One of the chief
benefits of federalism is the ability of one system of government to check
another within the overall federal system. In the European Union, the state
governments have so much power at the federal level—in the E.U.
institutions—that it is difficult for the E.U. Government to check excesses and
abuses in the state governments. E.U. law, regulation and directives rely on
the state governments, albeit to varying extents. In the United States, the
case is the reverse. The U.S. Government holds so many of the cards that the
state governments cannot act to check abuses in the federal government.
Actually, for all of the power that the U.S. Government has amassed, it does a
horrible job in aiding citizens against abuses in their own state governments.
Fortunately, we can look to Europe for a bright spot: the E.U. Commission and
Italy, á grace de Mario Monti who is
both governor of the state of Italy and a former commissioner in the E.U.
Commission (the E.U.’s executive branch).
The full essay is at "Essays on the E.U. Political Economy," available at Amazon.
