Europe's last chance : why the European states must form a more perfect union

Intro TITLE PAGE COPYRIGHT TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION INTRODUCTION PART I: AT THE BRINK 1 DIVIDED WE FALL 2 UNITED WE STAND PART II: DELUSION 3 AMNESIA 4 THE EUROPEAN DWARF I: THE MIDDLE EAST 5 THE EUROPEAN DWARF II: RUSSIA 6 THE CHRONIC CONDITION OF NATIONALISM 7 "QUICK FIX" POLITICS 8 THE HUNGARIAN DISGRACE 9 THE MASS GRAVE OF THE MEDITERRANEAN: MIGRATION AND SECURITY PART III: DECAY 10 THE DIGITAL DESERT 11 THE DECLINE OF EUROPEAN INDUSTRY 12 THE CREDIT CRUNCH 13 THE OBESE LABOR MARKET 14 THE DELUSION OF THE EUROPEAN BUDGET 15 THE QUAGMIRE OF EUROPEAN INSTITUTIONS. PART IV: PANIC16 THE BREXIT 17 THE GREXIT 18 THE N-EURO AND S-EURO PART V: REBIRTH 19 A GOVERNMENT FOR THE EURO 20 A EUROPEAN ARMY 21 THE UNITED STATES OF EUROPE EPILOGUE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS NOTES INDEX ABOUT THE AUTHOR. In the heart of Europe's current crisis, one of the continent's foremost statesmen issues a clarion call to radically remake the European Union in the mold of the United States' own federal government Europe is caught in its greatest crisis since the Second World War. The catalog of ills seems endless: an economic crisis spread through most of Europe's Mediterranean tier that has crippled Greece and driven a wedge between northern and southern Europe; terrorist attacks in Paris, Cologne, Brussels, and Nice; growing aggression from Russia in Ukraine and the Baltic states; and refugees escaping war-torn neighbors. The European Union's inability to handle any of these disasters was a driving factor in Great Britain voting to leave, and others may soon follow. The result won't just be a continent in turmoil, but also a serious threat to American and British security-the Atlantic, let alone the Channel, simply isn't big enough to keep European troubles in Europe. For everyone's sake, Europe must survive. The question is how. In Europe's Last Chance , Guy Verhofstadt-former prime minister of Belgium and current leader of the liberal faction in the European Parliament-provides the essential framework for understanding Europe today, laying bare the absurdity of a system in which each member state can veto legislation, opt in or out of the Euro, or close borders on a whim. But Verhofstadt does not just indict the European Union, he also offers a powerful vision for how the continent can change for the better. The key, argues Verhofstadt, is to reform the European Union along the lines of America's federal government: a United States of Europe strong enough to stand with the United States of America in making a better, safer world. A visionary book from one of today's luminaries of European leadership, Europe's Last Chance is a clarion call to save the European Union, one of the world's greatest chances for peace and prosperity. "In the heart of Europe's current crisis, one of the continent's foremost statesmen urges for a radical remaking of the European Union in the model of the United States The diseases that plague Europe respect no borders. Guy Verhofstadt, former prime minister of Belgium and a leader in the European Parliament, shows that wherever we look-from the debt crisis in Greece to the rise of political Islam across Europe, the Syrian refugee crisis to Putin's aggressive imperialism-we see colossal challenges far too large for any single nation to overcome. In Europe's Last Chance, Verhofstadt proposes that Europe abandon the artificial divisions of nation-states and instead embrace a unified democracy on a continental scale: a United States of Europe. Revealing how this seemingly impossible dream nearly became a reality in 1953-when only a last-minute vote by the French parliament stopped a political and military unification of France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands-Verhofstadt builds a powerful and surprising argument for the necessity of unity; so that Europe remains secure, influential, and prosperous into the future"-- Provided by publisher