Are these the 'United States' of Europe?

Is there a certain flag missing from this picture?
Namely, the Stars and Stripes?



What is the dirty secret about the EU?

The United States was the mid-wife to the birth of European Unity. After WWII, the Americans fully promoted the goal of political and economic reconstruction and integration in the western half of Europe. It was in the self-interest of the United States to do so.

Ideas that the EU can act independently of the United States in global affairs are overstated. Much was made of the fact Germany and France opposed the war in Iraq. It was a good call on their part, but it hardly signaled a desire to go it alone in the world. The US does not fear an independent Europe.

Check out this quote from one of the top planners of Yankee imperialism:

"A breakdown of Franco-German cooperation would be a fatal setback for Europe and a disaster for America's position in Europe."

From page 65 of Zbigniew Brzezinski's book The Grand Chessboard.

So, what do you think? Is the EU a rival or a partner of the United States?
Would a world in which the EU was more powerful than the United States be a benign world?