The EU must become a “federation” to avoid being “picked off one by one” by China and the US, Mario Draghi has warned, in a plea to the bloc’s member states to rapidly deepen integration in areas such as defence, industrial policy and foreign relations.
Citizens are (perhaps unknowingly) in favour of a federal Europe, for they enjoy and use the federal institutions already in place, and even demand more of them, as an example we have the Covid crisis, where everyone demanded from Brussels leadership when competences laid within the member states.
-Von der Leyen herself had a federal stance before being hamstrung by the nationalist bubble in Brussels, "calling for the bloc to turn into “the United States of Europe."
-Mario Draghi who everyone praises and quotes, but refuse to walk his talk (?) "Draghi pushes ‘pragmatic federalism’ to get Europe out of its predicament"
-Christine Lagarde without ever saying the word federal "deeper European integration, particularly in financial markets and payments, is not merely a political aspiration but a strategic necessity. Europe is that idea and now is the time to fully embrace it. This is what the citizens of Europe have entrusted us to do."
-Radek Sikorski, polish foreign affairs minister, “confederations only then become federations or ceased to exist, and when you look at our competition they all have unity of command, we don’t, we have a synchronization problem which is particularly acute obviously in the area of defence because it’s the core of sovereignty”
Pan-European thinkers are all for a Federal Europe, it’s only the politicians that need to dominate their small backyard to be somebody, who call the shots in the corridors of Brussels and keep Europe from becoming relevant and respected on the world stage.
Thanks, important debate - I think there are ample opportunities to create an ever stronger Union . In particular around defense, everyone within EU will understand you want to have Ukraine and UK to join the new club. And there are quite some topics to come together for:
1. Joint nuclear defense structure
2. Joint military intelligence and satellite infrastructures
3. Joint missile defense, independent from US and Israel
And in addition to defense, there is a lot to unite around IT and AI sovereignty
The EU must become a “federation” to avoid being “picked off one by one” by China and the US, Mario Draghi has warned, in a plea to the bloc’s member states to rapidly deepen integration in areas such as defence, industrial policy and foreign relations.
https://www.ft.com/content/e5206e5e-bd72-45d6-85ec-8faa1c53dfcb
Draghi is right.
Citizens are (perhaps unknowingly) in favour of a federal Europe, for they enjoy and use the federal institutions already in place, and even demand more of them, as an example we have the Covid crisis, where everyone demanded from Brussels leadership when competences laid within the member states.
-Von der Leyen herself had a federal stance before being hamstrung by the nationalist bubble in Brussels, "calling for the bloc to turn into “the United States of Europe."
https://www.politico.eu/article/ursula-von-der-leyen-rows-back-on-united-states-of-europe/
-Martin Schultz "SPD’s Martin Schulz wants United States of Europe by 2025"
https://www.politico.eu/article/spds-martin-schulz-wants-united-states-of-europe-by-2025/
-Mario Draghi who everyone praises and quotes, but refuse to walk his talk (?) "Draghi pushes ‘pragmatic federalism’ to get Europe out of its predicament"
https://www.politico.eu/article/mario-draghi-push-pragmatic-federalism-get-europe-out-predicament/
-Christine Lagarde without ever saying the word federal "deeper European integration, particularly in financial markets and payments, is not merely a political aspiration but a strategic necessity. Europe is that idea and now is the time to fully embrace it. This is what the citizens of Europe have entrusted us to do."
https://www.ecb.europa.eu/press/key/date/2025/html/ecb.sp250623~fd501a6cab.en.html
-Radek Sikorski, polish foreign affairs minister, “confederations only then become federations or ceased to exist, and when you look at our competition they all have unity of command, we don’t, we have a synchronization problem which is particularly acute obviously in the area of defence because it’s the core of sovereignty”
https://alastaircampbell.org/2025/11/161-putin-trump-and-500-years-of-resisting-russia-radek-sikorski/
Pan-European thinkers are all for a Federal Europe, it’s only the politicians that need to dominate their small backyard to be somebody, who call the shots in the corridors of Brussels and keep Europe from becoming relevant and respected on the world stage.
Thanks, important debate - I think there are ample opportunities to create an ever stronger Union . In particular around defense, everyone within EU will understand you want to have Ukraine and UK to join the new club. And there are quite some topics to come together for:
1. Joint nuclear defense structure
2. Joint military intelligence and satellite infrastructures
3. Joint missile defense, independent from US and Israel
And in addition to defense, there is a lot to unite around IT and AI sovereignty
Indeed, opportunities are there, but there are several barriers to the project of the next Europe that I briefly described in the piece.
Obviously lots of Barriers - but not moving forward would be worse
https://open.substack.com/pub/tilmaneichstdt/p/european-independence-the-political?r=3en3nm&utm_medium=ios&shareImageVariant=title
Of course, you’re right.
No, WMD aren't a substitute for regime change in Russia nor to DECARBONIZATION.