In the sweep of human history, the European Union stands out as one of humankind's most ambitious endeavours. It encompasses half a billion people, twenty-seven member states, twenty-three languages, and an economy valued at over $15 trillion. Modern Europe's stunning achievements aside, its sovereign debt crisis has shaken the world's largest political and economic union to its core. Can the federal institutions and shared values of Europeans meet the challenges of debt crisis that are as much political as economic? Or, are Europe's current woes indicative of a series of deep structural faults that foreshadow the breakup and failure of the European Union?

In this edition of the Munk Debates -- Canada's premier international debate series -- former EU Commissioner Lord Peter Mandelson and EU parliament co-president of the Greens/European Free Alliance Group Daniel Cohn-Bendit, German publisher-editor and author Josef Joffe, and renowned economic historian Niall Ferguson debate the future of the EU -- one of the most pressing global issues of our day.

For the first time ever, this electrifying debate, which played to a sold-out audience, is now available in print, along with candid interviews with Niall Ferguson and Lord Peter Mandelson. As youth unemployment rates flare, currencies collapse, and political alliances erode, the Munk Debate on Europe tries to answer: Has the great European experiment failed?

Niall Ferguson is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of History at Harvard University and William Ziegler Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He is also a Senior Research Fellow at Jesus College, Oxford, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University. He is the author of numerous bestselling books, including The Ascent of Money. A prolific commentator on contemporary politics and economics, Ferguson is a contributing editor for the Financial Times and senior columnist with Newsweek.

Niall Ferguson's profile page

Daniel Cohn-Bendit is a French-born German politician, active in both countries. He was a student leader during the unrest of May 1968 in France. He has been co-president of the group European Greens-European Free Alliance in the European Parliament since 2002. He is a Member of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and a member of the Committee on Constitutional Affairs. In 2010, he was involved in founding JCall, advocacy group based in Europe to lobby the European parliament on foreign policy issues concerning the Middle East.

Daniel Cohn-Bendit's profile page

Josef Joffe is publisher of the German weekly Die Zeit. His essays and reviews have appeared in the New York Review of Books, the New York Times Book Review, the Times Literary Supplement, Foreign Affairs, the New York Times Magazine, the New Republic, and the Weekly Standard. He is a regular contributor to the op-ed pages of the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time and Newsweek. He is the bestselling author of four books of nonfiction, including his most recent Überpower: America's Imperial Temptation. He is senior Fellow of Stanford's Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.

Josef Joffe's profile page

Lord Peter Mandelson studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at St Catherine's College, Oxford. He was elected as a member of parliament for the constituency of Hartlepool until his appointment to the European Commission in 2004. He is honorary Chair of Policy Network, a European and international think-tank whose journal and conferences promote the exchange and debate of centre-left policy ideas and European social democratic thinking. He has lectured throughout Europe, in Asia, and the United States. He was EU Commissioner for Trade from 2004 to 2008 and was appointed Secretary of State for Business, Enterprise, and Regulatory Reform in 2008.

Peter Mandelson's profile page