A federation is a political union of self-governing member states that share a common government, with the powers of each level guaranteed by a constitution. European federalism means that Europeans would govern their common affairs through a common democracy while retaining national and regional self-government.

Many of the decisions that will shape Europeans’ future can no longer be made effectively by nation states acting alone. Europe, as the joke goes, has only two kinds of country: small countries and countries that have not yet realised they are small. Even Europe’s largest countries are small by global standards. On their own, they often lack the scale to set rules for global companies, secure critical supply chains, or bargain on equal terms with much larger countries.

Today, the EU combines federal and intergovernmental forms of governance. In some areas, it exercises powers of its own through common institutions and European law. In others, authority remains with national governments, which use the EU to coordinate their policies and negotiate common action. In those areas, decisions may be European, but accountability remains fragmented across national governments. Each government helps to make the decision, but no government is answerable to Europeans as a whole for the outcome.

My European federalism is not an unqualified call for “more Europe”. I want common European powers only where European action is necessary, and I want them exercised through institutions with clear democratic authority and accountability. I want a European constitution, an elected federal government, courts able to enforce a clear division of powers, majority lawmaking without national vetoes, and a legislature representing both citizens and member states. In “A Bicameral Legislature for the European Union”, I set out a detailed model for such a legislature.

I do not expect every member state to be politically and constitutionally ready for federation at the same time. In “Let’s Build the European Federation Asynchronously”, I argue for preparing country-specific paths to membership and a common federal framework in advance, so that a first group can federate when the opportunity arises and others can join later.

Europe is my home, so my support for federalism is personal as well as practical. I value our countries and their differences, but I also want us Europeans to gain the capacity to decide and act for ourselves. In “Eurogaullism”, I argue that this kind of sovereignty can now be secured only at European scale.

European federalism, to me, means a common democratic government with defined powers over shared European matters, alongside constitutionally protected national and regional self-government.

The rest of my writing on the subject is collected under European Federalism.