The European Union is facing unprecedented challenges at a time when the 20th-century multilateral order is under attack. However, calling for a "United States of Europe," more centralized power, and reformed treaties, repeats the same approach that got us here.
Top-down federalism and institutional consolidation have neither reduced Europe's strategic vulnerability nor restored citizen trust. On the contrary, they have deepened the gap between Brussels and the people, produced policy paralysis disguised as "unity," and left us reactive to every external shock - from US tariffs to Russian aggression.
Europe must therefore draw different conclusions: our strength lies not in becoming a superstate, but in becoming a super-network. Strategic autonomy cannot be achieved through centralized control but through distributed innovation at scale.
The European Union must transform from a regulatory machine into a collaboration platform that enables coalitions of the willing - cities, regions, member states, civil society - to prototype solutions to complex challenges, then scale what works across the continent.
From Federal Union to Innovation Union
A more productive and competitive Europe requires more than completing economic checklists or expanding budgets.
We need a fundamentally different operating system: one that treats Europe as a living laboratory where multiple actors experiment simultaneously with different approaches to the same problems - climate resilience, democratic participation, technological sovereignty, defense cooperation - and where successful innovations are rapidly adopted EU-wide.
Thus, we call on the Commission to establish a European Innovation Commons - a digital and institutional infrastructure that enables:
- Policy labs across cities and regions to test new approaches to shared challenges
- Rapid scaling mechanisms to elevate proven local solutions to Europe-wide implementation
- Agile funding streams that support experimentation rather than bureaucratic compliance
- Transparent learning systems, so every failure can teach and every success can spread
However, creating an innovation infrastructure is not sufficient to build a geopolitical Europe. Just like in 1950, we must concentrate on a critical point - but instead of centralizing power in new institutions, we must distribute capacity across a networked ecosystem.
As an example, rather than a European army commanded from Brussels, we need defense innovation coalitions where willing member states jointly develop capabilities, share R&D, experiment with integrated procurement, and build interoperable systems - with successful models then adopted by others who see demonstrated value.
Beyond "Vetocracy": The Power of Demonstrated Success
More generally, EU institutions and leaders must move beyond the false choice between unanimity and majority voting.
The real alternative to "vetocracy" is demonstration: when coalitions of the willing deliver tangible results, other member states choose to join not because they're outvoted, but because they see the benefits. This is how Schengen grew. This is how the Euro expanded. This is how we build momentum for change.
We call on Member States to establish Thematic Collaboration Missions in critical areas:
- Defense Innovation Mission: Joint R&D, shared procurement, integrated training - open to all, mandatory for none, attractive with its results
- Climate Solutions Mission: Cities and regions testing circular economy models, renewable energy systems, sustainable agriculture - with EU funding for winners
- Democratic Innovation Mission: Experiments in participatory budgeting, citizen assemblies, digital democracy - learning from each other in real-time
- Tech Sovereignty Mission: Coordinated investment in semiconductors, AI, quantum computing - but through distributed centers of excellence, not centralized mega-projects
Each Mission operates as a "mini-EU" - with binding rules for participants, supranational coordination, and EU institutional involvement - but exists parallel to formal treaty structures, allowing rapid movement without treaty reform.
A New Role for European Institutions
We consider that the European Parliament, Commission, and Council can play fundamental roles - but different ones than traditionally conceived:
- The Commission as a Platform Orchestrator: Not micromanaging every policy detail, but enabling connections, standardizing interfaces between Missions, ensuring interoperability, and operating the scaling infrastructure.
- The Parliament as a Learning Network: Not just legislating, but harvesting insights from distributed experiments, identifying patterns, codifying what works, and creating mechanisms for rapid EU-wide adoption.
- The Council as a Coalition Catalyst: Not blocking progress through unanimity, but actively forming and supporting coalitions of the willing, challenging member states to lead in specific domains, and celebrating demonstrated success.
- The regions and cities as Primary Innovators: Not waiting for Brussels directives, but taking initiative on local challenges with European-scale ambitions - and sharing their learnings across borders.
From Citizens as Subjects to Citizens as Co-Creators
This requires fundamentally reimagining citizen engagement. Not another consultative assembly that produces recommendations politicians ignore. Instead:
- Distributed citizen labs embedded in every policy Mission, where residents directly participate in prototyping and testing solutions
- Open-source policy development where any citizen, organization, or government can propose, fork, and improve policy prototypes
- Transparent metrics showing which experiments work, which fail, and why - building collective intelligence in real-time
The Coalition We Need
To this end, we support the creation of a cross-sectoral, multi-level coalition encompassing:
- Pioneer cities and regions ready to lead experimentation
- Willing Member States committed to specific Missions
- Pro-innovation MEPs and Commissioners who understand 21st-century governance
- Civil society organizations as co-designers and implementers, not just advocates
- Universities and research institutions as knowledge partners in every lab
- European businesses as scaling partners and innovation drivers
We call on them all to start building before asking permission. Launch the first Defense Innovation Mission. Establish the first Climate Solutions Mission. Prototype the first Digital Democracy Mission. Create facts on the ground that others will want to join.
Our Declaration
We declare Europe's inter-dependence as our strategic advantage.
Not dependence on America. Not independence as a fortress. But interdependence - our unique ability to coordinate diverse actors, learn from each other's experiments, and solve complex problems through collaboration at scale.
We declare that Europe's unforeseen frontier is not territorial or military, but organizational.
We will pioneer 21st-century governance - networked, experimental, adaptive, citizen-centered - and demonstrate that democracy can be both innovative and inclusive, both agile and accountable.
We declare that Europe's next chapter will not be written in Brussels alone.
It will be prototyped in hundreds of cities, tested by millions of citizens, refined through thousands of experiments, and scaled through voluntary adoption - not imposed compliance.
We commit to building this European collaboration platform - not after treaty reform, not after budget approval, but now.
With the tools we have, the coalitions we can form, and the determination to show rather than tell what Europe can become.
The 20th century prioritised independence. The 21st century needs interdependence.
Let's build it - right here in Europe, right now.