United States of Europe: Realistic Vision or Pipedream.

摘要

The global economic crisis that started with the 'Lehman Brothers moment' on Wall Street in September 2008 has since spread all over the world. This worldwide financial crisis has created many challenges for the nations of Europe, economically and politically, and these challenges are far from being resolved. Since the European Union bailed out Greece, Ireland, and Portugal, the larger economies of Spain and Italy appear to be teetering on the edge of insolvency. Given these threats to stability, Europe's leaders should look for a way to introduce greater central control over taxation and spending with enforceable sanctions to ensure that such slippages never happen again. Most European leaders are realizing that they have no choice but to move from a mere monetary union to a deeper fiscal union, and to sacrifice even more sovereignty by moving to a 'United States of Europe.' This paper examines the feasibility and desirability of moving the European Union toward a true federation of states.