Based on social media, the upcoming generation is expressing more European solidarity than the continent has seen in decades.

On social media, the upcoming generation is expressing more European solidarity than the continent has seen in decades.

A futuristic EU soldier stands guard, laser blaster at the ready. European fighter jets zoom through the sky over thumping Eurodance beats. An imaginary map shows a vastly enlarged EU, swallowing everything from Greenland to the Caucasus.

Welcome to the wild world of pro-Europe online propaganda, where the EU isn’t a fractious club of 27 countries but a juiced-up superpower on par with China or the United States, only wiser and more cultured.

This type of content, which re-imagines the EU as a pan-European empire, a European Federation or the United States of Europe — take your pick — has flooded social media platforms over the past two years, garnering billions of views collectively on X, TikTok and Instagram as the EU has reeled from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a U.S.-EU trade deal decried as “humiliation” for Brussels in many parts of Europe.

  • deHaga@feddit.ukEnglish
    35·
    1 month ago

    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.

  • Nico198X@europe.pubEnglish
    33·
    1 month ago

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

  • DupaCycki@lemmy.worldEnglish
    15·
    1 month ago

    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.

  • WhatGodIsMadeOf@feddit.orgBannedEnglish
    9·
    1 month ago

    Brah, no one wants that for anywhere.

    That’s just marketing taking hopes and sucking the life from them.

    Why can’t any of the worlds top nations just be sane? Instead of like… The creep from blue Velvet.

      • DagwoodIII@piefed.socialEnglish
        11·
        1 month ago

        Old joke.

        The Mafia gets ripped off by a professional thief. When they catch him they realize he only speaks French. They find a French speaking hooker and tell her to translate.

        The thief says “You got me. The diamonds are in the hotel safe under the name ‘Charles DeGaulle’ You can have the jewels and my family will pay them a $5million ransom if they let me go.”

        The hooker tells the Mafia, “He says you’re bunch of monkeys and he’ll never say where the diamonds are.”

    • BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.todayEnglish
      7·
      1 month ago

      That requires EVERYBODY to register their full identification with the government. Y’know, for the kids. You want to protect the kids, don’t you?

  • Ilixtze@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2·
    1 month ago

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

  • SabinStargem@lemmy.todayEnglish
    1·
    1 month ago

    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.