To:
The European Institutions (Antonio Costa, President of the European Council),
Political Leaders of the European Union,
and European Citizens,

From:

The Federalist Alliance of European Federalists (FAEF)

Following the recent proposal addressed to the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, concerning Europe’s strategic sovereignty [1], we consider it our responsibility to address Europe’s institutions, political leadership, and citizens with clarity, urgency, and candour.

We share the diagnosis that Europe is facing an existential moment. The deterioration of transatlantic relations, mounting coercion at Europe’s Atlantic and Arctic frontiers, and sustained aggression along its eastern borders have revealed a reality that can no longer be obscured by diplomatic language: Europe’s security, territorial integrity, and democratic way of life are now directly at risk.

Where we fundamentally diverge, however, is on the proposed remedy.

The call to initiate yet another process of Treaty reform under present conditions represents a costly misallocation of time and political energy. Europe has already paid a high price for this approach. The Convention on the Future of Europe (2002–2003) lacked the courage to draft a genuine federal constitution and instead produced another intergovernmental treaty, misleadingly labelled a “Constitutional Treaty.” Its rejection by European citizens settled the matter.

Europe does not suffer from a shortage of legal texts, procedural clauses, or declaratory commitments. It suffers from the persistent illusion that treaty-based intergovernmental cooperation can deliver sovereign outcomes in a world increasingly shaped by power, speed, and confrontation.

History is unequivocal. The League of Nations failed because it relied on voluntary coordination without enforceable sovereignty. The United Nations remains structurally paralysed for the same reason. Despite its achievements, the European Union is now confronting the same systemic limit. A treaty-based association of formally sovereign states has not worked, does not work, and will not work under conditions of geopolitical rupture and strategic coercion. Persisting along this path risks repeating well-documented failures. This model must therefore be abandoned—now, not after another decade of conventions, ratifications, and vetoes.

As argued in our recent article From Managed Chaos to Shared Sovereignty: Why Europe Must Federalize in a Fragmenting World [2,3], Europe’s problem is not legal incapacity but political reluctance. Specifically, it is the reluctance to act commensurately with the threats it faces by abandoning the weak intergovernmental framework inaugurated in 1950 with the Schuman Declaration and replacing it with a structurally federal system, centred on a federal constitution ratified directly by the citizens of each participating state.

The independence of European states, territories, and peoples—who belong to a shared socio-cultural continuum and aspire to deeper unity grounded in the rule of law, liberal democracy, fairness, and sustainability—is under direct pressure along Europe’s Atlantic, Arctic, and eastern borders. These pressures stem from distinct yet convergent authoritarian challenges that do not respond to hesitation, incrementalism, or rhetorical diplomacy. They respond only to actors they recognise as strategic equals.

Achieving such parity does not require reopening the Treaties. It requires using the instruments that already exist. Article 20 of the Treaty on European Union, concerning Enhanced Cooperation, was designed precisely for moments of systemic impasse. It allows those states willing and able to act together to move beyond intergovernmental coordination toward a constitutionally grounded federation endowed with genuine executive, fiscal, and defence powers, and accountable to democratic institutions.

Europe cannot afford to behave like the owner of a damaged vessel endlessly debating new navigation rules while refusing to repair the hull. A ship that is not repaired in time will eventually sink—regardless of how sophisticated its charts may be. Delay today is not neutrality; it is strategic self-sabotage.

What is required is prompt and decisive action by a core group of states prepared to assume shared sovereignty in defence, security, foreign policy, and strategic capabilities. This means moving immediately toward a federal political structure for those willing to proceed, rather than remaining hostage to unanimity, conflicting national interests, vetoes, and the lowest common denominator.

Europe’s choice is stark. Either it becomes a sovereign political actor through federation, or it remains a fragmented space managed by others. The time for procedural caution has passed. The time for constitutional courage has arrived.

Between October 2021 and March 2022, the Federal Alliance of European Federalists (FAEF) convened a Citizens’ Convention mandated to draft a concise, ten-article Constitution for the Federated States of Europe. This constitutional draft provides a credible and immediately available starting point, open to timely amendment where necessary.

With respect and urgency,

The Federal Alliance of European Federalists (FAEF):

Manuel Galiñanes, President

Mauro Casarotto, Secretary

Peter Hovens, Treasurer

Leo Klinkers, Former President

Javier Giner

Martina Scaccabarozzi

Herbert Tombeur

References

1. Domènec Ruiz Devesa, et al. 2026. Proposal for Real Strategic Sovereignty in view of the transatlantic breakup. Euractiv. Brussels, 21 January 2026.
2. Manuel Galiñanes, Mauro Casarotto, and Leo Klinkers. 2026. Europe’s Federal Moment: Greenland, Article 20 Treaty on European Union, and the Limits of Alliance Politics. TRANSCEND Media Service. 19 January 2026. https://www.transcend.org/tms/2026/01/europes-federal-moment-greenland-article-20-treaty-on-european-union-and-the-limits-of-alliance-politics/
3. Manuel Galiñanes, Mauro Casarotto, and Leo Klinkers. 2026. Europe’s Federal Moment: Greenland, Article 20 Treaty on European Union, and the Limits of Alliance Politics. TRANSCEND Media Service. 21 January 2026. https://www.europetodaymagazine.eu/2026/01/21/europes-federal-moment-greenland-article-20-teu-and-the-limits-of-alliance-politics/
4. The making of the Constitution of the Federated States of Europe. 2022. https://www.iustitiascripta.com/product-page/the-making-of-the-constitution-for-the-federated-states-of-europe