In Original Sin in a Brave New World, published by the Institute of European Affairs, Bobby McDonagh gives a personal account of the negotiation of the Treaty of Amsterdam. As an Irish diplomat, he was closely involved in those negotiations, a key phase of which fell during Ireland's Presidency of the EU.
The book is also of wider importance as an illustration of the nature of the EU. Mr Jacques Santer, in his foreword, urges that it "should be read by all Europeans interested in their own destiny".
In his opening chapter, McDonagh gives his assessment of the four major challenges facing the EU: the challenges of direction, of enlargement, of public support and of identity.
The first challenge he describes is that of charting the direction for the development of Europe. For the first three decades of its existence, the process of European integration knew where it was going, even if it was not always getting there very quickly. However, in recent years the ultimate destination of the EU has, he suggests, become more difficult to define.
The second challenge is to find a way for the Union to undertake further enlargement on an unprecedented scale, while at the same time continuing not only to function effectively but also to develop further in pursuit of its objectives. Widening and deepening must go hand in hand. One at the expense of the other, he argues, would derail the entire European project.
In the accompanying extract from his book, McDonagh gives his views on the other two challenges.
