Climate, energy, defence, reforms, budget, taxation, inequalities, West, East, United Nations. These are the ten challenges the European Union needs to address, as well as the topics of this book’s ten chapters, that highlight how the EU must negotiate with the planet in order to remain relevant in its governance. The author is an expert in the history of law, and with this book, in light of the 2024 election for the European Parliament, he sends a message to the President of the European Commission. Will the EU, a product of the convergence of interests and values, be able to maintain its global relevance? Will it manage to continue its institutionalisation of peace in the face of today’s crises? Is it really fit to lead the Old Continent into the future? These ten crucial questions come together into a single suggestion: Union.

Antonio Padoa-Schioppa is professor emeritus of History of Medieval and Modern History at the University of Milan and the president of the Centre for the Study of Federalism in Turin.