The Politico, is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007.[4
Owner Axel Springer SE
Axel Springer SE (German: [ˈaksl̩ ˈʃpʁɪŋɐ ɛsˈeː]) is a European multinational mass and online media company, based in Berlin, Germany.
Key people Mathias Döpfner (CEO and chairman of the management board)
Ralph Büchi (chairman of the supervisory board)
Board member of Netflix, Inc. Warner Music Insider Inc

Yeah, I can see why they want to focus on their investments. They want to own Europeans too.

It’s to generate a sense of agency, vision and possibility at a time when bullying from Trump, expansionism from Russia and competition between U.S. and China have left young Europeans feeling powerless.

As a non-wealthy American, we feel powerless, too. And I have to say, the notion of demoting countries in the EU to states is a terrible idea. It hasn't worked well in the US, and all that it would achieve is centralizing power away from the people and into the hands of those who can buy power. Bigger government ≠ better country, especially at a time in history when billionaires exist.

Grow the EU, by all means, but your individual countries working together is what makes you great.

A Europe of sovereign regions, sounds great. A Europe of multinational corporations that uses the free market to enact a race to the bottom of quality of life just to ensure greater profits, please no.

There's a reason many of the "far left" (read: actual socdem, not milquetoast neolib) political parties here are more wont to evoke leaving the EU, even those that despise Putin.

VOLT 💜💜 🇪🇺🇪🇺

As an American this seems like a bad idea.

needs more post-scarcity, Star Trek Federation style, Socialist United Europe content.

Don't have to get very far to get to the part where it's far right douches trying to slow walk people to racism...

Indeed, federalists are far from being a politically homogenous group. Several meme warriors told me that there is an ideological battle ongoing in the dank recesses of federalist Reddit subgroups and chatrooms between broadly centrist people who believe in boosting the power of existing Brussels institutions, and far-right people who hate Brussels but nonetheless want Europe to assert itself on the world stage. The big divider is identity politics and migration policy: far-right groups tend to envision Europe as a culturally and ethnically homogenous “empire” — read, white and Christian, preferably Catholic — that keeps foreigners out.

Saying "only white Christians are European, and everyone else shouldn't be here" is not, and has never been, just "identity politics".

It sounds like neoliberals and racists are both fighting over who gets to be called "center right"...

The best part is this was intended from the start. The very first proposed name for the European Union was literally United States of Europe.

Then there were several plans to move to a more federal system, but all of them failed, usually due to American interference.

Hmm, shall we look to history to see past efforts and the results of centralising power in Europe?

I really don't get why we'd want to emulate any of the large federations. Russia? China? USA? Nope nope nope

A cell structure of independent states is inherently a better structure than a blob where you only have to get one bad leader for the whole thing to be fucked.

Any time white nationalists demand an all white country, I just think back to the last 2500 years and ask myself, you had that and still fucked it up.

"wiser and more cultured" aaaand there goes my coffee out of my nose.

I think centralization has merit...IF there are deliberate regional blocs, with the national figurehead elected by popular vote or if the heads of the other blocs agreed on that representative. Of course, the regional heads themselves are voted by popular election. As with the US Constitution, the concept is to divide up power - but in this case, the branches are multiplied by the number of blocs.

A national judiciary and parliament refines and creates national laws for all regional blocs, but only after representatives of each bloc or their constitutes have agreed for those laws. This creates a backbone of common law and policy, but also prevents any one region from dictating what should be.

Examples of hypothetical EU Regional blocs: A Mediterranean region for all nations who share a coastline with that body, a Black Sea region of the same, a Balkans Bloc, A Baltic Sea bloc, and so forth. Those spots have commonalities in what places they deem to be important, thus they would be focused on creating frameworks that allow for effective trade and practices within their region.

Whether this sort of division would work is the big question. Unfortunately, we will be exposed to political upheavals of what does...and more importantly, DOESN'T, work.

I personally believe that the US will become an social experiment of great and terrible proportions, that all other powers will pay close attention to.

Realistically, we have the technology to have universal translators on the shelves by next Christmas.