Commentary: A United States Of Europe?

It's not every day that a high German official lobs a bomb into the European body politic. But that's what German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer did in a May 12 speech at Berlin's venerable Humboldt University. With as many as 12 new members joining the European Union from Eastern and Southeastern Europe over the next decade, the loosely organized EU must become a more cohesive political federation, Fischer forcefully argued, or risk losing the benefits of a half-century of economic integration. "And that means nothing less than a European Parliament and European government which really do exercise legislative and executive power." There's another way to say this: Fischer is talking about a United States of Europe.

That's a fearsome thought to some Europeans, accustomed to the tradition of the nation-state. So it's no surprise that many commentators sought to devalue Fischer's remarks. Some figured Fischer wanted to revive the sagging fortunes of his Green Party with a splashy speech. Others saw more sinister motives: French Interior Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement attacked Fischer's ideas as proof that Germany was not yet cured of Nazism.