The EU in its current form is not nearly as strong as its population and economic power would suggest, Czech Minister for European Affairs Martin Dvorak said in an interview with EURACTIV.cz on Tuesday.

Admitting that this position is “not at all popular,” the minister proposed that the European Union should be turned into “a European Federation or a United States of Europe,” which he claimed would put it in a position where it could be “a truly equal partner in the game between China, America, or Russia and India.”

A hypothetical European federation has also been referred to as the United States of Europe, the European State or Federal Europe. The EU is currently classified as an informal confederation or a union of sovereign states which operates through a hybrid system of intergovernmentalism and supranationalism.

The federalization of the bloc would see it turn into something akin to the US with a single centralized government, which would hold ultimate authority over member states.