One strong clue of the direction the EU might take with such power can be found on the business pages of Tuesday's newspapers, where it was reported that the United States will sue the EU in the World Trade Organization because of the EU's ongoing subsidies for Airbus.
A consortium of European governments formed Airbus more than three decades ago to compete in the global market for commercial jetliners. In those days, multiple American manufacturers dominated the field. Since then, backed by billions in government subsidies, Airbus has forced the U.S. jetliner industry to consolidate into a single manufacturer, Boeing. And Airbus now controls a bigger share of the global market than Boeing.
EU's Airbus subsidies have an unmistakable aim -- and it is not to advance free trade. It is to defeat in global competition the last U.S. manufacturer of jetliners.
Given control of a unified European foreign and security policy, would the EU treat the United States as any less of a rival?
In the last great international crisis -- the question of what to do about Saddam Hussein -- EU nations split on whether they were with America or against her. England, Italy, Spain, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic were among those supporting the United States. France and Germany, whose governments have led the charge for the EU constitution, were not. Because a single European constitution did not commit these nations to a single foreign policy, they weighed their own interests and went their own ways.
But what path would a single Euro-government follow in a crisis that pits, say, the United States against China? Hint: Airbus is now fighting with Boeing for China's lucrative jetliner market.
In his ill-fated push for French ratification of the EU constitution, French President Jacques Chirac unmistakably portrayed America as Europe's rival. "During his few appearances during this campaign," noted the Economist, "Mr. Chirac has drawn on one of his favorite themes: the need to create 'a European power', strong enough 'to count in tomorrow's world' faced with the American superpower, as well as with rising powers such as China. Such a 'Europe puissance', with its own defense capability, would naturally be of French inspiration, not 'Anglo-Saxon, Atlanticist.' It is a popular theme, which Mr. Chirac used to near-universal French acclaim when opposing the Iraq war."
But French voters would not trade their sovereignty for Chirac's dream of a European superpower that can thwart the United States. The world will be a better for it.