A second chance for Europe

The European Union from the perspectives of economics, politics and law

Jo Ritzen (Dir.)

Ediciones Pirámide has dared - and has merit in our country - to publish the work in Spanish «A second chance for Europe» coordinated by the Dutch engineer, economist and politician Jo Ritzen, who was Minister of Education, Culture and Science for many years in addition to working for the World Bank and being rector of the University of Maastricht.

This book urges us to restart the European Union, after reviewing it in depth. The authors carefully analyze the Union's many vulnerabilities. Among them, the fact that some Member States are taking steps back in the control of corruption, freedom of the press and the rule of law, or the unrest generated by globalization, which represents a threat to the international liberal order, stands out. .

«A second chance for Europe» It also examines the need to reconsider the unsustainable debt of some euro zone countries, the lack of a common immigration policy and the need to promote European identity through education.

In light of the vulnerabilities analyzed, the European Union may not survive beyond 2025 in its current form, that is, unless decisive measures are taken.

The book proposes, to face this scenario, a set of viable solutions: a European economic model that guarantees full employment; a reinforcement of the European Court of Human Rights to combat systematic violations of these; a selective immigration policy using a points system; clear options for exiting the euro zone, and a single European education area with a common second language. These measures, according to their authors, may reduce the number of countries in the European Union, but they would increase its cohesion and guarantee its survival.

Perhaps, although, as we have said, the publication of a work of this type in Spanish has immense merit and the authors' intention is worthy of praise, the book still, despite its apparent empiricism, errs on the side of voluntarism. Many of the proposals made in it are unrealizable not because they are not well thought out or because they do not take into account the most unlikely factors, but because they leave aside the most basic: the current lack of will on the part of both politicians and of the citizen.

In any case, its intention is to reconcile the citizen with the European Union and demonstrate that there are many things that can be done to revive a project that has been stagnant for years and which the north-south and east-west divisions are condemning to failure. . In this sense, «A second chance for Europe» It fulfills its mission and provides numerous solutions without fuss or the need for big slogans, but sensible and reasoned. Worth.