The eurozone crisis is among the greatest challenges facing the European Union. Many eurozone countries, especially those in Southern Europe, are saddled with unemployment comparable in scale to that during the worst days of the Great Depression of the 1930s. The very nature of the EU is being transformed: calls for a more centralized eurozone backed by a fiscal union feature centrally in the European political debate. The present euro-rescue policy continues to prove itself an unmitigated failure.
New Direction has invited leading economists and public intellectuals from a wide range of economic and political schools of thought – though all critical of the euro – to contribute essays assessing the eurozone crisis. It is time for an honest debate about the costs of the euro to take place in Europe, as its consequences impact non-euro countries, as well. New Direction is pleased to publish these essays, each of which combines clear, scholarly analysis with creative, courageous thinking – precisely the qualities which the European political discussion needs most.
- Hans-Olaf Henkel, Vice-President of New Direction
