YUROP

Im not european but a guy had an interesting take with it being more unified but like the swiss system where the cantons (ie in this case countries) hold a lot of power.

I truly hope so. And the best time to initiate this project is right now, when all of Europe is facing same issues that unite us

Probably not - it’s the continent that invented the term “balkanisation” after all. Also, at the moment the UK is on the outs and tinpot Orban is on the ins, so god knows where that is going.

As a Canadian, could it be rebranded to Western Democratic Union (or something), so we can join? Also it might help UK undo its mistake if it didn't have to admit its mistake.

I hope for a small core of countries that further integrates their military, which can then later be joined by other countries. If smaller countries like Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Ireland (+ Scotland after their independence) got together in the near future and instead of each rebuilding (I suspect their armies have all been severely underfunded in the last 2 decades) their army separately, build one stronger new army, then they would all be stronger for it.

The eu as it already exists could use some fundamental rule changes to deal with internal abuse. Orban has been a pseudo dictator for years now, and he just needs 1 other eu country to side with him to shield Hungary from real consequences. So what's especially needed is more democracy and less veto powers.

Things like education, culture, social welfare, ... are imo better done on a regional level and thus should not be fully integrated.

Edit: I added the "fully" because I think it would be good for the eu to set out a standard framework for compatibility and/or minimum standards, but the actual implementation should be left to the regions imo.

I don't think so. Of course it's hard to predict what Europe will look like in 100 years, but I'd like to image the EU more as a service provider for its member states. Maybe the military will be combined and the economy is already very much linked together which will increase. But I don't think the member states will cease to exist as sovereign nations. Europe is far more diverse not only in language but also in culture. That is in my opinion a strong feature of the union as it is a union in diversity.

History comes in cycles. We're entering an era of strong nationalism so I can't believe that would happen any time soon. But once the world runs out of oil, the climate is decimated, and population comes crashing down because of restrictive immigration laws, there will be a sharp curve to the left and pro-EU that could lead to more interest in federation.

Or not, and the EU will continue to crumble during the water wars.

I hope within a hundred years, the entire globe can unite and we can all just be Earthicans.

Edit: What hateful POS is against worldwide unification?

There are at least a half a dozen countries in the EU with 1000 years of history behind them. I wonder how that weight of history blends with what the modern world requires.

I can see the 'Core EU' uniting into a single state like a United States of Europe or a European Federation but not the whole of the EU or Europe.
The 'Core EU' are the member states that push for further integration like France, BeNeLux and Germany. But there are member states that don't want to give Brussels more power like Hungary.

This can cripple the EU. A merger state would dominate all votes with their larger population and number of representatives. There could be no decision without the approval of them. For example a qualified vote requires states with at least 65% of the EU population. FR+GER+BE+NE+LUX together represent ~41% of the total EU population and can therefore block every vote. They could create some kind of duopoly of the merger state and EU remnants to balance power somehow.

The EU always was neither fish nor fowl, why not make it weirder? 🤪

Well I hope so.