Europe in the storm

Written by a key protagonist of the euro crisis, Europe in the Storm is an unprecedented first-hand account of the gravest threat to continental unity since the Second World War. Herman Van Rompuy saw most of his energy as President of the European Council absorbed by the financial crisis in the eurozone. The principal contact in Brussels of Merkel, Sarkozy, Cameron and their peers, he shares his experience of how European leaders tamed the financial storm and saved the euro, bringing unique insight into what held the Union together at a moment of truth - and what could yet make it unravel. Van Rompuy also addresses Europe's role in a changing world, as well as the expectations of Europeans. How to win back jobs and prosperity on our continent? How to convince citizens, at a time of public disenchantment, that working together will secure their countries a better future? And what place for the United Kingdom in a European Union with the euro as new core? Thoughtful and witty, Europe in the Storm offers rare insight into Europe's corridors of power by a man in office. In late 2014, Herman Van Rompuy will step down as first President of the European Council. This powerful essay draws on his five years in the European Union's highest political office to shed captivating light on history as it is made.