This book analyses the European union from within and with a critical voice. It is about bureaucracy, the ever-growing isolation of Europe in the world, the over-regulation and over-profilation. Derk-Jan Eppink is a member of the European Parliament and one of the protagonists of the think tank 'New Direction'. He does not want to be an adept of a blind European federalism and he wants to enforce the "euro-realism" in the European parliament. The main plea is against European taxes and for a strict determination of the main tasks of the Union, where the different states can maintain their autonomy.