makes the association of 50 States successful.  It is its function of paternalism.  The Supreme Court understood this when it carved out the commerce clause power so the federal government would have power over and intertwined with States' powers.  The States require a "heavy" in the form of a federal government to keep individual rights from being impeded by protectionistic tendencies of the States.  The sharing of power between the States and the federal government is not a settled issue as both the States and federal government seek more power, however the tension between the two is healthy for the U.S. as it provides a checks and balances on federalism.

It is the European Union's lack of federalism at the core of its issues.  There are 27 members in the European Union, all of which to varying degrees were functioning sovereign countries without oversight.  That is how the 27 members entered the European Union and that is how the members currently function in the European Union as evidenced by the economic crisis in Europe.  The European Union treaty in its various incarnations is nothing more than a super charged gentlemen's agreement.  Enforcement left up to an anemic central government body in Brussels whose structure or organization panders to a parity in direct confrontation of a singular identity.  It is confused by design because a confused European Union central government is in the best interests of the 27 member states.

Article 126 (1) states "Member States shall avoid excessive government deficits."  Recourse for the European Union central government is a series of reports and recommendations by commission, council, and parliament with sanctions or embarrassment via public notifications if non-compliance by a member state.  It is akin to asking prisoners how they would like to have the prison run - a self interested transaction.  It is why the European Union has a treaty and not a constitution.  A member state operating in direct violation of the European Union treaty should have required an intrusion by the European Union's central government in the financial/budgetary affairs of the offending member state with a loss of sovereignty.  A parolee member state warrants a loss of rights to some degree until the terms of the parole are fulfilled.  A parolee member state that violates the terms of parole gives up its right to control its financial/budgetary affairs to the European Central Bank.

Such ideas are better suited for a fiction novel than the European Union.  Because a single market purpose is not enough to create a single identity, the European Union should be called the "United Nations of Europe".  A simpler designation with lower expectations.

European Union Treaty available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2010:083:0047:0200:en:PDF