Europe is a civilization that never condensed into a single body politic. The temptation to treat “Europe” as if it could become a nation like the United States returns after every crisis, dressed in new institutional proposals and noble rhetoric. But statehood is not a function of slogans, market rules, or administrative harmonization. It requires a people that has entered a
social pact transferring ultimate authority to a common sovereign, and a founding episode that renders that transfer both legitimate and durable. Europe has neither. What it does have is a lineage of federalist ideas, a lattice of intergovernmental bargains and a deep cultural inheritance. Valuable, but not equivalent to a State.
Federalism as plural vitality, not centralization by stealth
Carlo Cattaneo is the most useful (and most misread) starting point. In his political writings, he treats Europe’s multiplicity of municipalities, regions, languages and historical paths as...