Eurocrats who earnestly desire a centralized federal union strongly favor these long-term trends. People who wish to retain their statehood and sovereign rights abhor them.

Observers with a clear vision of Europe are in short supply. But Vaclav Klaus, president of the Czech Republic, is one. Bruno Waterfield interviewed him for The Sunday Telegraph, stating in his opening paragraph: "The new push for a European Union federation, complete with its own head of state and army, is the ‘final phase' of the destruction of democracy and the nation state, the president of the Czech Republic has warned" ("Vaclav Klaus Warns That the Destruction of Europe's Democracy May Be in Its Final Phase," Sept. 22, 2012, emphasis added throughout). Klaus warned that certain European politicians "had opened the door to a European superstate" (ibid.).

Recently 11 EU countries including Germany called for a conclusion to national vetoes on defense policy. Berlin's foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, wants a directly elected European president who would appoint members of his governing cabinet (which sounds ominous to those who truly understand Bible prophecy). The end to defense vetoes Westerwelle and others envision could eventually pave the way for a "European army." Finally European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said that he would put forward proposals for a "fully-fledged 'EU' federation in 2014" (ibid.).

Why all this talk of centralizing European power at a time of crisis for the euro and to a lesser extent for the EU itself? Iain Martin's article in Standpoint magazine sums it up. "To save the euro, some of its members are frantically setting about completing the work started by the original builders of the European project. It is unclear whether they will succeed or fail" ("Beyond Euroscepticism: Time for the Alternative," September 2012).

President Klaus grasps some of the potentially dire implications for the Czech Republic, telling The Telegraph, "We were entering the EU, not a federation in which we would become a meaningless province." Ultimately, smaller European states would have no real say when the leaders of Europe want to take significant steps clearly contrary to the wellbeing of these states and the world at large.

Biblical prophecy presages a far more ominous outcome. Whether the euro or the EU survives or not, a nucleus of 10 European nations under the rule of a charismatic dictator and a powerful religious leader at his side adamantly remains on the horizon. To grasp the direction in which Europe is ultimately headed, read our free Bible study aid Are We Living in the Time of the End? (Sources: Standpoint, The Sunday Telegraph.)