Restore European Self-Determination

 

Generation Europe seeks to contribute to the restoration of Europeans’ capacity for sovereign agency: the power to shape our collective destiny through autonomous action and self-determination. In an anarchic international system, agency is a function of power — and power depends, above all, on scale. Europe’s central weakness is therefore structural: a continent of fragmented nation-states cannot reliably confront challenges that operate on a continental and global level.

 

For this reason, European unification is not an ideological end in itself, but the indispensable instrument of sovereignty.

 

Political unity rarely emerges from abstract theories of ideal governance. It arises when concrete pressures make fragmentation untenable: when security risks, economic vulnerabilities, and systemic shocks exceed what individual states can manage, and when the benefits of acting as one — credibility, resilience, competitiveness — clearly outweigh the costs of pooling sovereignty.

 

 

The Pillars for a European Sovereignty

 

Generation Europe deliberately adopts a non-partisan stance, refraining from identifying with the traditional categories of left, centre, or right that structure the current European political landscape. This choice does not reflect a refusal to acknowledge ideological distinctions; rather, it stems from the recognition that the existing Euro-Atlantic framework has deprived Europe of its capacity for self-determination.

 

In the absence of genuine decisional autonomy, domestic politics is reduced to the mere administration of constraints, while vital strategic decisions are taken beyond Europe’s control. For this reason, Generation Europe affirms that any substantive discussion on economic or social issues presupposes a framework of sovereignty.

 

This establishes a clear hierarchy of political priorities:

1. first, the construction of the infrastructure of European sovereignty;

2. then, democratic competition over domestic policies within that sovereign institutional framework.

 

Accordingly, Generation Europe’s priority is not to prescribe a detailed catalogue of internal policies. Our focus is more fundamental: the architecture of a sovereign European State — the core pillars without which meaningful democratic choice cannot exist.

 

We advocate a Europe that is independent, powerful and credible: capable of deciding and acting for itself, and of sustaining those decisions over time.

 

That requires a state with clear competencies in the strategic domains that determine real autonomy:

 

• Defence and Security. Unified European armed forces under a single integrated strategic command, spanning the full spectrum of capabilities — including a sovereign nuclear deterrent as the ultimate foundation of credible deterrence — and anchored in a credible European deterrence posture. This requires common procurement, cutting-edge technological competence, and a sovereign industrial base, so Europe can safeguard its territory, protect its citizens and critical infrastructure, and uphold political independence.

 

• Foreign Policy and External Relations. A single European voice in international affairs, expressed through coherent diplomacy and unified negotiating power across the whole range of external action — from alliances and crisis management to development cooperation and sanctions — supported by trade and commercial instruments commensurate with Europe’s economic weight and aligned with Europe’s strategic interests.

 

• Energy and Critical Resources. A continental energy architecture ensuring supply security and strategic autonomy: diversified sourcing, integrated transmission networks, shared storage capacity, and systematic long-term planning for access to critical raw materials and indispensable industrial inputs — reducing structural dependencies that can be turned into instruments of political coercion.

 

• Unified Market and Capital Base. The completion of the single market — not merely as a legal framework, but as a genuinely integrated economic space — where goods, services, labour, and capital circulate freely across the continent. This requires fully integrated capital markets capable of mobilising investment at European scale, supported by the fiscal capacity and financial instruments needed to sustain innovation, industrial competitiveness, and strategic autonomy in critical sectors. In this form, the market becomes a coherent whole: an engine of shared prosperity and a source of geopolitical leverage.

 

• Digital Sovereignty and Data Infrastructure. European stewardship of critical digital systems — cloud infrastructure, connectivity, and cybersecurity — alongside robust data protection and strategic data governance, ensuring that Europe’s digital sphere operates under European jurisdiction and serves European interests.

 

• Continental Infrastructure and Logistics. Strategic coordination in the development, modernisation, and protection of critical physical networks — maritime ports, rail corridors, energy transmission systems, space-based assets, submarine cable networks, and multimodal supply chains — managed as interconnected continental systems essential to European economic resilience and strategic mobility.

 

• Strategic Industrial Policy. Institutional frameworks for identifying, cultivating, and sustaining industrial capabilities in sectors critical to sovereignty — defence technologies, microelectronics, AI, advanced materials, biotechnology, space and next-generation energy systems — ensuring Europe's capacity to innovate, produce, and maintain strategic capabilities independently and at scale.

 

Institutionally, we envision a federal European State: centralised where sovereignty demands unity, decentralised where proximity and pluralism yield better outcomes. It must combine democratic legitimacy with executive effectiveness — capable of decisive action while remaining fully accountable.

 

Beyond traditional representation, we advocate for direct democratic participation. Digital infrastructure now enables what was once logistically impossible: meaningful citizen engagement at continental scale. Secure platforms can inform millions simultaneously, facilitate structured deliberation, enable direct decision-making on significant issues — strengthening transparency across all levels of governance and serving as a powerful vehicle for popular sovereignty.

 

Finally, the new European State must be effective and flexible: designed for adaptability, pragmatism, and speed in a volatile world. Sovereignty is not a static monument; it is a living capacity. The Europe we seek is one that can learn, adjust, and act — so Europeans are not merely protected by history, but once again capable of making it.

 

 

The Geographic Core

 

The natural starting point for European political unification is the current European Union. Its member states have already demonstrated substantial institutional compatibility through decades of cooperation within common frameworks. They share fundamental commitments to democratic governance, the rule of law, and the protection of human rights. This existing foundation, imperfect though it may be, provides a solid basis for deeper integration.

 

In an optimal scenario, all twenty-seven EU member states would recognize the shared necessity of unification and proceed together from the outset. This would maximize the new state's strategic weight and internal legitimacy.

 

However, political realism compels us to acknowledge that a more incremental path is more probable: a core group of willing states — those most convinced of the imperative and prepared to accept its institutional demands — would initiate the founding process. Other countries would join subsequently as the project demonstrates its viability, as its strategic and economic advantages become undeniable, and as the costs of remaining outside grow increasingly clear.

 

 

The Central Prerequisite: The Franco-German Asymmetry

 

Any realistic map of a sovereign Europe must solve its central constitutional puzzle: the Franco–German asymmetry. France holds an independent nuclear deterrent — the basis of credible strategic autonomy. Germany holds Europe’s strongest industrial capacity — the backbone of economic power. A sovereign European State requires both; neither alone is sufficient.

 

This creates an internal security dilemma. France fears that pooling ultimate deterrence could subordinate its strategic sovereignty to German economic predominance. Germany fears that its industrial strength could be harnessed to priorities it does not control. Without constitutional arrangements that make internal hegemony structurally impossible, this mistrust cannot be overcome. This is not one challenge among many. It is the central prerequisite for European unification. No amount of goodwill, diplomatic rhetoric, or economic incentives can substitute for institutional architecture that makes domination impossible by design.

 

 

The Inside-Out Strategy

 

The strength and legitimacy required for European unification must be generated from within Europe itself, not borrowed from external patrons, nor granted by outside validation. Yet this is not a call for isolation, nor for sudden rupture. Europe is embedded in dense and, in many cases, unavoidable interdependencies: our security is still largely organised through NATO; key resources and inputs come from external suppliers; critical technological infrastructures are often governed beyond European jurisdiction. These are realities, not slogans. To ignore them would be imprudence; to pretend we can escape them overnight would be self-destructive fantasy.

 

An inside-out strategy begins by accepting this landscape while insisting on a decisive principle: the direction of change must be driven by European will and European capacity-building. The objective is not to sever ties, but to change their nature — progressively transforming relationships born of weakness into partnerships chosen from strength.

 

This requires sequence and discipline:

 

1. Build the internal foundations first: achieve deep economic, military, and technological integration to create genuine collective strength.

2. Systematically reduce critical dependencies: diversify energy sources, foster strategic autonomy in key technologies, and eliminate single points of failure.

3. Transform alliances from necessity to choice: use accumulated internal strength to renegotiate external partnerships on terms of equality, transforming protection into cooperation.

 

Sovereignty is not a starting condition; it is an endpoint. It is built, patiently and methodically, through organised political will, institutional construction, and the steady accumulation of common power.

 

 

Unity Through Diversity

 

A common objection to European unification appeals to culture and language. How, sceptics ask, can so many peoples — so many histories, traditions, and tongues — belong to a single political community? Does unity not require uniformity?

 

History answers plainly: it does not. Linguistic and cultural diversity has never prevented political unification when the strategic rationale was compelling and the institutions were designed to protect pluralism. Switzerland has four official languages and strong regional identities, yet it is among the most stable democracies in the world. Canada has sustained a federal order under official bilingualism, balancing a shared constitutional framework with meaningful provincial autonomy.

 

Europe should be understood in the same way. Unification is not a threat to diversity; it is increasingly the condition of its survival. Only a sovereign and capable Europe can sustain its cultural production, protect its languages, and preserve the rich fabric of regional traditions that define the continent — especially under the homogenising pressures of global markets, platforms, and media ecosystems. Fragmentation does not safeguard European diversity; it leaves it exposed. Unity, properly designed, is what allows Europe’s many identities not merely to endure, but to flourish.