[Lady Maleficent]

Personally, I think it could: a human rights focused constitution, a strong amount of political, legal and cultural autonomy for the individual states, etc.

[FrostyLemon]

Too much bad history between nations and the cultures are too varied for it to be anything like the United States.

[*Corinna*]

What about languages? Which language would be the official language of the USE?

[Historophilia]

Considering the fact that the euro is on the verge of collapse I think the idea that you can have a United European State has been pretty much debunked.

[Leon Trotsky]

(Original post by *Corinna*)
What about languages? Which language would be the official language of the USE?

Why does there have to be an official language?

[*Corinna*]

(Original post by Addzter)
Why does there have to be an official language?

If each stare had separate language/culture/political and legal system etc then what exactly would be the point of one unified country? It would basically have no difference to the situation as it is now. Everyone can move and work freely within the EU so what would change?

[Leon Trotsky]

(Original post by *Corinna*)
If each stare had separate language/culture/political and legal system etc then what exactly would be the point of one unified country? It would basically have no difference to the situation as it is now. Everyone can move and work freely within the EU so what would change?

Plenty of countries have different regions that speak different languages; just look at Switzerland. Language certainly would't be a real barrier for a United States of Europe.

[MancStudent098]

I think that the federal system the US has works pretty poorly to be honest, despite the greater level of cultural homogeneity - why would we want to emulate it?

[*Corinna*]

(Original post by Addzter)
Plenty of countries have different regions that speak different languages; just look at Switzerland. Language certainly would't be a real barrier for a United States of Europe.

There is a difference between 2-3 languages (in this case everyone could learn at least two from family/schooling) and god knows how many there are across the EU. I literally don't see what difference there would be between a USE and the EU

[Top Banana]

Well to be quite frank, it cant work less well than the status quo can it?

[Lady Maleficent]

(Original post by FrostyLemon)
Too much bad history between nations and the cultures are too varied for it to be anything like the United States.

The North and South USA had a civil war not too long ago, yet they have put the bad history behind them.

[Leon Trotsky]

(Original post by *Corinna*)
There is a difference between 2-3 languages (in this case everyone could learn at least two from family/schooling) and god knows how many there are across the EU. I literally don't see what difference there would be between a USE and the EU

Exactly. Such a huge, culturally diverse state would probably devolve a lot of powers to the pre-USE nation states, with only certain things controlled by the federal government, such as defence, intelligence, monetary policy, etc. And the EU isn't exactly falling apart due to language barriers.

If we ever got a USE, it'd probably start off very similar to the EU now, and over time, as cultural and language barriers erode, the federal government would start to absorb more powers, and eventually you'd have something that resembles the United States, where the majority of citizens speak English, German or French.

[Time Tourist]

No, because it could only be achieved by force, coercion and lies, and anything built on such a foundation cannot last.

[Ajibola]

What would really be the benifit of this?

[Psyk]

(Original post by *Corinna*)
There is a difference between 2-3 languages (in this case everyone could learn at least two from family/schooling) and god knows how many there are across the EU. I literally don't see what difference there would be between a USE and the EU

I think you're right that there wouldn't be that much difference in practice between the EU as it currently is and a heavily decentralised federal state.

I think the main differences would be a unified foreign policy and military. For example no individual state would have the power to enter a war, that power would be reserved for the federal government.

[Morgsie]

Yes a USE would work but the Institutions of the EU needs to be reformed: the European Parliament can initiate Legislation, direct Elections for Senior Posts, beefed up EEAS etc

[Lady Maleficent]

(Original post by Morgsie)
Yes a USE would work but the Institutions of the EU needs to be reformed: the European Parliament can initiate Legislation, direct Elections for Senior Posts, beefed up EEAS etc

Do you see a USE with a US-style written constitution or is a more flexible un-written constitution better for a USE? And what would you do about human rights? Keep the separate ECHR or integrate it into a more powerful USE ECHR where states would actually get in big trouble for failing to adhere to it.

[Morgsie]

(Original post by Lady Maleficent)
Do you see a USE with a US-style written constitution or is a more flexible un-written constitution better for a USE? And what would you do about human rights? Keep the separate ECHR or integrate it into a more powerful USE ECHR where states would actually get in big trouble for failing to adhere to it.

The EU has applied to join the ECHR, there is the Charter on Fundamental Rights aswell.

On the issue of a Constitution, I am not sure but prefer something like the TEU and TFEU. (Treaty on European Union and Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union)

[Snagprophet]

If Europe was every to become a country, or superpower, I think we'd need to model it on something original instead of copying America, so in the more densely populated countries, i.e. England, you can't move to live there unless a certain amount of people leave.

Perhaps we don't need to do this anyway, we're all EU citizens now. Status quo, or at least stay as the EU but reform it heavily maybe, but not make it a country.

[No Man]

No, given how the EU is already collapsing.