Union of countries feature

What if countries could form international unions, similar to the European Union? Instead of countries only having individual alliances, players could create or join a permanent political/economic union with other countries. The union could have its own parliament and elections, where citizens of member countries vote for union-level parties or representatives. It could also have its own president or leadership system depending on how the union is structured. Countries could decide how much power the union has. For example, it could start as a simple economic/trade union and members could gradually give it powers over trade, immigration, defence, foreign policy, environmental laws, human rights, etc. The union could also have a common budget, with member countries contributing money and the union spending it on infrastructure, development, defence, research and other projects. There could be optional features such as free movement, common citizenship, a common currency, shared military forces and common foreign policy, depending on what the members agree to. Countries should be able to apply to join, vote on new members, suspend/expel members and leave the union. Major changes could require votes or referendums in member countries. The most important part would be making it customizable. Players could choose how decisions are made, such as majority voting, unanimous voting, population-based voting or one-country-one-vote, as well as how much authority the union has. This could allow players to create anything from a small economic bloc to an EU-style political union or even a full federation. I think this would make diplomacy, elections and international politics much more interesting. 🌍