Federal Union

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The Federal Union is a pro- European federalist group founded in November 1938 in the United Kingdom . In the period that followed, after the Second World War, it had the goal of establishing a federal union in Europe. The Federal Union is the UK section of the Union of European Federalists (UEF) and the World Federalist Movement .

founding

The idea of ​​a federal Europe had its roots in the resistance movements on the European continent. In November 1938, the British Lord Lothian and Lionel Curtis had decided to promote federalism and managed to found an institution called "Federal Union". By June 1940, the Federal Union had 12,000 members and 225 offices across the country. Between 1938 and 1940 the British took the lead in the idea of ​​federalism. The Federal Union received, among others, the politicians Arnold J. Toynbee and Robert Vansittrat broad support from leading newspapers, other politicians, scientists and clergy. Federalist movements in France from June 1940 and the Italian Movimento Federalista Europeo in 1943 provided considerable inspiration .

One of the most important and active representatives of the European idea within the Federal Union was the lawyer RWG Mackay, who in 1940 presented a " draft constitution for the United States of Europe ".

politics

In politics, a federal union is an organization of states or other institutions that unite a federal system. Usually, in a federal union, joint actions in the field of defense and foreign relations are carried out with individual states. Examples of a state federal union are the United States , Canada, Australia, India, Germany, the United Arab Emirates, and in some ways the European Union .

Federal Union Directive, 1939

The Federal Union received significant impetus and a real boost from the book by the Geneva correspondent of the New York Times, Clarence K. Streit, "Union Now", which was first published in New York in March 1939, (and) one no longer just as a state union, but Democratic - federalist Union of the peoples around the Atlantic as a preliminary stage of a federal world government and has put the principle of supranational federalism up for discussion in the Anglo-Saxon world as an annual best-seller. In March 1940 a "Federal Union Research Institute" was established in London, which, with the participation of prominent political scientists and economists from the country (GB), published a number of studies on the history, theory and practice of federalism that strongly contradicted the principle of the sovereignty of states described as the first goal to be achieved “the creation of a European democratic federation”.

The proposal for a European federation or a federal world government originated in the years 1939 to 1940 and is known as the Federal Union Directive .

“The proposal ('guideline') of the Federal Union of 1939 fits the conception both for a European union and for a federal world alliance, but was intended to be a federation of western and central Europe and North America. These ideas were further elaborated during the war. According to a declaration by the Federal Union on April 5, 1942, the ultimate goal for the European Federation was a supranational institution. "

Links and literature

  • Walter Lipgens : Europe federation plans of the resistance movements 1940-1945 . tape 26 . R. Oldenbourg Publishing House.
  • Walter Lipgens: 45 years of struggle for a European constitution . Europa Union Verlag, 1986.
  • Wilfried Loth (Ed.): The beginnings of European integration 1945–1950 . Europa Union Verlag, 1990.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Draft Constitution of the United States of Europe (PDF) varzil.de. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
  2. ↑ Quoted from Walter Lipgens in Die Europa federation plans of the resistance movements 1940–1945. P. 406 f.
  3. ↑ Selected documents on the draft constitution from 1923–2000 (PDF) varzil.de. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
  4. ↑ Quoted from: Anton Schäfer: "The draft constitution for the establishment of a European Union, outstanding documents from 1923 to 2004" , item II.3.