The United States of Europe: A necessary state transition
In the late 18th century, the first President of the United States, George Washington, stated that "One day, after the model of the United States of America, the United States of Europe will be created." A few decades later, in 1849, one of the main representatives of French Romanticism, Victor Hugo, declared that "A day will come when all the nations of this continent, without losing their distinctive character or their glorious individuality, will unite in a higher entity and form the European brotherhood. A day will come when there will be no more battlefields but fields of ideas. A day will come when bullets and bombs will be replaced by votes. A day will come when we will see the United States of America and the United States of Europe face to face, reaching out to each other across the sea." Even later, in May 1930, the French Foreign Minister, Aristide Briand, formally submitted the first comprehensive political proposal in favor of European unification, know