Reply To: Citizenship instead of nationality

[Christer Lundquist]

This is, in my opinion, not a good idea. A federation consists of member states. Part of the point of the Constitution is to preserve and uphold the wonderful diversity of Europe. Presenting this to the public as the rise of a superstate where millennia-old nations and identities cease, will undoubtedly cause a major, MAJOR blowback AND resistance: For example, some European nations, Scandinavia +++, have been monarchies for a thousand years. The support for a constitutional monarchy in Norway is 95%. If people perceive that we will lose our king (and flag?) and statehood by joining, the whole project is dead on arrival. Norwegians are very content with having a non-political head of state (and a wonderful, kind grandfather figure at that – a figure that every citizen, regardless of political views, can respect and rally behind in moments when national unity is paramount). Only far left, small parties want a republic instead. Our democracy is nevertheless rated as one of the best in the world, so there is no contradiction between for example a modern monarchy and a highly developed, inclusive democracy.

I believe this has been expressed by the Board/Leo et al in earlier writings, too.