"In the next century, nations as we know it will be obsolete; all states will recognize a single, global authority. National sovereignty wasn't such a great idea after all." -- Strobe Talbot, Bill Clinton's Deputy Secretary of State, Time, July 20th, 1992.
Despite the recent Brexit vote on the British Isles, the European Union still maintains its stranglehold on most of the old continent, and this über-nation has overridden the wishes of the member state's public to varying degrees on different issues. Immigration is perhaps the most obvious, where European countries are being forced into accepting Islamic invaders as the price of European citizenship. The E.U. dominates so many aspects of life within its sphere, be it the prices of commonplace goods, the way things are made, bought, sold, etc. Even items like bananas must have a specific curve to them, one imposed by Brussels. While the national governments still exist, they have voluntarily subsumed their authority into the collective, and eventually, if the plan continues, the member nations will cease to exist as anything but provinces. An empire is being backdoored through the guise of a trade association.