European Union leaders just agreed on a new treaty that would replace the failed Constitution of a couple of years back.
One of the keys of the new
treaty is that the word "constitution" does not appear in it. It has no anthem and it gives more power to members and less to Brussels. You could say its key denominator is more autonomy and less union -in appeareance. The failure of the constitution-though rejected by only two members- speaks about the fear of giving up local power -is the tribal instinct whispering in Europe's collective ear. The old "us vs. them". Granted, more sovereign power may have
advantages for a member state in a particular situation -at least on the short term; that's its selling point, however, a Union with a single, solid foreign policy -eventually backed by a European armed forces- would be enormously beneficial, not only for Europe itself, but for the world at large. In my view, Europe has been, at least in the last decades, a tempered and benevolent -albeit weak- influence in world affairs. Iraq comes to mind: had the EU presented a united, solid voice opposing invasion during the last Persian Gulf crisis, it would have proven virtually impossible for the US to muster enough support at home to commit to war. I would imagine a united European foreign policy would have had a similar cooling effect on Putin's overbearing Russia.
Speculations aside, at first glance this yet-to-be-approved treaty appears as a step backwards, though this could be said to be mostly a cosmetic change to appease the public- regardless of your view, zooming out with the historical lens reveals a steady trend towards Union. What I am trying to say is this: Europe is the best example of the old national/tribal barriers being slowly, consciously, and laboriously torn down, to replace the old "Us vs. Them" with a new "Forward Together" way of thinking; and while some may not be too enthusiastic about it, no one really thinks about halting the process; so it seems safe to assume that in a few short decades, Europe will become a single entity for all practical purposes.
The remarkable thing about this is that political unions this diverse and on this scale have always been forced on their members by a conquering power. For the first time, the union was initiated by the member states of their own free will -I find it absolutely amazing to be witnessing what I think is the beginning of a global union of all nations, and the beginning of the end, for tribal warfare.
