Europes Existential Dilemma To Be Or Not To Be An American Vassal Guy Mettan by Guy Mettan 9781949762402, 1949762408 instant download after payment.

Since Charlemagne, Europe has made its sixth attempt at unification. Will it be the right one? Too authoritarian or too decentralized, too federalist or not federal enough, often undermined by internal divisions, sometimes imposed by external pressure, previous initiatives have all failed. Drawing on distant history, from the Peloponnesian War and its consequences for the decline of Greece, to the experience of the Holy Roman Empire, Guy Mettan's uncompromising analysis of Europe's dysfunctions shows that Europe could meet the same fate if it fails to establish itself as a free, independent, democratic and sovereign state.

The model exists, and Switzerland has been applying it successfully for 150 years. It is based on democracy and the will of diverse peoples to live together. Why shouldn't Europe be able to do the same?

Far from being a retrograde step, a reorientation of European construction in the direction of assertive federalism would be a fabulous step forward, a qualitative leap towards a horizon that we can already apprehend. It requires less audacity than determination.

But the political construction of Europe implies a true mental revolution: trusting the people.

Guy Mettan is a journalist who has headed La Tribune de Genève and the Swiss Press Club. He has been a member of Geneva's Grand Council since 2001, and was its president in 2010. He is the author of several books on Switzerland and international relations, including Russie-Occident. Une guerre de mille ans (Editions des Syrtes, 2015), translated into six languages.