This book presents the evolution of Germany’s stance on the reform of the European Union in the years 2002–2016. The objectives of the book are threefold: first, to analyse the positions of the German government and parliamentary opposition on the reform of the European Union’s political system in 2002–2009; second, to describe their stance on the system reform of the Economic and Monetary Union and the Eurozone in 2012–2016; and third, to analyse their positions on the EU immigration crisis in 2015–2016. The study employs a triangulation of a variety of qualitative methods: case-studies, analysis of official documents, literature, speeches and historic items. The result is an in-depth and multidimensional picture of the activities and positions of members of the German government and parliamentary opposition regarding the reform of the EU’s political system.

Janusz Józef W?c is Professor of Humanities in Recent World History, International Relations and European Studies, and Head of the Chair of Studies on Integration Processes at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków (Poland). He has authored more than 200 scientific publications and held research stays at the universities of Bonn, Erlangen-Nuremberg, Salzburg, Berlin, Bremen and Nijmegen.