I think you have to work as a European.

Your national identity, you have to leave it at the doors.

Otherwise, you will never be a real European lawyer.

You will be doing something else, but not European law. I'm . I'm .

I'm

. You're listening to Europe of Felix. I'm Felix Ronkers Ahebeke, and my guest for this

episode is Julio Bakero Kruth, novelist, translator, professor of EU law,

and member of the legal service of the commission. In 2018, he published a book called

What's Left of the Law of Integration, in which he observes that the European Union is going

through a difficult period, a traversé du deser.

He describes the waning of the initial impetus behind European integration

and a resurgence of the idea that the nation-state is the ultimate political unit.

He notices signs of decline in European law, even signs of disintegration.

But the book is not defeatist, and he also describes acts of resistance,

especially in the case law of the Court of Justice.

And more importantly, he encourages us to look again at the beginnings of the law of integration

to find new meaning for European law today.

Julio's book combines philosophical contemplation with legal technical detail, and so does my conversation with him.

We talk about one of the founding fathers of the law of integration, Pierre Pescatore.

We discuss political speeches from Thatcher to Merkel to Schultz.

We take a deep dive into the vice judgment of the German Constitutional Court.

We talk about the theory that European integration was mainly a means of rescuing the nation-state.

...