Herman Van Rompuy, European
Central Bank President Mario Draghi
and Eurogroup President Jean-Claude
Juncker.
The “study group for the future”
initiated by Germany’s Guido Westerwelle, which does not currently include
an official French representative, proposes to put an end to the dominance
of national government leaders and
give greater authority to the European
Commission – in particular the European Commission president, who will
be elected by universal suffrage and
granted the right to form a “governmental team”, making him or her the
most powerful politician in Europe.
* Foreign ministers from Germany,
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Italy,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland,
Portugal and Spain.
Eurozone Crisis: United States
of Europe May be the Only Way
to Save Euro
Guardian.co.uk – June 4, 2012
The USE – United States of Europe
– is back…for the eurozone, at least.
Such “political union”, surrendering
fundamental powers to Brussels,
Luxembourg and Strasbourg, has
always been several steps too far for
the French to consider.
But Berlin is signaling that if it
is to carry the can for what it sees as
the failures of others there will need to
be incremental but major integrationist moves towards a banking, fiscal,
and ultimately political union in
the eurozone.
It is a divisive and contested
notion, which Merkel did not always
favor. In the heat of the crisis, however,
she now appears to see no alternative.
The next three weeks will bring
frantic activity to this end as a quartet
of senior EU fixers race from capital
to capital sounding out the scope of
the possible.
Herman Van Rompuy, president
of the European council, Mario Draghi,
head of the European Central Bank,
Jean-Claude Juncker, Luxembourg
leader and longstanding head of the
eurogroup of single currency countries, and José Manuel Barroso, chief
of the European commission, are to
deliver a eurozone integration plan to
an EU summit on 28-29 June.
All four are committed
European federalists.
In the third year of muddling
through, the choices facing Europe’s
leaders are getting starker – the death
of the euro or the birth of a new
European federation.
Euro Founder Admits Some
Nations May be Forced to Leave
Telegraph.co.uk – August 8, 2012
One of the founding fathers of the
euro admits that some states may be
forced to abandon the single currency,
but insists Germany would be better
off staying in.
Editor’s note: The Bible says the
kingdom of the Antichrist will be an alliance of ten nations. The Antichrist must
rise from Europe; yet the European Union
presently has 27 member states. Could a
shakedown of the EU over the economy
result in the emergence of the prophesied
10-nation union?
Barroso calls for EU ‘federation’
FT.com – September 12, 2012
“Europe must evolve to ‘a federation of nation states,’” Europe’s top
official has said, as he pleaded for
deeper integration among the EU’s 27
members and an overhaul of the bloc’s
treaties to end its ongoing economic
turbulence.
“The fiscal crisis had revealed the
need for a leap forward in political
integration to complement the closer
co-operation member states had
already begun to embrace to harmonize their economic and fiscal policies,”
José Manuel Barroso said in his annual
“state of the union” address.
“I call for ... a democratic federation of nation states that can tackle
our common problems, through the
sharing of sovereignty in a way that
each country and each citizen are
better equipped to control their own
destiny,” the European Commission
president said. “In the age of globalization pooled sovereignty means more
power, not less.”
European Union Wins 2012 Nobel
Peace Prize
Reuters – October 12, 2012
The European Union won the
Nobel Peace Prize for its long-term
role in uniting the continent, the
Norwegian Nobel Committee said
on Friday, an award seen as a morale
boost for the bloc as it struggles to
resolve its debt crisis.
The committee praised the 27nation EU for rebuilding after World
War Two and for its role in spreading
stability to former communist countries
after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.
“The EU has been a key in transforming Europe ‘from a continent of
wars to a continent of peace,’” Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland
said in announcing the award in Oslo.
Tony Blair: the EU Needs a
President
Telegraph.co.uk – October 29, 2012
Tony Blair has said the EU would
be better off with a directly elected
president, as he warned deep political
rifts between countries could lead to
a break-up.
In a move interpreted by some
as a job application, the former prime
minister said the EU could do with a
strong leader approved by the people.
Welcome to Berlin, Europe’s
New Capital
FT.com – October 22, 2012
While the German capital has
deliberately eschewed the trappings