The Rise of the Eurasian Federation

The European Union became the European Federation with the Treaty of Athens of 2014. The EF was essentially a formalisation of the close ties between the member states of the EU. For a decade before the treaty the economies of the Western European nations had been effectively fully unified and with the treaty both internal and foreign policies were also homogenised.

The various national assemblies were retained, but had no power over criminal or civil law, standards or regulations. They retained controls over planning and the organisation of services, which were provided out of income and sales taxes set and collected at a regional level. Nationalities within the larger of the old states gained their own separate status. All the real power was transferred to the Senate, first in Strasbourg, then Brussels and finally (in 2055) in Berlin.

From the first it was obvious that Europe was an ascendant superpower. Soon after the formation of the EF, this status was asserted by the central part played by European forces in the Fourth Persian Gulf War. The conflict ended with the European occuptation of the major middle-eastern oilfields. At this time oil was still a major source of fuel and raw materials for the chemical industry: the EF became the foremost world power.

During the middle of the century many nations desired statehood in the Federation. As an intermediate step between independence and admission as a state, the EF set up the European Federation Associated Trade Area (EFATA). This enabled candidates for membership to align their economies with the EF to ease their eventual membership. By 2027 all the Eastern European nations had successfully applied for EFATA membership and over the next 15 years all became full EF states. When Russia joined the EF, the federation changed its name to the Eurasian Federation.

In 2037 the Canadian province of Quebec was granted special membership of EFATA. Quebec thus became a member of both NAFTA and EFATA. This was widely seen as a way of reversing the American tendency towards isolationism and economic confrontation with the EF.

With this enlargement, the EF ran into the danger of becoming too large for effective administration. A largely successful attempt to avoid this was made in 2059 by transferring more power back to the regional congresses. Each of these congresses, which had populations of up to 200 million, was almost an independent state. All foreign, military and legal powers, however, remained in Berlin.

EF: 1 2 | 3 4 | 5 6 | Now

The future of Ad Astra