A cooling system is provided for an internal combustion engine that includes, but is not limited to an engine coolant circuit having a coolant inlet and a coolant outlet, a radiator having an inlet and an outlet, a first pipeline for hydraulically connecting the radiator outlet and the engine coolant inlet, a second pipeline for hydraulically connecting the engine coolant outlet to the radiator inlet, a coolant pump located in the first pipeline for moving a coolant towards the engine coolant inlet, a thermostatic valve located in the first pipeline between the primary pump and the radiator outlet, for closing or at least partially opening the passageway, a bypass pipeline for hydraulically connecting an intermediate point of the second pipeline to an intermediate point of the first pipeline, the latter being located between the thermostatic valve and the radiator outlet, an exhaust gas recirculation cooler located in the bypass pipeline, an auxiliary coolant pump located in the bypass pipeline, and a controlling for controlling the auxiliary coolant pump.