The European Union – The Rising Superpower?

Recently I’ve been reading an interesting book by American Journalist and Washington Post Chief J. R. Reid entilted “The United States of Europe: The Superpower no-one talks about”. Which argues that the EU will become a dominant superpower that can rival the U.S within the next few decades if the EU continues to integrate and the Euro becomes the currency of the continent. I may seem contradictory when I say this but, the more nations that join the EU the better. The U.K or Wales included.

The time of independent nations is over in my opinion. With rising potential superpowers such as China and India (as has been suggested among others), it stands to reason that countries who unite democratically (which is the key difference here and the contrast of Wales in the UK) aren’t easily bullied into submission by more dominant world players. So why resist? Some individuals believe that their country will lose independence (well Wales doesn’thave that either and the UK, does excatly what the Bush Administration wants. Because it can). I won’t go into depth about this supposed “special relationship” seems quite one-sided alot of the time.

Further,the EU is the only example of a supranational legal framework; The EU could be the very building blocks of a global world government. It is important to note that there are prime examples of “devolved” government in the EU. The Parliament is located in Brussels but regional government is everywhere. This is an exciting time in Europe, which should be embraced.

It’s important to note that what we get out of Europe is dependent on what we put into it.