United European Federation

> "*In Varietate Concordia!
>  United in Diversity!*"
>
>
>
> —Motto of the United European Federation

Flag of the European Federation

The United European Federation, unofficially known as Europe, the UEF or the EU, is a nation located on Earth, directly comprising France, Germany, Iberia, Italy, The Benelux and Ireland. Additionally, it comprises of sovereign member states which are partially integrated into the Federation, notable exceptions being the Scandinavian Federation and Baltic Federation, both in the process of completely integrating with the union within the next 10 years.

The UEF is the central member of the wider European Union, consisting of 32 additional member states, with a combined population of over 914 million people. The UEF itself has an estimated total population of 505 million people, and is widely considered the worlds most diverse nation. The UEF's long term goals is to politically integrate the remainder of Europe.

The UEF serves as an enormous single market and an internal system of laws has been created to maintain common policy on justice, trade, agriculture, energy and regional development. Passport controls and customs checks have been abolished in favor for travel within the Schengen Area. The UEF has established a unified monetary policy, known as the Eurozone. Its currency, the Euro, is currently being used in many developing nations.

## History

### Pre-Federalisation (1951-2028)

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the nations of Europe began talks to create a new economic union in an attempt to ensure such a devastating conflict would never again threaten the European continent. The results of these talks resulted in the 1951 Treaty of Paris and 1957 Treaty of Rome, which created the European Coal and Steel Community and European Economic Community among six nations. In later decades, the community would grow to include 21 additional member states in a series of expansions. The greatest of these expansions came in 2004, where former Eastern Bloc nations from the fall of the Soviet Union joined the EU.

However, in 2016, the United Kingdom elected to leave the EU, formally leaving the Union in 2020. In 2023, Hungary too elected to leave, citing EU sanctions over its domestic policy. Analysts feared the eventual breakup of the Union, however, the introduction of Ukraine only a year after repelling a Russian invasion proved to be a pivotal factor in sustaining the Union. With a large amount of political power now held in Eastern Europe, many nations considering abandoning the union now reconsidered their position. To date, Hungary and the UK are the only two nations to leave the Union.

In 2026, the EU had another major expansion, formally inducting Macedonia, Albania, Scotland and Norway into the Union, also merging the EEC with the EU proper. Member states of the EU also began to launch colony missions to Luna and Mars, spurring on an age of expansion across the Sol system

### Unification Period (2028-2054)

In 2028, in response to heightening world tension, the EU began the process to merge the armed forces of all its member states into one cohesive military force. Each nation submitted its military high commands to the supranational *European Regional Command*, which coordinated Europe's military actions, and ensured that any military action taken would need to be approved of by all European nations.

The joint armed forces of the European Union took place in several interventions during this period, most notably launching a coordinated strike force to capture and disable Russian nuclear silos, as to prevent their use during the Second Russian Civil War (See: Operation Löschen)

Throughout the 2030s and 40s, a series of treaties broadened the EU's powers over foreign policy, national security and intervention in internal government. These treaties are collectively known as the "Nordic Treaties" due to their signing places all being within capital cities of Scandinavia. These treaties represented the greatest shift in EU policy in the prior 30 years, shifting from an economic union into a legitimate political bloc.

During this time, the UEF began its initial attempts at expansion into space, with the construction of Bordeaux Port & Shipyard, created several settlements on Luna and beginning to plan settlements on and around Mars and in the Jovian System.

In March 2051, as the Third World War began to spill over into Europe, the economies of many European states began to falter as peacetime economies was transitioned into wartime production, and conscription campaigns recruited many young working Europeans into the military, disrupting the service-based economies which had been the keystone of high economic growth. When the Russian Federation joined the conflict in October that year, panic ensued in European Parliament as Russian forces made advances towards Eastern European cities, such as Riga, Tallinn and Kyiv. In a snap vote, MEPs of France, Germany, Italy and the Benelux voted overwhelmingly to federate to better streamline wartime production and coordinate the armed forces. On January 1st 2052, the United European Federation was proclaimed, and focus was turned towards winning the war.

The Eastern theater against Russia rapidly solidified as the winter of 2051 set in, the coldest on record for decades. In February 2052, a frontal counteroffensive began, which rapidly overran the bogged down Russian positions, and captured much territory in Belarus, the Caucasus and Karelia before running into more entrenched forces deeper within Russia. Despite not capturing Moscow, the Allied powers negotiated for Russia's conditional surrender in September 2052. The UEF chose not to advance into Central Asia, instead holding positions on the Kazakh border. Simultaneously, the UEF forced the surrender of both Egypt and Libya in the Middle Eastern theater. With its closest threats dealt with, the UEF redeployed most of its forces to support American, Japanese and Korean operations in East Asia. UEF divisions were involved in the Fall of Vladivostok, the Hanoi Offensive, and Operation *Fall Loong*. With much of China's government decapitated, the remainder of its leadership surrendered on April 21st 2054, bringing the war to an end

With the war won, some MEPs petitioned for the UEF to dissolve into its constituent states now that the crisis was over. However, in a general referendum conducted in June 2054, 79% of the population voted to continue the federation into peacetime. Thus, the UEF was solidified as a global superpower rivaling the US and China in its economic and military strength.

### Post-Unification (2054-2162)

Although the UEF was formally established as a state, questions of how strong its authority and its areas of jurisdiction would remain, as a byproduct of its rapid unification, necessitating much debate within all authoritative bodies within the UEF. However, the parliamentarians eventually won out, a grand coalition of the main parties within the parliament eventually forcing the other bodies to concede to it being the majority legislative body. In this great reformation, many old bodies from the European Union were dissolved and consolidated, most notably the European Commission, its executive powers being granted to the European Council. Additionally, the parliament voted to divide itself into 2 separate bodies to govern the integrated states of the UEF as well as external member states, which still wished for a EU-esque agreement without fully federating. This process of reformation took place over several years, and defined the late 2050s for the UEF.

Over the next decades, the UEF integrated several new states - Spain, Portugal and Austria all joined the federation, while the European Union expanded - Belarus, Norway, Ulster, Kola, Karelia, Krasnodar, and Georgia all joined the Union. In 2138, Sweden, Finland and Denmark all expressed interest in full integration, and began to integrate their political systems together, forming the Scandinavian Federation in 2148, and have begun to integrate fully into the federation, with planned completion being in 2160. However, war continued to persist - in 2146, Iraq invaded Jordan and Kuwait, leading to another coalition war to contain Iraqi aggression, the UEF being one such coalition member. With Iraq's severe lack of orbital capabilities, coalition forces quickly deployed their home fleets to act as high air support, the destroyer compliment of the Earth Fleet of the UEF being sent to assist. Over the 11 week conflict, Paix-class destroyers engaged in at least 140 different airstrikes on Iraqi forces, while US ground forces were airdropped into key urban locations.

### Solar Exploration (2062-2150)

Despite the cancellation of the UEF's Martian colony in 2070, owing to growing tensions across the planet (See: The Martian Troubles), it allowed the UEF to concentrate more heavily on colonies in the asteroid belt and Jovian system. Europa was chosen as the site of settlement in the Jovian system, with the intent of using its proximity to Jupiter and wealth of vital survival resources, such as water ice, to become a hub of settlement in the outer planets. The UEF was involved in the Second Jovian War as Luna-Mars backed rebels seized New Brussels and proclaimed the short-lived Union of Europa. The UEF's Jupiter Fleet rapidly responded, destroying the small pirate navy Europa had assembled and recapturing the colony, albeit with heavy casualties. Such punitive action heavily disenfranchised Europan civilians, who protested against the heavy UEF military presence, martial law and curfew imposed by the temporary military administration. Although many of the policies were lifted the following month, a grassroots campaign for independence was founded, culminating in a referendum which in a narrow 53/47 vote, granted the moon legal independence (albeit with UEF mining outposts remaining under their jurisdiction).

The Third Jovian War broke out as Luna-backed terror cells destroyed several US and UEF mining outposts in the Jovian system. Due to the web of alliances which Luna had assembled in the aftermath of the Second Jovian War, it pitted Luna, Mars and the young Jovian states against the Earth-based US and UEF. The war was very brief, as all belligerents were inexperienced in space warfare beyond anti-piracy operations. As such, the war devolved into both sides engaging in logistical disruptions. However, after 8 months of this, a decisive engagement at the Battle of Io ended the war in a narrow Luna-Mars-Jovian victory (although only 3 ships were lost in total). The UEF was forced to abandon its Jovian holdings, and pursue settlements in the Asteroid Belt, as well as space stations in Venusian and Solar orbit. Eros became a linchpin for the UEF's Outer Planets Fleet, and became a key way-point for merchants trading between the inner solar system and the outer planets.

## Demographics

### Population

In 2150, the population of the UEF was 505 million people, and including non-integrated member states, the population rises to 914 million (4.1% and 7.4% of the global population respectively). The UEF has an average population growth rate of 0.075% annually, well below the global average growth rate of 0.1%.

The UEF is praised as being one of the most ethnically diverse nations on the planet, with hundreds of groups having residence within its borders. A large number of these residents originate from the Arab world and economically weak nations of sub-Saharan Africa, the EU's generous social policies ensuring all having access to welfare, justice and services. Additionally, the UEF houses a significant minority of Lunar and Martian-born residents, with specialised living complexes being constructed to suit their needs

### Urbanisation

The UEF contains 80 urban centres with a population over 1 million. The Greater Paris Metropolitan Area is currently the largest city within the Federation, with over 19 million residents, followed by Madrid, Berlin, Rome and Lisbon. The UEF also has several polycentric urban centres, famous examples being the heavily industrialised Rhine-Ruhr region as well as the Amsterdam-Hague-Utrecht Complex

### Language

The UEF has over 28 official languages: Albanian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Italian, Irish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese Macedonian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish and Ukrainian; although many other languages are unofficially spoken throughout the Union, the most popular being Arabic, Mandarin and Lunar Creole. All official UEF documents are translated into official languages, and live translation software is available in UEF parliamentary sessions.

Despite the diversity of official languages, English has often been called the UEF's *lingua franca*, with its widespread use in government and administration. This has made English one of the most popular second languages to learn, 64% of the UEF's population having some understanding of the language. However, despite the prevalence of English, the UEF promotes conservation of minority languages such as Breton, Bavarian and Catalan, having over 150 of such protected languages and dialects.

### Religion

Currently, the UEF does not have any formal connection to any religious institution, and the official stance of the UEF is that of a secular entity. However, the UEF does recognize the status of religious institutions as "philosophical and non-confessional organisations". Christianity is the largest religion within the UEF with 67% of the population following a denomination of the faith. Christians are divided between members of the Catholic Church and Protestant denominations, with roughly 15% of worshipers following Eastern Orthodoxy. Also included within the UEF are approximately 30 million Muslims and over 2 million Jews. Buddhists, Sikhs and Hindus are also significant minorities within the Federation.

## Government

### Legislative

The legislative branch of the UEF is made up of 2 independent bodies - the European Parliament and the European Council which work in conjunction to make policy, manage fiscal affairs and determine European foreign policy.

#### European Parlaiment

The European Parliament is made up of 2 separate houses - the Inner Parliament legislates the internal affairs of the UEF and its integrated states, and the Outer Parliament legislates policy to unintegrated UEF member states.

Both houses are elected via proportional representation based on nationwide votes. Due to the vast number of member states, and the variety of differing interests, there are hundreds of individual political parties represented in parliament. However, in order to facilitate the making of legislation, the parties have organized into several political blocs, generally organized based on ideology and not representing any one nations interests. The elections for the parliaments are held every 5 years; with the elections for the inner and outer houses being 2.5 years apart. It is currently based in Strasbourg, France

##### Inner Parliament

The Inner Parliament consists of 632 seats drawn from integrated states each accounting for approximately 800,000 people per seat. Members of the Inner Parliament receive the right to sit on, and appoint members to 16 parliamentary committees which are appointed to deal with particular issues and policy areas. Political blocs within the Inner Parliament are extremely influential, forming the backbone of European government, being responsible for the appointment of the position of President of the European Parliament as well as being responsible for the proposition, debate and implementation of new laws. There are currently 7 main blocs within the Inner Parliament:

* European People's Party - Centre-right party with conservative and liberal-conservative member parties. Focused on ensuring Europe's place in the interstellar age, and strengthening internal integration. Also wishes to increase business interests in Europe via increased privatization and looser market restrictions
* Alliance of European Socialists - Centre-left party with social democrat and democratic socialist member parties. Focused on increased internal integration and the establishment of wide-reaching welfare programs to ensure a high quality of life
* Party of European Liberals and Democrats - Centrist party which often takes liberal and social democratic ideas. Frequent coalition member with either the EPP or PES. Promotes social liberties and liberal ideas such as LGBTQ+ and minority rights, welfare, education and criminal justice.
* European Green Party - Left-wing group of parties promoting increased usage of renewable energy and other green politics
* European Conservative & Reformist Party
* Party of the European Left
* European National Party - Right-wing party consisting of a number of ultraconservative and Eurosceptic member parties. Advocates for the weakening of overreaching UEF institutions and the eventual dissolution of the UEF into its constituent states. However, it remains one of the weakest parties, only maintaining 7 seats as of the latest UEF election

Typically, there is a strong competitive attitude between the EPP and PES, each attempting to have a strong enough power base to dictate UEF policy alone. However, with proportional representation restricting their ability to get above half the required seats, coalitions have often been resorted to in order to gain a majority. Typically, the AELD has acted as the junior party in any coalition, often fluctuating between the EPP and AES in support. However, the Greens and Conservative parties have also participated in coalitions in the past, making them secondary parties to consider in a coalition.

##### Outer Parliament

The Outer Parliament consists of 1143 seats, drawn from all member states of the UEF, both integrated and not. With the Outer Parliament being elected while the Inner Parliament is still in session, EMPs are drawn from candidates separate from those currently sitting within the Inner Parliament. This can therefore lead to a Inner Parliament and Outer Parliament holding entirely different controlling coalitions; although general bloc politics remains mostly analogous to that of the Inner Parliament. The Outer Parliament is less overreaching than the Inner Parliament, and is mostly responsible for the organizing of regional development, financial management of member states, regional integration, and determining foreign policy.

#### European Council

The European Council is the secondary legislative branch of the UEF, and is responsible for approving of laws voted upon by the Inner Parliaments, to ensure that it is fair and just for all member states, and ensures that it does not disproportionately benefit or disadvantage any one member state. As such, the Council remains a very small body, with only 12 seats - one seat reserved for the currently serving President of the European Parliament. Among the members of the European Council, a President is elected who serves as the executive head of the UEF, and holds the title of President of the United European Federation. Due to the diverse variety of differing national interests between members of the European Council, the President of the European Parliament is often appointed to the post, making the President of the European Parliament de facto the President of the UEF.

### Law & Justice

The UEF has one main judicial body - the Court of Justice of the European Union, which is itself broken up into 2 major courts. The Court of Justice is the main body for national supreme courts to defer for preliminary rulings, annulments and appeals. It consists of 11 Justices, as well as a jury made up of 87 jurors; 3 from each member state. The Justices of the Court of Justice are appointed by the European Council with one from each member state. The position is usually given to the most senior judge of a member states own supreme court. Each of the 11 justices also serves as the head of a lower court, usually made to deal with a specific sector such as agriculture, trade or finance.

The General Court is the main body for rulings, annulments and appeals for individuals and companies to defer to, as well as unintegrated UEF members. It is composed of 58 judges; 2 from each member state.

### Military

The Armed forces of the United European Federation consist of 4 professional service branches - the Union Army, Federal Navy Service (consisting of the Federal Navy and Federal Marines), the Union Air Service (including the Air Force and Specialist Air units) and the Space Corps (unofficially referred to as the Navy, although the two services were divorced in 2109). The Armed forces are coordinated by the Defence Committee and commanded by the Council of Europe. Due to the multilingual nature of the armed forces, individual groups and vessels are generally divided based on language, although at least 10% of personnel are required to be multilingual in English.

The Navy and Space Corps are one of the key taskforces in patrolling civilian trade routes, both on Earth and in space. The UEF maintains 5 orbital shipyards, 12 anchorages, and owns shares in many private shipyards across the Sol system. With the combined military forces of 28 nations, the UEF is among the most powerful militaries in the Sol system

#### Union Space Corps

The Union Space Corps is the space service branch of the UEF Armed Forces, as a former subdivision of the Union Air Force. The Space Corps are among one of the most influential in the system, consisting of over 20 capital ships, and hundreds of lighter vessels. The UEF navy generally is used for anti-piracy operations throughout the inner solar system, with which most of its trade links are with. The UEF operates on a dispersed fleet doctrine, with dozens of scattered battle groups each being versatile to aid others while also providing a wide net of coverage. However, for larger ports and garrison, the UEF has over 10 fully armed battle groups consisting of at least 1 capital ship.

#### Nuclear Weapons

Although Europa has been an advocate in de-nuclearization, pioneering several groundbreaking treaties including the 2042 Treaty in Nuclear Arms Reduction, the 2054 Treaty on Nuclear Violations (which banned the use of nuclear weapons on a planetary body with an atmosphere) and 2090 Treaty on Interplanetary Weapons. However, the UEF does maintain several orbital craft with nuclear armament, 2 nuclear-tipped torpedoes being standard for battleships and battlecruisers. Additionally, it maintains over 50 IPBMs in various orbital bases as a mutual threat deterrence, although this policy has been called into question as of late as nations across the Sol system have also incorporated such technology into their defense

## Economy

### Overview

The gross domestic product of the UEF was US$56.64 trillion in 2151. This was the third-largest in the world after the United States, and China. Inside the UEF, income inequality has largely been eliminated, the greatest variations of average income being between Luxembourg with an average income of €89,000 and Évora, with an average income of €36,000; The average annual net earnings in the European Union was around €59,000 in 2151. Within the wider EU, there is a significant variation in GDP per capita. Of the top 500 largest corporations in the world measured by revenue in 2140, 207 had their headquarters in the EU. In 2146, unemployment in the EU stood at 3.2 per cent while inflation was at 1.8 per cent.

The Euro is the official currency within the UEF and EU, and has been adopted by all member states, barring Rostov, Kursk and Belgorod. The creation of a European single currency became an official objective of the European Economic Community in 1969, and was established by the provisions in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty. The Euro itself was introduced in 2002, and has since become the second largest reserve currency as well as the second most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar. The euro, and the monetary policies of those who have adopted it in agreement with the EU, are under the control of the ECB, the central bank of the EU and UEF.

### Extraplanetary Economy

The UEF maintains several mining outposts throughout the Sol system, major mining colonies including Ceres, Vesta and the rings of Saturn. The UEF also maintains several manufacturing hubs throughout the asteroid belt and outer planets. Ceres again is a major shipbuilding hub, as well as Rhea. Eros is also a major shipyard and command hub for the Outer Planets Fleet.

## Foreign Relations

As the core member of the European Union, the UEF maintains a strong relationship with its other member states. It is increasingly pushing for deeper integration with its other member states, with the intended goal of fully integrating the entire EU. Currently, 2 member states are in the process of integrating: the Scandinavian Federation and Baltic Federation

The UEF is a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council (inheriting the position from France). As a member of NATO, the UEF maintains a strong alliance with its traditional allies of the United Kingdom and United States of America, as well as other smaller democratic powers. As one of the strongest members of NATO, the UEF projects power across the globe, with UEF soldiers participating in recent peacekeeping missions in Central Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia.

The UEF is also a sponsor of many other supranational unions, such as the North African Union and Caucasian Union, and is currently pushing for increased integration of member states of those organizations.

## Social Policy

### Regional subdivisions

The UEF is divided into 6 sub-regions which govern territories roughly analogous to their pre-unification borders; these being:

* France
* Germania
* Benelux
* Spain
* Portugal
* Italy

A separate "Free City" region also exists in Brussels, which is directly administered by the UEF. Other cities housing major UEF governmental institutes are also administered in this fashion, examples including Strasbourg, parts of Luxembourg City and Frankfurt am Main.

### Welfare

The UEF has been described as having one of the strongest welfare states in the world, primarily adhering to the continental model of welfare, although elements of the Nordic model are present. In the labor market, emphasis is given to rapidly reinsert the unemployed into the workforce, and as such, the UEF maintains an excess of jobs which can be filled. In terms of actual welfare provided, the UEF provides state-funded education, welfare and pensions. The UEF also heavily subsidizes higher education, housing and disability allowances.

### Environment & Climate

The UEF was one of the strongest voices on the 2067 Summit on Climate Change, and pushed for immediate Net Zero emissions. While the EU had successfully become net zero in the early 2040s, the emissions of the rest of the world still were estimated to cause more than 3° of warming by the end of the century. However, with settlement of the solar system fully underway, the UEF proposed to migrate heavy industry to the outer planets, in order to reduce the burden on Earth. Combined with a global transition to fusion energy, much of the damage climate change threatened was averted - Earth had a net warming of only 1.5°.