Presentation of the German translation of A Second Chance for Europe

On 5 April 2019, the German translation of the book ' A Second Chance for Europe', edited by Prof. Jo Ritzen, will be presented with the following programme: 

• Speech by Dr. Stephan Holthoff-Pförtner, Minister for Federal and European Affairs and International Affairs of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
• Book offering and short speech by Prof. Jo Ritzen
• Keynote speech by Prof. Christoph Schmidt, Chairman of the Expert Council for the Assessment of Macroeconomic Development, President of the German Institute of economics analysis (Rheinisch-Westfälischen Instituts für Wirtschaftsforschung)
• Open panel on the question "Where to go with Europe" with Prof. Klaus F. Zimmermann, UNU-MERIT, Professor of Economic Political Science at the University of Bonn and Honorary Professor of the Freie Universität Berlin and Prof. Alexander Kritikos.

Please register at veranstaltungen@lv-bund.nrw.de before 1 April 2019.

Download the programme here. 

This book calls upon us to rethink and reboot the European Union. The authors dissect the EU’s many vulnerabilities: how some Member States are backsliding on the rule of law, freedom of the press, and control of corruption – and how globalization’s ‘discontents’ are threatening the liberal international order. It examines the need for a common immigration policy; the need to rethink the unsustainable debt overhang of some Eurozone countries; and the need to use education to foster a European identity.

Given the sum total of these vulnerabilities, the book argues, the EU may not survive beyond 2025 in its present form – that is, unless decisive action is taken. In turn, the book puts forward a number of workable solutions: a European economic model to secure full employment; a stronger European Court of Human Rights to counter systemic violations; a points-based immigration policy; clear exit options for the Eurozone; and an Open Education Area with a common second language. These solutions may reduce the number of EU countries, but would increase cohesion and overall survivability.

Jo Ritzen is a professorial fellow in the International Economics of Science, Technology and Higher Education at UNU-MERIT and the Maastricht Graduate School of Governance.

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.