This book explores the political and economic issues currently
challenging EU member states affecting both the core Eurozone and
non-core states. It analyses and explains how its own economic, and
political, relationships have been critically influenced by fierce
competition from its rivals in other major global economies, as well as
by the systemic weaknesses in the economic and financial model it
created. The book provides insight into both the underlying and more
immediate economic and social challenges created by: its post-2007
enlargement to 28 countries - excluding the Balkan remnants of former
Yugoslavia; the nature of the regulatory regime centralized in Brussels,
and the host of issues and critiques this fosters; its 'open borders'
policy and precious guiding principle, crystallized in the Schengen
agreement; security weaknesses exacerbated by increasing volumes of
migration; and the ongoing debt crises as the greatest existential
challenge to the EU project. Featuring interviews with high profile key
players from inside and outside Europe the book will examine new and
underlying stresses - political and economic - to guide a greater
understanding of the EU plan.