While I was in high school, I had a world geography teacher tell us that he thought that within 20 years, Europe would merge together and become "the United States of Europe."

Seven Years later, his prediction seems to be well on its way to becoming true. The Euro drew everyone closer financially. The formation of the European Union made it easier for everyone to work together. Finally, the EU Constitution is moving to becoming law.

Looking at the EU from the other side of the Great Pond, I think it is only a matter of time before Europe becomes like the United States.

Edit Note: If you were offended by my title, read the post. It has nothing to due with the US taking over Europe

yes, it will be great, but is gonna be quite difficult. We are going to need many years.. the problem is that many countries do not wanna lose completely their soberanity....

The unified currency was the least they could do but right now a unified Europe might be further away than most people think. There are a LOT of tensions within Europe and quite frankly, have trouble actually imaging them getting along.
It managed to pass with the currency, but when actual nationalism is concerned this will be very tricky.
The next step they're trying to achieve it seems is the Euro Corps unified military. It won't unify all their militaries, but create one that is contributed by all (or most) members of the EU. The program gets scrubbed every time.

Originally Posted by the_13th_redneck

The unified currency was the least they could do but right now a unified Europe might be further away than most people think. There are a LOT of tensions within Europe and quite frankly, have trouble actually imaging them getting along.
It managed to pass with the currency, but when actual nationalism is concerned this will be very tricky.
The next step they're trying to achieve it seems is the Euro Corps unified military. It won't unify all their militaries, but create one that is contributed by all (or most) members of the EU. The program gets scrubbed every time.

yes, the political union I think is gonna be almost imposible,I think we will get to a point where the european parlament will have a lot of power, but there will be issues that will never be transfered. the uniformation of the armies could be a matter of time, but you never know.

Really the usefulness of a Eurocorps is a big question. If you need a deployment somewhere, you could just have some unit from some army tapped to do it just easy.
Political union is a huge problem because though some people may not realize it, Europe is a very diverse place. Any union would be a Confederation of the loosest sense. Plus the UK's stance on it would be uncertain.
And also from what I've seen anyways, I can't really see France and Germany forming a stable long term relationship that doesn't require America Bashing. Not to mention Holland vs Germany. That stuff is brutal. Also Walloons vs the Flemish in Belgium alone. Of course the Basques and their issues.
Complicated, complicated place.

Whats so damn crazy about europe is that you can travel a few miles and you find yourself with people speaking another language. Unification will be so damn hard in my opinion.

I think such a united european state is far, far off.

I doubt there will be any "complete" unification of Europe, my guess is that the european parliament will act more like guideline generator than a government mainly because I cant see any countries happily giving up sovreignty.
The same thing applies to the military I am more inclined to think that there will be a standardisation in equipment, supplies and ammunition than there will a combined european military.

There is a limited level of standardization.
the 5.56mm NATO Standard is called NATO Standard because that's exactly what it is.
9mm Parabellum, 5.56mm and 7.62mm are standardized NATO calibers. Also I guess you could include the 12.7mm (aka .50 Cal).
As for everyone carrying the same assault rifle... well I think the local arms manufacturers will have something to say about that. There are too many fine firearms companies, Fabrique Nationale, Heckler and Koch, Sig to name a few for complete standardization I think. Those companies will want the country they are registered to to adopt their weapons.

Air arms have been somewhat "standardized" on a limited basis before. The SPECAT Jaguar, PANAVIA Tornado are good examples and the upcoming EuroFighter Typhoon is another. But the UK wants the JSF and will get it, while the rest of Europe won't.

But this is trivial stuff... really the issue is organization.
Euro Corps might be really an organization where units from various countries are loaned to the head European Union governing body. Who knows, Europe might prefer that body to do the dirty work abroad while leaving the local governments more concentrated on the events at home. Though I don't see that happening either because if there's a key resource point somewhere, I don't think they'd rely on the EU governing body to share it "equally."

I think the bigger question there is does NATO have a future, I dont think it has personally I think it will be replaced by the EDF.

I doubt they will have the same weapons either but I fully expect them to arm themselves with equipment that follows "European" guide lines ie can use the same ammunition.

But the UK wants the JSF and will get it, while the rest of Europe won't.

Yes but really does Britain have a place in the "new" Europe, they seem luke warm on it at best and that feeling seems to be shared by the rest of Europe toward Britain, I really dont see Britain going a lot further down the European road.