01
Act on behaviour
One tariff system based on a scorecard per country — corruption, freedom, human rights, sustainability, international law. Full compliance? 0% import duties. Commit aggression? Excluded.
Freedom for all
A union of
functioning democracies.
The European Union is a great success. Many countries with authoritarian regimes joined its ranks. Their people wanted to belong to the EU. For prosperity. For freedom.
The EU is not finished. There is much to improve. But that need not hold us back. We can already expand the cooperation beyond Europe, with functioning democracies, such as Canada and Australia. And with candidate countries working hard to qualify. The Global Union exists alongside the EU and the UN. The goal is an ever-growing community of functioning democracies.
Global Union Forum is a think tank. We investigate whether this model can work worldwide: a cooperation of countries that take democracy, the rule of law, sustainability and human rights seriously.
A first manifesto has been drawn up. We want to improve the idea with the intelligence of everyone willing to think it through. All input will be collected and processed to arrive at a new manifesto.
We are looking for people who want to think along — experts and laypeople, 17 or 70, convinced or sceptical. Everyone who takes the conversation seriously.
A global movement
The idea, in four pieces
Not by coercion,
but by attraction.
Those who participate gain perspective and prosperity. Those who stay out feel pressure from below. The same mechanism that pulled Eastern Europe out of dictatorships — but applied worldwide.
02
A peaceful geopolitical power
No war, but strategic independence. The GU invests heavily in raw materials, energy, defence and its own AI capabilities. If regimes misbehave, decisive sanctions follow.
03
Free information
Independent journalism in local languages, following the BBC model. Protected technology that frees people from state-controlled internet. Freedom begins with knowledge.
04
A single trade zone, limited free movement of people
For high-value work, we issue temporary work visas to scarce talent from GU countries as well as non-GU countries. The GU invests in training programmes to develop talent, so that knowledge and experience flow back to the home country.
This site was designed with Claude Design and built with Claude and Claude Code. Do you have feedback about the site itself? I'd love to hear it! Substantive reactions to the idea are welcome in the forum. Thanks in advance.
I know someone who would most probably like to join the conversation.