being a federalist does not necessarily mean that you favour greater political or economic integration through the european union. the absolute rule of federalism, is that decisions should be made as close to the people they affect as possible.
yet you may wonder why the term ‘federalism’ is so synonamous with integration, the loss of national sovereignty, and supranational decision-making. the reason for this is that in the absence of barriers to trade between european union countries, and the global spread of free trade, an increasing number of political decisions (especially those regarding the regulation of markets) are most appropriately made at the international tier of government, that being, in the european union. also, with freedom of movement, including the freedom to work anywhere in the european union, there is the need to co-operate in areas of cross-border criminality, and other social issues that arise given such a freedom. this is why the european union has accumulated so many powers, a process mainly facilitated by the drive to make business environments more competitive, to improve industrial efficiency and bring down prices.
it is this very process which underpins the philosophy of their being a single currency, the euro. however, the presence of a single currency across europe demands that monetary policy be set at the eu, rather than by national governments.
the great paradox though , and the fundamental debate concerning the future of the european union, is that on the one hand there are those who are pushing for a ‘single market’ in europe, a larger market-base for firms to sell their products to, and idealists who have a sentimental vision of the eu in all its diversity, dynamism and conflict. whilst on the other hand, there are those who are absolute functionalists in terms of their vision of a federal europe, who argue that the more decisions are made by the eu, the further away they are being made from the people they affect. on this side of the debate, the process is seen as a threat to their national identity, and the fear is, that the ideal of europe nationhood is being introduced by stealth. these people assert the ‘principle of subsidiarity’, which stresses that decisions should be made at the lowest level of government as is possible.
whichever side you take, it is worth being aware of these primary arguments and of the trends which are seeing a fundmental rearrangement of where power lies, not just away from westminster/whitehall to the eu, but from westminster/whitehall to regional and local governments.