Book Launch: A Second Chance for Europe, Economic, Political and Legal Perspectives of the European Union

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Prof. Jo Ritzen, UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University

UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University Campus Brussels and the City of Maastricht will hold a book launch event for the publication:

A Second chance for Europe, Economic, Political and Legal Perspectives of the European Union, Springer
Edited by Jo Ritzen

Location: Maastricht University Campus Brussels, Avenue de l’Armée / Legerlaan 10, 1040 Brussels, Belgium 

Honoured guests:

• Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the European Commission
• Annemarie Penn-te Strake, Mayor of Maastricht, the Netherlands
• Mathieu Segers, Professor of Contemporary European History and European Integration at Maastricht University and Dean of University College Maastricht 

 

Programme

16.30 Arrival of guests
17.00 Book presentation to Frans Timmermans by Jo Ritzen
17.10 Reply by Frans Timmermans 
17.25 European and European integration: History and Prospects, by Mathieu Segers
17.40 European cities, by Annemarie Penn-te Strake
17.50 Questions from the audience monitored by Sueli Brodin
18.10 Questions from the press to Jo Ritzen  
18.20 Refreshments 

Please register at s.brodin@maastrichtuniversity.nl 

Due to limited seating, registration is by invitation only, on a first-come, first-served basis.

About the speaker

Jo Ritzen is a professorial fellow in the International Economics of Science, Technology and Higher Education at United Nations University-MERIT and its School of Governance. UNU-MERIT is a joint institute of the United Nations University (UNU) and Maastricht University.

He is a former Minister of Education, Culture, and Science of the Netherlands, served in the Dutch Cabinet at the Maastricht Treaty, a former Vice President of the World Bank and former President of Maastricht University.

Book Summary

The book calls upon us to rethink and reboot the European Union. The discontents of globalisation threaten European values and call for a new economic order. EU Member States are backsliding on the rule of law and control of corruption. There is a need to rethink immigration policy. The debt overhang of some Euro countries is unsustainable.

Given the sum total of these vulnerabilities, the book argues that the EU may not survive beyond 2025 in its present form. It puts forward a number of workable solutions: a European economic model to secure full employment, a stronger European Court of Human Rights, a points-based immigration system, clear exit options from the Eurozone and an Open Education Area with a common second language.  These solutions may reduce the number of EU countries in the core-EU, but would increase cohesion and overall sustainability.

Venue: UM Campus Brussels, Avenue de l’Armée / Legerlaan 10, 1040 Brussels, Belgium

Date: 22 November 2017

Time: 17:00 - 19:00  CET