On Tuesday 3 December, the book launch of “Una Segunda Oportunidad para Europa” by Jo Ritzen takes place at the Maastricht University Campus Brussels from 16.00 – 18.00.
The event will feature presentations by Member of European Parliament Mr. Javier López, and distinguished scholars from several Spanish universities, followed by a drinks reception.
Please register by sending an email to s.brodin@maastrichtuniversity.nl; first come, first served basis.
Programme (the event will be in both Spanish and English):
- Presentation of the book in Spanish by Mr. Salvador Pérez- Moreno (Professor of Economic Policy, University of Malaga)
- Comments in Spanish by Mr. Javier López (Member of the European Parliament)
- Discussion in English between Prof. Pérez-Moreno, Prof. Inmaculada Serón-Ordoñez (Lecturer of Translation and Interpretation at Pablo de Olavide University, Seville) and Mr. Javier Lopez, led by Prof. Klaus F. Zimmermann (President of the Global Labor Organisation and Professor at Bonn University)
- Drinks
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 and Maastricht University. Prof. Ritzen is a former Minister of Education, Culture, and Science of the Netherlands, served in the Dutch Cabinet at the Maastricht Treaty, is former Vice President of the World Bank and former President of Maastricht University.
“Una segunda oportunidad para Europa” 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.