This book tells the inside story of Europe's first presidential campaign, the candidates, how they were chosen, the campaign trail, the TV debates and the tense negotiations which followed. It explains what led to this new way of choosing the Commission president and what it means for the future of the EU.

The policies pursued in Brussels are unremittingly conservative, the product of the technocratic right's dominance of EU institutions and most national capitals. These essays propose a clean break with the right's hegemony and suggest a radical agenda for change and reform. Instead of supporting the disruptive distraction of a referendum, the UK left should work with other European progressives to create a programme for economic, social and ecological renewal for Europe in the world. In this volume, contributors - all leading MEPs and senior EU officials - discuss austerity's throttling of Europe's growth prospects; how to respond to the return of poverty and rampant inequalities; and how to challenge unaccountable corporate power. They also engage critically with Europe's environmental policies, which have been long on promise and short on delivery; its short-sighted immigration management; and its sacrifice of fair trade in the name of an ideological commitment to unbridled globalisation.