It was a cold autumn evening in Brussels. The wind was razorsharp and cut through the deserted alleys. Shivering trees, like weeping skeletons, lined the banks of the Senne. Only one lost soul dared to depart from his safe haven to cross town. Prokop usually thought long before he violated the law by going out after the curfew, but there was no time for thought today.

He had to bring documents to the European Commission, which had to decide on how many men would have to ‘volunteer’ for the EuropArmy. Cannon fodder was needed in the war agaist The United Islamic States.

Prokop clamped the damp envelop tight as he hastened across the Rue du Trône. The statistics which he had obtained from the frontline were filled with horror. During the last three months, three million troopers had been slaughtered and Prokop had to convince the Council to stop sending these ‘volunteers’ to the south front.

The European States had absolutely no other interest in this fruitless war than the black gold that was hidden beneath the soil of the Middle East. The United Islamic States had more advanced weapons and their soldiers had the ideological mission to establish a caliphate in as many countries as they could. Their beliefs were so strong, that they were willing to attach a bomb to their body and blow buildings high up in the air, while the fathers, brothers, friends and loved ones whom the European States forced to head ‘on a voluntary basis’ to the firing line, had nothing to fight for at all. They had no beliefs they wanted to sacrifice themselves for, they had no dreams to make true, except to avoid being butchered by the religious warriors. And why would they even fight for The European States? In the past the European citizens used to be represented by the European Parliament, but the European Commission had decided that the European States could not function properly with so many constitutional bodies and had dismissed the Parliament, the Council of the European States and the European Council.

Prokop gasped for breath. After a gory history of war and slaughter, Europe had felt the necessity to unite and to sustain peace by joining forces. Thus a long process of collaboration on various political issues started, in the course of which the European Union had been formed by the 28 member states. The citizens could now both identify themselves with their own unique country and with Europe. But subsequently the EU proved to be unable to decide on important issues as foreign politics, because the member states did not want to transfer their sovereignty to the Union. After a few decades the European Commission realised that the high hopes on the European Union would not work out as imagined. The European Commision got rid of all parties except one before the next European Parliament elections were held. This party focussed on transferring all the executive and legislative power to the European Commission. Soon after the party had been elected and the power had been transferred, the European Commision had merged all member states, whose sovereignty was taken, into the European states.

The European Commission, now the only authority left in the European States, could in principle withdraw the troops from the Middle East, without damaging the European economy, Prokop thought. But although the gigantic nuclear reactor in former Italy could provide the States with enough energy, the petroleum in the Middle East was the last fossil fuel on earth and easier to process.

The previous night, when Prokop had read the statistics, he had felt nauseous. There was no need for this savage conflict to continue. Moralistic as he was, he decided to alter the data he received, highly exaggerating the casualties and costs of this war. Prokop had done enough research to plausibly rewrite the figures. The last thing that had to be done, was to convince his colleagues of the urgency of changing Europe’s foreign policy.

Prokop shivered and walked past the Royal Institute of Science. The headquarters of the European Commission were visible across the foggy square. Within minutes he would enter the auditorium and lodge his proposal about the immediate withdrawal from the Middle East.