This documentary film by director Norma Percy looks at the three most momentous developments in the last ten years and uncovers intrigues, personal power struggles and bitter compromises. How the Greek financial crisis threatened to destroy both the euro and the world’ s economy, how Greece almost lost its EU membership. How, after the arrival of hundreds of thousands of refugees, the member states quarreled. How David Cameron fighting for his referendum led to Brexit. Crises that repeatedly put the European Union to the test.

We hear from the political players themselves. Those who were present when these important decisions were made. Presidents and prime ministers, chancellors and commissioners – people like Nicolas Sarkozy, Jean-Claude Juncker, Wolfgang Schäuble, Matteo Renzi, Francois Hollande and Donald Tusk. These people provide insights into interpersonal dramas taking place in Europe’s back rooms.
They paint a picture of diverse personalities fighting for their country’s interests, but also for their own ideals, in disputes that were sometimes fierce, sometimes tough.

An interplay of secret agreements, conflicts of interest and shaken trust created a climate in which crises were intensified rather than worked out together. Both in the European Parliament and through the rise of populist and nationalist movements throughout Europe, we can see how, over the last ten years, our common goal of a European Union has repeatedly been brought to the brink of extinction.

“Das Europa Drama – Hinter den Kulissen der Macht” is the German version of a British three-part series “Inside Europe: Ten Years Of Turmoil”.