Fouere in his introduction talk about the three stages of Europe. The first Europe being at the time of middle-ages, when the continent was united by a single religion. Obviously, at this time never existed a single European state, but rather many different kingdoms ruled according to feudalism. What Fouere, emphasizes on this period is that people were able to travel freely around Europe, and that most of the times when a great danger was facing the people of Europe, the numerous kingdoms would come together to form one army. The second Europe, according to Fouere developed as the numerous kingdom were integrated in larger states, the nation states. It was at this point that the equilibrium in continental Europe changed dramatically. The problem was that the new nation states were based on a single nation, the most powerful one, which imposed its culture to the rest. Some of these emerging states were France, Spain, England and later Germany and Italy. In the case of Germany the leading nation was Prussia, while in Italy it was Piemonte. However, the way these states developed was through an aggressive politics of expansion which would during the 19th and 20th century generate the worst wars ever experienced in the continent. Totalitarian regimes were according to Fouere, the extremism of a nationalist politics were the individual did not matter anymore, it was all about the state. Finally the third Europe, would be the federal Europe, which is seen by the author as the solution to wars and possible economic crises. Though, he strasses the fact that this Europe should not be based on national states, but rather on regional-states, which best embody the nations of Europe.
In this fundamental book, which anyone passionate about Europe should read, I believe the most important idea is to look at Europe as a collection of diverse nations (Bask, Scottish, Sardinians) rather then looking at the Europe of national states (Spain, U.K. or Italy). By doing this, we make a new map of Europe, and we break down the national states, which do not belong in naturally belong to the people of Europe. Infant, they were imposed form the powerful.
Then the map of Europe would more likely look like this. What Fouere suggested was a federation not of states but of region-states such as Bavaria in Germany or Catalunya in Spain. These region sates in order to have a peaceful federation and a government that works properly they should be small in size and as equal as possible. Obviously, these devisions would be made according to common culture, size of population and the economy. We can anticipate much discussion regarding where the line should be drawn but this was Fouere vision. The establishment of a federal Europe, based on small region-state of equal size, which are governed by a local government which take internal decision (education, health-care, local police, taxation) and a federal government which takes decision affecting the all member states (army, currency, criminal law..).
I think this would be the most effective way to have a more democratic Europe, where decisions are made at a local level and not by a centralized government. Also it would secure peace between states and make Europe strong economically as well as politically.
