The issue of federalism is at the heart of this debate. It was a cause of some anxiety at the start due to the presumption that Giscard d'Estaing would try to develop a federalist model. At the core of the problem is what exactly is meant by federalism, a point Senator McDowell made quite forcefully and well. What do we mean by sovereignty? We have to acknowledge that the Union is federalist in its nature. It is federalist in many things that it does. It has shared competences and there are federalist aspects to how it operates. However, it is not a federation in the same way as Germany or the United States. While it has federal characteristics, it is not a federalist state. I would not like it to become such a state and I do not believe it will.