On Wednesday, November 22, 2017, CELL President Jo Ritzen will launch his new book, A Second Chance for Europe: Economic, Political and Legal Perspectives of the European Union. The launch will take place at Maastricht University's campus in Brussels.
Honored 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
Book Summary: A Second Chance for Europe 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.
Location: Maastricht University's Brussels Campus, Avenue de l’Armée, Legerlaan 10, 1040 Brussels, Belgium