Editing Confederation (section)

===European Union===
Its unique nature and the political sensitivities surrounding it cause there to be no common or legal classification for the [[European Union]] (EU). However, it bears some resemblance to both a confederation<ref>Kiljunen, Kimmo (2004). The European Constitution in the Making. Centre for European Policy Studies. pp. 21–26. {{ISBN|978-9290794936}}.</ref> (or a "new" type of confederation) and a federation.<ref>Burgess, Michael (2000). Federalism and European union: The building of Europe, 1950–2000. Routledge. p. 49. {{ISBN|0415226473}}. "Our theoretical analysis suggests that the EC/EU is neither a federation nor a confederation in the classical sense. But it does claim that the European political and economic elites have shaped and moulded the EC/EU into a new form of an international organization, namely, a species of "new" confederation".</ref> The term [[supranational union]] has also been applied. The EU operates common economic policies with thousands of [[Law of the European Union|common laws]], which enable a [[European Single Market|single economic market]], a [[European Union Customs Union|common customs territory]], (mainly) [[Schengen zone|open internal borders]], and a [[euro|common currency]] among most member-states. However, unlike a federation, the EU does not have exclusive powers over foreign affairs, defence, taxation, along with the immigration and transit of non-[[European Union citizenship|EU nationals]]. Furthermore, most [[EU laws]], which have been developed by consensus between [[Council of the European Union|relevant national government ministers]] and then scrutinised and approved or rejected by the [[European Parliament]], must be [[transposition (law)|transposed]] into national law by national parliaments (in the case of [[Directive (European Union)|directives]]). Most collective decisions by member states are taken by [[qualified majority voting|weighted majorities and blocking minorities]] typical of upper houses in federations. On the other hand, the absolute unanimity typical of intergovernmentalism is required only in respect to the [[Common Foreign and Security Policy]], as well as in situations when ratification of a treaty or of a treaty amendment is required. Such a form may thus be described as a semi-intergovernmental confederation.

However, some academic observers more usually discuss the EU in the terms of it being a federation.<ref name="Josselin2006">{{Cite journal |last1=Josselin |first1=Jean Michel |last2=Marciano |first2=Alain |year=2006 |title=The Political Economy of European Federalism |series=Series: Public Economics and Social Choice |publisher=Centre for Research in Economics and Management, University of Rennes 1, University of Caen |page=12 |id=WP 2006–07; UMR CNRS 6211 |url=http://crem.univ-rennes1.fr/wp/2006/ie-200607.pdf |quote=A complete shift from a confederation to a federation would have required to straightforwardly replace the principalship of the member states ''vis-à-vis'' the Union by that of the European citizens. As a consequence, both confederate and federate features coexist in the judicial landscape. |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080819213748/http://crem.univ-rennes1.fr/wp/2006/ie-200607.pdf |archive-date=19 August 2008 }}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |url=https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs11558-006-9001-y |doi=10.1007/s11558-006-9001-y |title=How the court made a federation of the EU |year=2007 |last1=Josselin |first1=Jean-Michel |last2=Marciano |first2=Alain |journal=The Review of International Organizations |volume=2 |pages=59–75 |s2cid=153687230 |url-access=subscription }} (referring to the [[European Court of Justice]]). Josselin (U. de Rennes-1/CREM) and Marciano (U. de Reims CA/CNRS).</ref> As the international law professor [[Joseph H. H. Weiler]] (of the [[Hague Academy of International Law|Hague Academy]] and [[New York University]]) wrote, "Europe has charted its own brand of constitutional federalism".<ref>{{cite book |author=J.H.H. Weiler |author-link=Joseph H. H. Weiler |title=The federal vision: legitimacy and levels of governance in the United States and the European Union |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0199245002 |chapter=Chapter 2, Federalism without Constitutionalism: Europe's ''Sonderweg'' |quote=Europe has charted its own brand of constitutional federalism. It works. Why fix it? |year=2003 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/federalvisionleg00kaly }}</ref> Jean-Michel Josselin and Alain Marciano see the [[European Court of Justice]] in Luxembourg City as being a primary force behind the building of a federal legal order for the EU,<ref name=":1" /> with Josselin stating that a "complete shift from a confederation to a federation would have required to straight-forwardly replace the principality of the member states vis-à-vis the Union by that of the European citizens. As a consequence, both confederate and federate features coexist in the judicial landscape".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Josselin |first1=Jean Michel |last2=Marciano |first2=Alain |year=2006 |title=The political economy of European federalism |series=Series: Public Economics and Social Choice |publisher=Centre for Research in Economics and Management, University of Rennes 1, University of Caen |page=12 |id=WP 2006-07; UMR CNRS 6211 |url=http://crem.univ-rennes1.fr/wp/2006/ie-200607.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080819213748/http://crem.univ-rennes1.fr/wp/2006/ie-200607.pdf |archive-date=19 August 2008}}</ref> [[Rutgers University|Rutgers]] political science professor [[R. Daniel Kelemen]] said: "Those uncomfortable using the 'F' word in the EU context should feel free to refer to it as a quasi-federal or federal-like system. Nevertheless, the EU has the necessary attributes of a federal system. It is striking that while many scholars of the EU continue to resist analyzing it as a federation, most contemporary students of federalism view the EU as a federal system".<ref name="A Political Theory of Federalism">{{cite book|last=Bednar|first=Jenna|title=A Political Theory of Federalism|year=2001|publisher=Cambridge University|pages=223–270}}</ref> Thomas Risse and Tanja A. Börzel claim that the "EU only lacks two significant features of a federation. First, the Member States remain the "masters" of the treaties, i.e., they have the exclusive power to amend or change the constitutive treaties of the EU. Second, the EU lacks a real "tax and spend" capacity, in other words, there is no fiscal federalism".<ref>Thomas Risse and Tanja A. Börzel, [https://web.archive.org/web/20130523231230/http://centers.law.nyu.edu/jeanmonnet/archive/papers/00/00f0101-04.html Who is Afraid of a European Federation? How to Constitutionalise a Multi-Level Governance System, Section 4: The European Union as an Emerging Federal System], Jean Monnet Center at [[NYU School of Law]]</ref>

[[Valéry Giscard d'Estaing]], the chairman of the body of experts commissioned to elaborate a constitutional charter for the European Union, was confronted with strong opposition from the United Kingdom towards including the words "federal" or "federation" in the unratified [[Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe|European Constitution]] and the word was replaced with either "Community" or "Union".<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/1435550/Giscard%27s-%27federal%27-ruse-to-protect-Blair.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130114035522/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/1435550/Giscard%27s-%27federal%27-ruse-to-protect-Blair.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 January 2013 |title=Giscard's "federal" ruse to protect Blair |work=The Daily Telegraph |author=Evans-Pritchard, Ambrose |date= 8 July 2003 |access-date=2008-10-15}}</ref>

A majority of the [[Political groups of the European Parliament|Political Groups in the European Parliament]], including the [[European People's Party Group|EPP]], the [[Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats|S&D Group]] and [[Renew Europe]], support a federal model for the European Union. The [[European Conservatives and Reformists Group|ECR Group]] argues for a reformed European Union along confederal lines. The [[Brothers of Italy]] party, led by [[Giorgia Meloni]], campaigns for a confederal Europe. On her election as President of the ECR Party in September 2020 Meloni said, "Let us continue to fight together for a confederate Europe of free and sovereign states".<ref>{{Cite web |date=8 March 2017 |title=The Future of the European Union ECR Statement |url=https://ecrgroup.eu/files/ECR_statement_on_the_Future_of_the_EU.pdf |access-date=25 June 2022 |website=www.ecrgroup.eu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Gehrke |first=Laurenz |date=29 September 2020 |title=Italy's Giorgia Meloni elected president of European Conservatives and Reformists |work=Politico |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/italy-giorgia-meloni-ecr-president-european-parliament/ |access-date=28 July 2022}}</ref>