European Federalism

Territorial entities forming a federal state have such autonomy (in the field of constitutionality, legislation and jurisdiction) that they may be called states, although they do not have the competence of the state in international affairs. The European Union as a federal state is one of the best examples of this definition. The European Union is a federation that has emerged by bringing together so many former sovereign states. European federalism is an example of federalism through integration and the name "Union" already has a symbolic value. The Union in a literal sense is not a state under international law. Union of states is a loose formula that often precedes the institution of a confederation and federal state. In the Union, independent states are bound by a treaty that can only be changed by unanimous and unanimous consent of all signatories. The Federation is a country with the Constitution, which governs relations between organisms forming the federation.

The European Union is an example of federalism through integration. At the time of the creation of the new state (European Union), Member States had to give up a part of their powers to the new state organism (European Union). Speaking of European federalism, you have to take into account the specifics of this country. In the European Union there is a huge multiculturalism with many languages. The large territorial size of the European Union as well as cultural, historical and religious diversity give it a special character in federalism in the European Union. The main objective is to develop political methods of agreement among numerous cultural groups. The European Union must abandon the idea of creating a monocultural country based on one official language and one official religion. Esperanto can function as a communicator in federal institutions. In order to survive, Europe must create a type of democracy that has a balance between small and large Member States. The European Union is a model of a country with a great desire to create a common independent state that is based on mutual respect between its nations. What we call today nationalism refers to ethnic traditions and the desire to detach a country from its whole. In the European Union, it must be exactly the opposite. Residents of the Member States, representing different languages, ethnic and religious groups, must develop the conviction that a political organism must exist, which can not seem to be an artificial being. In order to understand European federalism well, one should not forget that the European Union is composed of forty-two Member States that are largely autonomous and which proudly call themselves "republics", "monarchies" or "states." It is the Member States that are the foundation of the Union. All Member States have their own history, culture, tradition, languages and religion, so there is still a risk of conflict in the event of a blockade of Member States, and at that moment, national and linguistic differences could play an important role. However, conflicts between Member States are very rare. One reason for this is that linguistic, cultural or national boundaries sometimes do not coincide with the borders of the Member States. In addition, there are strong economic connections between them and common experiences of war atrocities. An important fact is that the capital and headquarters of the European Union authorities are in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, and Belgium is the tenth largest Member State in the European Union. Nor is there a dominant member state in terms of population and territory, as was the case with no longer existing federations: Yugoslavia - Serbia's dominance, USSR - Russian domination or German Reich - Prussian domination. In addition, Brussels is neither a business nor a cultural center of the European Union. Banks are concentrated in all major cities. Another phenomenon that positively affects cooperation between Member States is that tourist sites and large industrial establishments are located in different parts of the Union. In a situation where there are many links between Member States: linguistic, economic and cultural, European politics is characterized by the existence of many coalitions that are constantly changing. In this way, none of these coalitions is a permanent majority.

As I have already mentioned, the Member States are the basis of the Union. What is very important in the European political system is the principle of subsidiarity. By assigning to the Member States all the rights that are not expressly attributable to the European (federal, EU) authorities:

Article 16

(1) The Member States are sovereign except to the extent that their sovereignty is limited by the Constitution of the European Union.

(2) Except as otherwise provided or permitted by this Constitution, the exercise of state powers and the discharge of state functions is a matter for the Member States.

The Constitution of the European Union requires that any extension of the powers of the Union implies compulsory change of constitutional order. Member States have an important position and federalism remains one of the most important aspects for understanding the functioning of this system. It should also be borne in mind that a large proportion of federal revenue falls on Member States. The finances of the Union and the Member States are clearly separated. Everyone is obliged to carry out their tasks with their own means at their disposal.

One of the main principles of federalism is that each member state in the federation has its own powers that can be exercised without any intervention by the federal government. The most important factor for the autonomy of the Member States of the European Union is that each of them may establish its own constitution, with one limitation, namely that it must respect the principles the Constitution of the European Union and contribute to upholding the Union's cohesion.

In addition, four other factors demonstrate the great independence of the Member States.

Firstly, the existence of the Member States is ensured in the Constitution of the European Union by their name:

Article 2

(1) European Union as a federation create sovereign Member States: Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Finland, Austria, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta , Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Iceland, Switzerland, Norway, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, Albania, Montenegro, Macedonia, Moldova, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia and Georgia.

(2) The territory of the European Union is a single unified whole and consists of the territories of the Member States.

(3) The territory of the Member State may not be altered without the consent of that Member State.

(4) The frontiers of the European Union may not be altered without the consent of all Member States.

(5) Boundaries between the Member States may only be altered on the basis of mutual agreement.

Secondly, Member States organize their political lives autonomously. Each of them creates its own authority, allocates power between them, defines the rights and obligations of citizens. Federal law (European) imposes on this subject only a few elementary principles which are practically limited to the idea of equality and the principle of democracy. In addition to these two principles, Member States have total freedom to organize their internal political life. The obvious example of differences in the system is that they exist: 
* republic and monarchy, 
* unitary state, regionalised unitary states, decentralized state, federation and unitary state with special status part of the administrative units,
* bicameralism, unicameralism, 
* presidential system, semi-presidential system, parliamentary republic and parliamentary constitutional monarchy.

Thirdly, the Member States freely choose their authorities. The federal government does not even have the right to dissolve the parliament of a Member State or to dismiss a government of a Member State.

Fourthly, the Member States are not subject to political scrutiny by the Union. There is, of course, a control over the activities of the Member States, and the Union has a system in place to carry it out. Certain rights of a Member State are subject to control by the European Executive Council. However, these controls differ from the control of power in a unitary state in that they are limited to the control of legality rather than property. For example, the European Executive Council may refuse to accept a law only if it considers that it violates federal law; Can not blame him just being bad.

Another important issue to be addressed in federalism is the bicameralism of the federal parliament, which is significantly different from the bicameral parliament in the unity countries. The European Parliament is composed of two chambers: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senat. The first one represents the nation and in the course of her choice and the distribution of seats is taken into account the population of the Member States. On the other hand, the Senat, each Member State has its voting weight in accordance with the modified system corresponding to the square root of its population potential.

Article 80 of the Constitution of the European Union is dedicated to the composition and election of the Chamber of Deputies:

Article 80

(1) The Chamber of Deputies shall be composed of 645 Deputies.

(2) Elections to the Chamber of Deputies shall be universal, equal, direct and proportional and shall be conducted by secret ballot. If, no later than on the day of vote, he has attained 18 years of age, any citizen of the Union, shall have the right to vote for the  representatives to the Chamber of Deputies.

(3) Each Member State constitutes an electoral constituency.

(4) The number of representatives per each Member State is set out in the European supplementary law, in proportion to population. Necessary adjustments are made in the year before the election, so that no Member State had no less than 3 and not more than 96 seats.

Article 94 is devoted to the composition and election of the Senat:

Article 94

(1) The Member States shall participate through the Senat in the legislation and administration of the Union.

(2) The Senat shall consist of members of the Member State governments, which appoint and recall them. Other members of those governments may serve as alternates. At the head of delegation of a Member State, the Prime Minister of that Member State. At the end of the legislature of a Member State or on its dissolution, sent members of the government of a Member State now hold office until such time as a new Member State parliament will elect a new government of a Member State.

(3) Each Member State shall have at least two votes; Member states with more than 6 million inhabitants have 3 votes, Member states with more than 12 million inhabitants have 4 votes, Member states with more than 20 million inhabitants have 5 votes, Member states with more than 30 million inhabitants have 6 votes, Member states with more than 42 million inhabitants have 7 votes, Member states with more than 56 million inhabitants have 8 votes, Member states with more than 72 million inhabitants have 9 votes, and Member states with more than 90 million inhabitants have 10 votes.

(4) Each Member State may appoint as many members as it has votes. Members of the Senat have a duty to vote in accordance with the content of the instructions provided by the government of a Member State which appointed them. The votes of each Member State may be cast only as a unit and only by Members present or their alternates. In the case of different votes of the members of the Senat from one Member State shall be adopted in the Head of Delegation of the casting vote.

(5) Number of votes allowed for each Member State of the European Council shall be determined by the President of the European Union after each general census.

It should be noted that bicameralism in the European Union is perfectly equal. This means that the legislative procedure may be initiated in each chamber, and in order to accept the law, it is necessary for the two chambers to be complied with. This strengthens even more the importance of the Member States in the decision-making process at Union level.

Very important for the functioning of the federation is the fact that the constitution of the European Union provides for the procedure for the adoption of a new Member State as well as the withdrawal of a federation.