The incoming left-wing coalition government in Germany is set to push for a so-called ‘United States of Europe’ through the creation of a federal EU superstate, confirming concerns long expressed by Brexiteers.
Germany’s incoming Europhile left-wing government has begun a push for a federalized European Union superstate and the creation of what has been unofficially dubbed the “United States of Europe”.
The campaign for the creation of the superstate was enshrined in the coalition agreement between the three soon-to-be ruling parties, the Social Democrats (SPD), the Free Femocrats (FPD), and the Greens, according to a report by the Neue Zürcher Zeitung, the German language paper of record in Switzerland.
The agreement outlines the coalition’s commitment to supporting the “necessary treaty changes” needed to “lead developments to a European federal state”. This is something Germany clearly sees itself as being responsible for doing, with the document nodding “our special responsibility” for “the EU as a whole” as the bloc’s “largest member state”.
It also voices the coalition’s support for trans-national candidate lists for European elections, which would allow EU citizens to vote for candidates outside their member state. Significantly, the document calls for an increase of “Europe’s strategic sovereignty… this means establishing one’s own ability to act in a global context and being less dependent and vulnerable in important strategic areas”, an oblique reference to an emerging single European foreign policy and an EU military.
Responding to the plans, the head of the pro-leave Reform UK party, Richard Tice wrote on Sunday: “Thank God Brexit happened when it did, as new German leaders want deeper EU federal state,” calling the development “everything we feared”.
The leader of the German Green Party and the incoming foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock will reportedly be responsible for spearheading the campaign, according to The Telegraph.
“A strong German foreign policy can only be a European one,” said Baerbock.
Baerbock, being the leader of Germany’s most pro-EU party, also took a much harder line on the likes of Hungary and Poland during the televised debates, a stance that’s reflected in the coalition’s promise to go after states accused of flaunting EU laws.
The appointment has seen widescale criticism, with even prominent leftist politician Oskar Lafontaine saying last week that Baerbock’s appointment to the position would be a “catastrophe”.
The idea for a federal “United States of Europe” has been brewing for years, and was a major subject of discussion in the run-up to the UK Brexit referendum in 2016. Yet preparations for a federal Europe stepped up a gear in 2017 when the former President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, proposed that the bloc be turned into a federal state by 2025. A poll conducted soon after found that one-third of Germans were in favour of such a move.
The new German campaign largely appears to vindicate the fears expressed by many pro-Leave voices, including Brexit champion Nigel Farage, who has long warned that Brussels would look to solidify its power to the detriment of national sovereignty and freedom of EU member states.
While there have also been increasing calls from within the EU to develop a centralised military force, Brexit campaigners were accused of fear-mongering by the pro-Remain establishment during the referendum.
For example, during a televised debate, Pro-Remain Lib-Dem leader Nick Clegg — who now serves as a high-ranking executive with Facebook — accused Mr Farage of believing in a “dangerous fantasy that is simply not true” in regards to the EU’s desire to forge its own army as part of further integration.
However, Farage’s fear was apparently proven justified, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stating in September that the bloc needs to build the “political will” to create an EU Army.
German defence minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer hailed the call for an EU Army, saying von der Leyen was right and that “Germany and France must lead”.
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