One is for danger. The other is for opportunity. To say that Europe is in crisis is perhaps putting it too strongly. But all over this continent people are recognizing that some form of a United States of Europe may soon be a reality. Europe already has a parliament, a flag and an anthem.
Nobody expects the move toward unity to stop at a common currency.
Other symbols of individual nationhood will inevitably follow. How far individual nations will be willing to submerge their sovereignty in a European superstate remains to be seen, but the momentum toward consolidation and unification is increasing on many fronts. Even countries who do not really want a closer union concede there is merit in the idea. In the first half of this century, the Western European nations ravaged each other in devastating wars. The second half has brought peace, but wars in the Balkans and the old Soviet Union have shown that war on European soil is still a possibility.