Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt has pleaded for the creation of a federal "United States of Europe." His new book "The United States of Europe." EU Observer 1/12 2005

The Economist about Laken Dec 17th 2001

The British, traditionally wary of ceding more power to the EU, were delighted that it contained a warning against creating a “European superstate” and also spoke explicitly of the possibility of repatriating powers from the EU back to nation-states. But the Belgian hosts of the summit—who are traditionally keen federalists—clearly felt that the declaration had moved the debate their way. Guy Verhofstadt, the Belgian prime minister, said that several “taboos” about future European development had been broken by the Laeken declaration and that important issues were now on the table—for example, direct election of a European president, explicit mention of a European constitution, and the use of a legally-enforceable charter of fundamental rights as the basis for such a constitution.

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The Dark Roots of the EU
to the Belgicists, Belgium, this union of Germanic Flemings and Latin Walloons, was the very core of the state of Charlemagne which in 1830 had reappeared like a phoenix. In order to fulfil its destiny it would have to expand into a united Europe, with the Germans in the position of the Flemings and the French in that of the Walloons. Pirenne created the myth of Charlemagne as the first Belgian and the first European.
Paul Belien 5/12 2005

In the 1930s the idea of transplanting Belgicism to the European level, by creating a unified pan-European corporatist welfare state, was further elaborated on by Henri De Man, the leader of the Belgian Socialist Party, and by his deputy Paul-Henri Spaak. De Man called himself a national socialist, but explained that this had nothing to do with nationalism at all.

Though Henri De Man is now forgotten by history, his political legacy is very much alive. Spaak remained loyal to De Man’s vision of Belgium as a multi-national social-corporatist welfare state that was to be elevated to the European level. Spaak became one of the Founding Fathers of the European Union. Though he was an arch-opportunist, with few loyalties, he did not betray De Man’s dream of one single European welfare state. According to Spaak’s 1969 memoirs, De Man was “one of those rare men who on some occasions have given me the sensation of a genius.”

In 1956, Spaak authored the so-called Spaak Report which laid the foundation of the Treaty of Rome the following year. It recommended the creation of a European Common Market as a step towards political unification. From the beginning the views of the people about all this was deemed unimportant. In his memoirs, Spaak admits that “political opinion was indifferent. The work was done by a minority who knew what they wanted.”

A second characteristic of Belgium throughout its history has been the absence of the rule of law. If the existence of the state is at stake, laws and even the constitution will be ignored in order to secure the continued existence of Belgium.

The third characteristic of an artificially constructed state is its unreliability in international relations. A state that is not committed to the rule of law, is not committed to its friends and allies either.

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Det var inte ett rop på fred och enhet från en bred folklig rörelse som drev fram första steget mot europeisk integration.
den franske utrikesministern Robert Schuman den 9 maj 1950
Visionären Monnet var en handlingens man med vänner på höga poster på båda sidor om Atlanten.
Han drömde om att bygga ett enat Europa
Ingrid Hedström, DN 15/6 2005