This book contains the lectures given at a seminar in Berlin June 3-4, 2005, arranged by the E.ON Ruhrgas scholarship program for political science at Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP). It was held against the backdrop of the negative referenda in France and the Netherlands on the EU constitution, and the upcoming elections to the German Bundestag. The contributions addressed the following issues: "Does Europe matter? Autonomy or convergence into a common space of politics?"; "Europe and the Welfare State""; "Post National Security Policy"; "Regional Politics, National or European"; "Power and Democracy in the transformation process". All of these themes denote challenges to the political and societal developments in Europe over the past 50 years, challenges, which may lead to more radical changes in the future.