WI: Several supranational unions in Europe instead of just one?

[Neoteros]

In the years immediately following World War II, there were several ideas about possible supranational unions floating around: old articles of Die Zeit, as well as random JSTOR finds and other online pages, list several such proposals, ranging from those we actually got (Benelux and Nordic Council) to those that didn't happen, such as a supranational union between France and Italy (that could've possibly expanded to the rest of southern Europe) and a possible pact between the Scandinavian countries and the United Kingdom, as well.

So, what if, instead of a single European Community, there had been several regional unions? A Benelux and a Nordic Council with EU-like powers would be no-brainers, and the aforementioned Franco-Italian union might be able to expand to Iberia and Greece after the fall of Franco, Salazar and the colonels, too. While such unions would be weaker than the EC and the EU at first, I feel like the cultural, economic and political similarities between each union's member nations would make for a less divisive and smoother integration process.

Your thoughts?

 

[SlideAway]

I don't know the history here, but I feel like I could see a Europe that consisted of:

(a) A Franco-Italian-led federation (including Spain, Portugal, maybe Algeria or the rest of the Mahgreb);
(b) A Nordic Federation (that maybe even, post-USSR included the Baltic states);

... both joined in a looser common market that included the rest of northern and central Europe (including the UK). Especially as the northern and eastern European countries (not just the UK) are generally more skeptical of a federal Europe.

 

[KuboCaskett]

Hmm, surprised no one brought up the Intermarium, even though it was proposed before WWII.

 

[MahBoi]

Hmm, surprised no one brought up the Intermarium, even though it was proposed before WWII.

I mean the Intermarium was a bit of a pipe dream as far as I can tell. Sure, Pilsudski might have been serious about it, and some other politicians may have considered it, but most countries didn't really want to be subsumed into such a union and neither did any of the Great Powers want such a thing being created.

Frankly even if something loosely representing the Intermarium was created, I'm not sure if it would survive the test of time. Unless it somehow butterflies away WW2, it's dead once Germany and the Soviets partition that land between them, and the Soviets later erect puppets and SSRs in their place. Even after the Soviets are gone, I can't imagine the post-Communist states would care to revive a failed union.

 

[Neoteros]

I mean the Intermarium was a bit of a pipe dream as far as I can tell. Sure, Pilsudski might have been serious about it, and some other politicians may have considered it, but most countries didn't really want to be subsumed into such a union and neither did any of the Great Powers want such a thing being created.

Frankly even if something loosely representing the Intermarium was created, I'm not sure if it would survive the test of time. Unless it somehow butterflies away WW2, it's dead once Germany and the Soviets partition that land between them, and the Soviets later erect puppets and SSRs in their place. Even after the Soviets are gone, I can't imagine the post-Communist states would care to revive a failed union.

If all these post-WWII unions end up happening, I can see some kind of Intermarium-inspired union arising after the end of the Cold War, made up at first by the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Some ex-USSR states might join as well, Latvia and Lithuania for sure, Estonia if it doesn't join the Nordic Council first, Belarus and Ukraine depending on how wary of Russia they get.

Formerly neutral Austria cobbling together some kind of Danubian union between it, Croatia, the former Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Slovenia might be a possibility, too. As for the southern European union's expansion in North Africa, it all depends on how democratic and stable the ATL Maghreb will be - otherwise, it'd end up causing even more issues than the OTL expansion of the EU into Eastern Europe.

That said, Morocco had European ambitions in OTL, and a more liberal Tunisian state would make a lot of sense, as a member of a Mediterranean supranational union. However, there's the issue of Ceuta and Melilla, as well as the... history between Algeria and France.

 

[Hrvatskiwi]

I think its within the realm of possibility to have a "Balkan Federation" in the vein of post-war Titoist plans if you prevent the Tito-Stalin split. Along the same lines of thinking, perhaps a "Zapadoslavia" made of Poland and Czechoslovakia?

Of course any system will have difficulties, but perhaps if Zapadoslavia operates something similar to interwar Yugoslavia's "banate" system, where instead of "Poland" "Slovakia" and "Bohemia-Moravia", you have them broken up into wider districts of roughly similar population levels?