The EU in Crisis: How Serious Is It?

Arguably, the EU finds itself in a major crisis, maybe the biggest since it was created more than half a century ago. There are at least five big challenges the organization has to cope with: the still unsolved Eurocrisis; imported terrorism and homegrown populism; a vastly unregulated mass immigraton; the possible exit of the UK; and an assertive Russia. While the EU is still a major success story – after it was established also as a result of the political disasters in the first half of the last century – it has to cope with providing solutions for the crises mentioned, and also to produce new, convincing narratives for a younger generation. Whether it will succeed, is so far unclear.

Klaus Segbers is Professor of Political Sciences at the Institute for East European Studies and the Department for Political Sciences at Freie Universitaet Berlin. In addition, Segbers is an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and Director of the Center for Global Politics at Freie Universitaet Berlin, the latter of which offers blended learning programs for students and professionals in China, Southeast Asia, Mena, Iran, and Russia. Klaus Segbers's research interests are: globalizing city regions; European and German external behavior; institutional changes in Russia and China; and structural limits of national governments' performances. He is a frequent commentator on German and international television and radio programs.