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The countries in the EU are known as 'Member States'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Member_state_of_the_European_Un...

Edit: Also the author of the piece is a native of an EU member state

Edit2: Also now that I look I don't actually see the article mention the word 'state'.

What the hell, man?

I think he was simply implying that Germany doesn't control the rest of the countries in Europe like the US government controls its states.

They don't control the rest of Europe (though right now with the Euro situation they probably just about do), however there are provisions for legal precedent in one Member State to apply in every. I have no idea how it works and when it applies, though. It's definitely not so direct as in the U.S.

Courts in Europe are not precedence-based. At least not in all countries. Here (Poland) there is no such thing as precedence in courts, not to mention basing a verdict on precedence in foreign court.

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