Founded in its current form in 1957, Europe has reached retirement age. However, it does not appear that Europe can rest on its laurels. In referendums, citizens systematically speak out against it. Populist movements in France and the Netherlands, among others, oppose Europe and are calling for the reintroduction of their national currencies. For the first time in the history of the European Union, a member has even chosen to leave the club. And during the post-Brexit negotiations, the COVID-19 crisis hit, which, like any crisis, gave rise to nationalist reflexes. How did it come to this? How can such a beautiful project – at least on paper – suffer such a significant blow? And what is next?

Europe is a phoenix in this regard. The deeper the crisis, the more is possible. The institutional crisis led to the single market project, the banking crisis led to the banking union, the COVID-19 crisis made possible what had never happened before – the issuance of European bonds – and the Ukraine crisis accelerated the energy transition. It is as if Europe can only arise and evolve as a result of crises.

Why write another book about Europe? A new book on Europe is published almost every week, for or against Europe. Everyone has an opinion about how to proceed and European experts are mushrooming. Most of these experts only know Europe from other books and write a new book about it that is often a mosaic of existing texts. Intertextuality, as the French philosopher Julia Kristeva calls it. We could call it ‘cut and paste’ culture today.

I therefore felt it was my responsibility to write about Europe based on my professional experience within the European institutions. A vision of someone who has experienced and lived Europe, as a European in daily life, but also from within, from the Brussels Eurocrat bubble. This explains the title of this book: Towards a New European Impetus Post-Brexit: A View Behind the Scenes.

My triple position as head of cabinet in Belgium, at federal, Flemish and Walloon level, was rather an interlude in my life. After all, I have worked almost my entire professional life for Europe. I have worked in the European advisory bodies, the European Council and the European Commission and attended the sessions of the European Parliament in Strasbourg countless times.