In 2026, even though the U.S.
had 50 member-states and the E.U. had only 27 states, both unions were large
enough to constitute what in historical terms, with the European early-modern
rather than (the smaller) medieval kingdoms in mind, empire-scale republics. As
long as elected representatives hold office at the federal level in both political
unions, both unions can be said to be republics (as well as containing
republics—or, as Ken Wheare wrote in Federal Government, “wheels within
a larger wheel”). Were either union to have only five or so states, the empire
definition would not be satisfied. Also, that definition includes the requirement
of cultural heterogeneity between (as distinct from within) the states. Being
on the same (empire) scale is just one of several ways in which the two unions
belong to the same political type. It was in this respect rather than based on
the sheer number of states that Sophie Wilmes, vice-president of the European
Parliament, said that the U.S. should not regard the E.U. as a little sister
(i.e., a junior partner). I contend that she was correct.
Including but going beyond economic
and political dependence internationally, Wilmes insisted that the U.S. deal
with the E.U. as an equal. “What is very important regarding the United States
is that we are talking to each other as equal partners and not as a big brother
against the little brother or the little sister.”[1]
To be sure, little brothers (and I have one who is a decade younger) are perfectly
capable of bossing around older brothers. Even so, concerning the context to
which Wilmes was referring, the U.S. was dominate on the Iran War and trade
tariffs. In fact, the Commission had acted against giant American computer-technology
companies on invasion of privacy and anti-competitive grounds only to be
threatened by the Trump administration with (retaliatory) tariffs.
It is arguably from the
standpoint of not feeling respected that the E.U. leader was speaking out to assert
the E.U. as equivalent to the U.S. and thus worthy of reciprocal respect. Put
somewhat crassly, just because the American tech companies could have undue (and
anti-democratic) influence in American government does not mean that the latter
should not respect E.U. law that differs from U.S. law concerning the tech
sector. Equal, or reciprocal respect rather than a claim as to the equivalence
of the two unions as falling under the same political type is the basis of
Wilmes’ public remarks.
Even so, the demand for equal
respect is premised on the unspoken assumption that the E.U. and U.S. are indeed
equivalent political unions, whose respective states are thus equivalent. In
terms of territory and population, the states cluster. The only exception is Alaska,
which is larger than even the European Union, not to mention any E.U. state. That the political unions are both empire-level,
cluster in terms of population (i.e., hundreds rather than tens of millions), GDP,
and even territory is the grundlagen upon which comparative politics as
an academic sub-field in political science and in practice (including in journalism!)
should be based even though this foundation is rarely made explicit.
Considering the widespread occurrence of political category mistakes with respect
to the E.U. and U.S., scholars, government officials, and especially journalists
could have done more to make the equivalence explicit in 2026 when the E.U. official
made her statement. In 2025, while speaking with the E.U.’s ambassador to the
U.S. at Yale, I made this plea in vain, for E.U. officials were then afraid
that making the equivalence explicit would give Euroskeptics such as Viktor
Orbán more ammunition with which to dismantle the Union, which was certainly not
a “bloc.”
1. Vincenzo Genovese, “’The
E.U. Is Not the Little Sister of the US,’ European Parliament Vice-President
Wilkes Says,” Euronews.com, 29 April, 2026.
