The United States of Europe? Is an increasingly united Europe poised to challenge America as a second global superpower?

• Author: Tagliabue, John
• Position: International

As soon as the new euro coins and bills hit the streets in January, the SuperBowl bowling alley in Frankfurt, Germany, warned customers that it would no longer accept payment in German marks. "It is difficult to keep two separate cash-drawers and difficult to make change," explained the manager. "So we decided, right from the beginning, that we would only accept euros."

The smooth introduction of the euro, which replaced the currencies of 12 nations, may be the most striking symbol of Europe's new unity. But even bigger things are in the works: In what is known as the Convention on the Future of Europe, delegates from across the continent are assembled in Brussels to write a constitution for a sort of United States of Europe.

It's been more than 200 years since the United States wrote its constitution. But that hasn't stopped Europeans from drawing comparisons. "It is a pale shadow of Philadelphia," said Heather Grabbe, an expert on the European Union at the Center for European Reform in London, referring to the city where the American constitution was born, "but a shadow nonetheless."

The old continent seems to be flexing its muscles, and looking a lot more like the United States. Fifteen European nations--with different languages, histories, and cultures--now make up the European Union (EU). The EU has its own parliament, a court system, a central bank with a single currency, and it is building a 67,000-member armed force. Where once travelers were halted at national borders for passport checks and customs controls, people and goods now sweep freely from one EU member to another--just as travelers move across state lines in the U.S.

A BRAVE NEW EUROPE

Suddenly, some Europeans have begun to think that together they could rival the U.S., and they are saying so. Opening the Brussels convention, former Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato summed up the optimism. "This convention is about Europe making its voice heard in the world," he said. "Very often we hear the observation that the world is now run by one superpower. A unipolar world is a dangerous one. But a single Europe could give us a voice."

The idea behind the European Union first emerged in 1946, when most of Europe lay buffed in the ruins of World War II. Britain's wartime Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, proposed "a kind of United States of Europe," and leaders across the continent seconded the idea. The reasoning was simple: In order to contain the demons of nationalism that...