European Commissioner for
Justice Viviane Reding wants a United States
of Europe, and the
European Commission to form its government. If she
gets her way, she would
likely be seen as a leading candidate to be the
first president of a united
Europe. It will be an uphill battle.
Europe's Justice Commissioner Calls for 'United States of Europe'
(Elsevier, The Netherlands)
"European Commissioner for Justice Viviane Reding wants the European Union to form something akin to
the United States, with two houses - parliament and senate, which would serve
as a check on political union. The two chambers would provide oversight of the European
Commission, which would form the government."
European
Commissioner for Justice Viviane Reding wants the
European Union to form something akin to the United States, with two houses -
parliament and senate, which would serve as a check on political union.
That
the commissioner and Luxembourg politician made the remarks
on January 1 at [Dutch telecoms operator] KPN's New Year
reception in Brussels.
Political Union
"We
need a true political union," said Reding. The
European Commission would lead the Union's government. The European Parliament would
act as a House of Representatives, and a new body would be constituted to serve
as the upper house - the Senate. The two chambers would provide oversight of
the European Commission.
Reding, who has already called for a European
intelligence service, acknowledged that her vision for the E.U.'s
future is certainly not the only one. "We need to have a broad debate
before we start to make the big changes required," the commissioner said.
[Reding went on to say: "We need a true political union. To me
this means that we need to build a United States of Europe with the Commission
as government and two chambers - the European Parliament and a
"Senate" of Member States. But there are of course other opinions out
there for the future of Europe. You might have other ideas as well. And that is
how it should be. We need to have a broad debate before we start to make the
big changes required.
This debate
is moving into the decisive phase now. In a little more than four months' time,
citizens across Europe will be able to choose the Europe they want to live in.
They have lived through five years of crisis and crisis management. They have
seen the beginnings of an ambitious reform process. The European Parliament
elections will be their moment to say how they want this process to continue."]
