With two wars raging on its borders, a world retreating from free trade and globalisation, strong migratory pressure on its southern shores, rising rightwing populist movements clamouring for national, not European, solutions and Donald Trump looming on the horizon, Europe is facing an extraordinary set of global challenges.
At the start of an election year that could also propel Eurosceptic nationalists into a strong position in the European parliament, the death of Jacques Delors, the most effective president the European Commission has ever had, reminds us of the era when EU integration made its greatest strides, delivering peace and increased prosperity for hundreds of millions of people. Delors, in many ways, made the EU the envy of the world.
