*** YVES MENY (Editor): La construction d'un Parlement: 50 ans d'histoire du Parlement européen - Building Parliament: 50 Years of European Parliament History. 1958-2008. Communautés européennes (Official Publications Office of the European Community, Luxembourg. Fax: (352-2929) 42758 - Internet: http: //bookshop.europa.eu). "50e anniversaire du Parlement européen" series. 2009, 303 pp, €25 (excluding VAT). ISBN 978-92-823-2369-4 (Fr) and 978-92-823-2368-7 (En).
Before showering this excellent book published in French and English with praise, allow an old hack of a journalist to ask rather gauchely, did the European Parliament really celebrate its fiftieth anniversary last year ? No! Which leads one to believe that the cover and even the title of the series in this book are all about dissecting the history of European construction. The European Parliament re-elected last June is, in fact, the inheritor of the Joint Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community, which, as pointed out in the first sentence of the introduction, held its final session on 28 February 1958 at the Maison de l'Europe in Strasbourg, before being replaced by the Parliamentary Assembly created by the Treaties of Rome. This is not the first time that the current institutions appear to want to conceal the foundations of European construction. Is this because the first treaty of Paris was the most "supranational" of all of them and because the "Schuman declaration" from which it flowed spoke openly of the "first stage of the European Federation"? The "politically incorrect", which prevails in some member states appears, in any case, to provoke the institutions - at least some of them in to developing a kind of selective amnesia and subsequently perverting the original and deep sense of purpose underpinning the common adventure. Failing to flag this fact up means bleating with the rest of the flock dominating inter-governmentalists and supporters of exclusive cooperation determined by sovereign states on a case by case basis. Failing to point this out means acquiescence and creating a wall of silence that leads to pitiful backtracking!
Let's be quite clear about it: this diatribe is not targeting those who contributed to this remarkable book in the least and who dutifully made the link between the first European Assembly in the introductory lines. Given that the European Parliament requested the European University Institute of Florence to focus on 1958 - 2008, it cannot be criticised for the fact that for an equivalent period of time, the parliamentary institution of Community Europe almost miraculously managed to come out on top. It is the history of this rise in power that the contributors of this book (historians, political scientists and experts on Community issues) scientifically seek to clarify. As Jean-Marie Palayret explains in his introduction, the contributors meticulously analyse the composition, procedures, strategies and transformations of the European Parliament during this period without omitting the limitations in this context of its resistible rise in power. They also dissect the sometimes, "conflictual and often collaborative" relations developed by the Parliamentary Assembly with the other bodies making up the institutional triangle. Finally, and above all, they highlight the "pioneering" role of this political arena in the process constitutionalising the Union. The study is divided into three parts. The first, edited by Olivier Costa, examines how the European Parliament has gradually affirmed its political legitimacy since the "democratic revolution" that called on citizens to go to the voting booths for the first time in 1979. It also describes the fact that this legitimacy resulted from its "opening up to civil society" and its combat role since Spinelli, in fighting to provide Community Europe with a constitution. In the second part, edited by Paolo Ponzano, the powers of the European Parliament are underlined, including its budgetary powers earned after a tough fight as a "lever for obtaining legislative competencies". Its relations with the Commission are then explored, particularly in light of the changes involved made during the mad cow crisis and the resignation of the Santer Commission. The agreements and inter-institutional arrangements are decoded, as well as the accountability exerted by the European Parliament on the Commission's executive activity and its relations with other Union institutions and bodies. Finally, the third part of the publication concentrates on Parliament's relentless crusade to affirm the Union's values, either through its fight to strengthen citizens' fundamental rights at the institution or its struggle to increase democratisation and human rights in the world.
In his general conclusion, Yves Mény significantly points out that the history of the European Parliament is a "long incomplete history" and that the Lisbon Treaty does not indicate the end. The “velvet revolution”, which shifted its status from that of an international assembly organisation and device for mitigating the "autocratic and technocratic character" of the original Communities, to that of a Constitutive Parliament of representative democracy, remains unpredictable but the meaning of democracy and its evolution are undeniable and that the claim that, “today, democracy is impossible and inconceivable in the nation sate, is not only contrary to an intelligent reading of history but also means the death of Europe and democracy in the same movement”. For the Head of the European University Institute, national democracies would find it difficult to survive, "if they were emptied of their substance due to the massive transfer of competencies to a supranational and overly bureaucratic agency”. "Populist reaction would be both primitive in its manifestation and legitimate in its aspirations ". This response has already begun to flourish in several member states and is the clearest and most worrying response of all.
Michel Theys
*** ANJO G. HARRYVAN: In Pursuit of Influence. The Netherland's European Policy during the Formative Years of the European Union, 1952-1973. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050, Brussels. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "European Policy" series, No. 32. 2009, 284 pp, €35.90. ISBN 978-90-5201-497-5.
The influence exerted by the Netherlands on the international stage is naturally to be admired. How can a small country have led such big powers from the old continent, a navy that was the most efficient in the 18th century and have been one of the greatest economic powers in the world for so many years? If we take into account the fact that this country is also one of the main instigators of what was to become the European Union, we have the makings of a miracle. Since its liberation from the Habsburgs, this nation, which may be small in size but which makes up for it in other areas, has influenced the economic and cultural life of the whole world, not only through substantial economic power but also through an attitude or vision of the world that is still bearing fruit. In this book, Anjo Harryvan, looks at this specific vision and means that have enabled the United Provinces to reach such a degree of influence, particularly with regard to the economic and institutional architecture of the European Union. Harryvan is both a teacher in law and history and firstly explores the foundations of the European Coal and Steel Community, with the Dutch already engineering the push towards the creation of a common market, as well as the transfer of national political competencies towards a Community with a single executive body. The creation of the Benelux gave the Netherlands a taster of the realities to come in regional economic integration, which proved useful at the negotiating table for the Treaty of Rome. In the second part of the book, the author tackles the second decade in the integration process. He demonstrates that one of the most important goals in the Netherlands' European policy was achieved with completion of the Customs Union in 1968. He also demonstrates how the Netherlands helped diffuse General De Gaulle's plan to get rid of the supranational character of the European adventure and relaunch the integration process. The last part of the study examines the consequences of the Treaty of Rome, which the Netherlands was not expecting - the political blocking of Community Europe, which presents a potential danger to unity on both sides of the Atlantic and to Community cooperation development policy. The author seeks to identify the Netherlands' influence in this connection. (NDu)
*** AGNÈS TACHIN: Amie et rivale. La Grande-Bretagne dans l'imaginaire français à l'époque gaullienne. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (see address attached). "Enjeux internationaux", No. 3. 2009, 413 pp., €. ISBN 978-90-5201-495-1.
Agnès Tachin focuses his research on the history of international relations and the popular imagination and has consequently written a useful book that successfully clarifies some of the exciting events in the lengthy history of Franco-British relations, a saga of "real and old rivals", whose national identities are "largely constructed in opposition to each other", as underlined by Robert Franck in his preface. In the first part of his book, Tachin reconstitutes the "shaping of an image" and traces the history of the construction of French stereotypes as opposed to that of the "the English" from the Middle Ages to the 20th century. Agnès Tachin then focuses on the 1960s during which, continental France's economy took off and free trade Britain stagnated. Nonetheless, research illustrates that in the period 1958-1963, the traditional image of the United Kingdom, which never ceases to provide France with a whole series of complexes, was to continue due to French approval for General De Gaulle's veto on the United Kingdom's first demand for accession to the European Community. De Gaulle's arguments continued to have "a social resonance in the capital of negative images" presented in the French imagination. On the other hand, during the years 1963 - 1969, the image of "the English" radically changes due to the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Carnaby Street, with the sixties provoking a real Anglo-mania. This time, together with the decline of British power in the eyes of the French being borne out, the French again approve De Gaulle's second veto but the number of those supporting the United Kingdom's accession grows significantly, including President Pompidou, who would soon take this increasing support into account. In conclusion, Agnès Tachin clearly illustrates, as underlined by Robert Franck, that "bilateral relations between the two countries cannot be understood without an analysis of the inter-societal relations and examination of the relationship between what exists in the popular imagination, which, far from being imaginary, is indeed real, to the extent that it can transform reality".
(MT)
*** GAETANO QUAGLIARIELLO: Gaullisme, une classification impossible. Essai d'analyse comparée des droites française et italienne. L'Harmattan (5-7 rue de l'Ecole Polytechnique, F-75005 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40467920 - fax: 43258203 - E-mail: diffusion.harmattan@wanadoo.fr - Internet: http://www.librairieharmattan.com ). "Inter-National" series. 2009, 107 pp., €12.50. ISBN 978-2-296-08959-4.
To what extent does Gaullism still exist in the France of Nicolas Sarkozy, is it still a decisive element in French political life? This is the key question to which this Italian historian seeks to provide some answers in this essay and which clarifies the French political system over the last fifty years, with a certain meander into Italian policy. The author of this essay considers that the birth of the Fifth Republic constituted, from a political and institutional point of view, a turning point, not only in French history, but also for that on mainland Europe. He also seeks to show how the Gaullist right has followed its founder up to the the arrival in office of the sixth president of the French Republic. (MT)
*** BERNARD LACHAISE, SABRINA TRICAUD (editor): Georges Pompidou et Mai 1968. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (see address attached). "Georges Pompidou - Études" series, No. 4. 2009, 203 p., €. ISBN 978-90-5201-468-5.
This book is an extension of a colloquy organised last year by the Georges Pompidou Association. It clarifies how General De Gaulle's successor forged his presidential destiny through his management, as Prime Minister, during the multifaceted crisis of May 1968, which involved students and challenges on the social, political and media fronts. The pages involve scientific analyses (for the most part) from some of the main players and collaborators of Georges Pompidou, notably Edouard Balladur and Robert Poujade. Historians have shown that in many respects May 1968 was an anti-Communist movement in a period where the French Communist Party was still receiving a lot of votes and was a legitimate but declining social force. (MT)
*** CARSTEN SCHYMIK: Iceland on Course for the EU. Accession as Last Resort. Editions Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (3-4 Ludwigkirchplatz, D-10719 Berlin. Tel: (49-30) 88007-0 - fax: 88007-100 - Email: swp@swp-berlin.org - Internet: http://www.swp-berlin.org ). "SWP Comments" series, No. 5. 2009, 4 pp.
This issue of "SWP Comments" tackles Iceland's request to join the Union following the election of the Social Democrats on 25 April, the only party overtly in favour of joining, even before the financial crisis. According to the author, three factors should be taken into account that challenge this goal. There is, first of all, the prevailing atmosphere in which ongoing negotiations with Turkey and Croatia will be displaced in order to give Iceland preferential treatment and the speeding up of the accession process. The next problem involves fish, recurrent in the North of Europe and Iceland appears to be no exception to the rule. Finally, there is the Euro-scepticism of the political elite. The people of Iceland are blatantly in favour of the Euro but should it be an exclusively monetary project and have no political agenda? These misgivings are reflected in the line expressed by a lot of politicians who believe the country should not become a full member of the Union. Faced with these difficulties, the German government, in the opinion, of the author, should support Iceland's accession, as it did, unsuccessfully for Norway. (NDu)