Jürgen Habermas 
The Crisis of the European Union 
A Response

Translated by Ciaran Cronin.

In the midst of the current crisis that is threatening to derail
the historical project of European unification, Jürgen
Habermas has been one of the most perceptive critics of the
ineffectual and evasive responses to the global financial crisis,
especially by the German political class. This extended essay on
the constitution for Europe represents Habermas’s
constructive engagement with the European project at a time when
the crisis of the eurozone is threatening the very existence of the
European Union. There is a growing realization that the European
treaty needs to be revised in order to deal with the structural
defects of monetary union, but a clear perspective for the future
is missing. Drawing on his analysis of European unification as a
process in which international treaties have progressively taken on
features of a democratic constitution, Habermas explains why the
current proposals to transform the system of European governance
into one of executive federalism is a mistake. His central argument
is that the European project must realize its democratic potential
by evolving from an international into a cosmopolitan community.
The opening essay on the role played by the concept of human
dignity in the genealogy of human rights in the modern era throws
further important light on the philosophical foundations of
Habermas’s theory of how democratic political institutions
can be extended beyond the level of nation-states.

Now that the question of Europe and its future is once again at the
centre of public debate, this important intervention by one of the
greatest thinkers of our time will be of interest to a wide
readership.

Table of Content

Preface

The Crisis of the European Union in Light of a Constitutionalization of International Law – An Essay on the Constitution for Europe

I. Why Europe Is Now More Than Ever a Constitutional Project

II. The European Union Must Decide between Transnational Democracy and Post-Democratic Executive Federalism

III. From the International to the Cosmopolitan Community

The Concept of Human Dignity and the Realistic Utopia of Human Rights

Appendix: The Europe of the Federal Republic

I. After the Bankruptcy

II. The Euro Will Decide the Fate of the European Union

III. A Pact for or against Europe?

Sources

About the author

Jürgen Habermas is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University of Frankfurt and one of the most influential social and political thinkers in the world today.