Europe as the Future Global Hegemon

Many of our readings, most obviously the recent book by McCormick, state that America's position as a global hegemon has already peaked, and is facing a great decline in the coming years. In an article from the International Herald Tribune, the opening line reads "Europe is overtaking the United States and Japan in the race to take advantage of the explosion in world trade and investment." This clear statement of growing EU power indicates the formidable future for US hegemony. As established in previous discussions, much of the characteristics required for true global control involve establishing a economic environment that capitalizes on your country's economic strengths and exploits the strengths of other countries. Recently, according to the article, the countries of the EU have come to have a much greater impact on the growing markets in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and other developing countries. In fact, recent reports from Merrill Lynch have identified the "euro zone," 12 countries in Europe, as their preferred market for the past 6 month and the coming year.
While pieces of the hegemonic puzzle are falling into place for Europe, it is important to note that a significant number of European citizens do not support globalization, and instead view it as a threat to the European lifestyle of strong unions and guaranteed employment. If Europe is to emerge as a singular global power, they must reform globalization to meet the needs of their population, or convince them otherwise. Obviously, the rise and fall of global powers is undeniably relevant to our understanding of globalization. I found the article extremely interesting... here is the full text.