Europe 30 Years after the Maastricht Treaty

Thirty years ago, the Maastricht Treaty was signed by the then twelve members of the European Community. The Treaty created the framework for today’s “European Union” – and was the most important document on European integration since the Treaty of Rome, which was signed in 1958. The Maastricht Treaty provided the contours for a single currency, a common foreign and security policy, closer cooperation on justice and home affairs, and institutional reforms.

Since then, one country has left the Union and 14 new member states have joined. What lessons can be drawn from the Maastricht Treaty 30 years later? What went right? What went wrong? To answer these questions, join the American Council on Germany for a discussion with Dr. Ulrike Guérot, Faculty Chair of European Politics at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn and founder of the European Democracy Lab in Berlin.

Dr. Ulrike Guérot is the Faculty Chair of European Politics at the Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität in Bonn and the founder of the European Democracy Lab in Berlin, a think-tank generating innovative ideas for Europe. Previously she was a professor at the Danube University in Krems, Austria, and served as Head of the Department for European Policy and the Study of Democracy.

In addition to working and teaching at universities in Europe and the United States, Dr. Guérot has worked at and directed several European research institutes and think tanks. Her books, “Why Europe Must Become a Republic” in 2016 and “The New Civil War – the Open Europe and its Enemies” in 2017, hit best-selling marks in Germany and beyond. Her work has been widely translated and published throughout Europe.