*** PRODROMOS MAVRIDIS: Les Turcs dans l'Union européenne. Réflexions sur la prééminence du droit. Établissements Emile Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5129845 - fax: 5117202 - E-mail: info@bruylant.be - Internet: http://www.bruylant.be ) et Édition Ant. N. Sakkoulas (69 rue Solonos, 10679 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3618198 - fax: 3610425 - Email: info@ant-sakkoulas.gr - Internet: http://www.ant-sakkoulas.gr ). 2009, 576 pp.. ISBN 978-2-8027-2851-1 et 978-960-15-2266-1.
The question of Turkey's possible accession to the Union is fuelling a heated controversy, which is too often, a priori, dictated by ideology and indeed both fantasy and fanaticism. In his preface to this book, Antoine Lyon-Caen, a lecturer in law at Paris X Nanterre and Director of Studies at the École de hautes études en sciences sociales, confirms this from the outset when he explains that Turkey benefits from the "sad privilege" of creating "the richest flourishing of commonplaces and summary ideas lacking in analytical foundations, which for this reason, circulate, in an illogical fashion". Some pundits would have us believe Turkish accession to Europe would be no less than bringing in an "Islamic Trojan horse"; other commentators respond in an otherwise but equally and abominably simplistic way by claiming that opening up to the Europeans would mean opening Turkey's doors to "the crusades of the modern age". It is not on this terrain of torn and equally sterile and dangerous anathema that Prodromos Mavridis intends to tread, even though he does acknowledge that the principle for his editing of this book is based on the idea that Turkey's accession to the Union "could act as a bridge for greater understanding of different cultures". In this case, what is interesting is not so much the fruit of his personal reflection so much as the intellectual path he has trodden in order to back up his thesis.
The author originally started as a trainee at President Delors' cabinet at the European Commission and is now one of the senior officials and recognised experts in the freedom of movement and social security at DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities. It is on the basis of his expertise that this legal expert, who, not content to exclusively spend his time at the European Court of Justice and teaching at three French universities - has chosen to launch his appeal, based on the observation that the pre-eminence of law constitutes the "basis of European public order", which implies "limitations to national sovereignty“ in the process of integration applying to member states and candidate countries alike. In the light of this observation, he briefly explores the question of what really is a "European state" and "integration capacity”. Above all, he points out that the Union, "based on the pre-eminence” of law and “is bidden to respect its commitments to Turkey", including all of those made since the Ankara Association Agreement, which, in 1963, planned for the gradual accomplishment of free movement of labour, as well as the scrapping of restrictions on the freedom of establishment and free provision of services. It even included the possibility of envisaging, in the long-term, Turkish accession. These intentions were then further made official in the Additional Protocol, which entered into force in 1973 and characterised by the conclusion of the Customs Union of 31 December 1995. Three decisions by the Association Council on Turkish social and labour law were also added to these achievements. Curiously, two of these decisions have never been published in the Official Journal and the third was only published as a "communication" and not "legislation", which left it up to member states to interpret them as they so wished. This failed to count on the intervention of the European Court of Justice (given that these different texts did not appear binding), which, as from 1987, began to subject them to extensive interpretation and ensure that Community law became, for all Turkish workers, “a rampart against the laws of the market, which turns immigrants into something to throw away after work is done". Following around fifty rulings, commented on by the author, as he also does with all the other basic agreements, the European Court of Justice, decided that the Association Agreement should become an integral part of Community law and subsequently allow Turkish workers to come in from the cold "and partially, penetrate the circle of citizens of the Union". This explains why Professor Lyon-Caen asserts that, "'thanks to this book, we are better able to measure how this judicial process has been of benefit to Turkish citizens".
Nonetheless, via these agreements, in addition to the Protocol and decisions interpreted by the European Court of Justice, there is also the question of whether Turkey, now benefiting from its status as candidate country, is subject to the same consideration as the Union with regard to, "European public order based on the pre-eminence of law". Prodromos Mavridis does not attempt evade the question and, on the contrary, tackles it with the same meticulous judicial approach as he tackles the rest of the book. Does he pull it off? There are obviously glaring Turkish shortcomings, which is why the author cites, as part of his conclusion, an idea put forward by Jacques Delors at the European College of Palma in 2005, "for Turkey, it is a question of whether the European Union, in the face of rising fundamentalism, rejection of otherness and violent attacks, has to say no, definitively. If it did, we would be reinforcing the feeling that the Christian world rejects the Muslim world. Should we not be sending out a different message that demonstrates our openness of spirit, our passion through respect for others and their convictions, in favour of the path of dialogue and mutual recognition? This is what the European Council has done by saying yes to negotiations. No more than that. It is up to all of us to demonstrate that we can live together, in a spirit of diversity, subject to bona fide rules acceptable to all. The test will still need to be taken, precisely through negotiations".
Michel Theys
*** ANGELA ROMANO: From Détente in Europe to European Détente. How the West Shaped the Helsinki CSCE. Éditions Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). Collection "Euroclio", No. 44. 2009, 248 pp., €30.50. ISBN 978-90-5201-471-5.
This book focuses on the Helsinki Security and Cooperation Conference in Europe (SCCE). This process was initiated in Helsinki at the beginning of the 1970s and was perceived by many to have been a political failure in the sense that the West was restricted to recognising the balance of forces in Europe and had therefore abandoned the East to the Soviets. A lot of people forget that it also provided a boost to détente between the two blocks and was the unintentional starting point in the fight for the recognition of human rights and democracy. Few studies, have, however, focused on the Helsinki process or the dynamic that existed between European integration and the struggle between the East and West, mainly because of the lack of historical archives about this epoch. This book, by Angela Romano, Professor of North American history at the University of Florence, aims to fill this gap by analysing the line taken by Western governments, accused by the public at the time of being passive and adopting tactical goals and strategies in the Conference delegations. In the first part of the book, the author describes the structures, procedures and phases of the meeting and presents a summary of the debate on the final Act, in an effort to provide a precise idea of the prevailing ideas at Helsinki. Angela Romano then scientifically examines the contents of the document and reports on the subsequent events in the Soviet Union and Eastern block countries. She therefore demonstrates how the contents of this text generated or reinforced reforms and democracy and delivered a powerful blow to the internal stability of the Communist regimes. The road that led to the final Act of Helsinki was a long one, as shown in the second and third chapters. Angela Romano illustrates how the proposals from the Communist countries aimed to set up a pan-European conference on security but were rejected by Western countries, which preferred to firstly reorganise NATO solidarity and reinforce the European Community. Based on archives made public a short time ago, Romano also considers that the West was prepared and determined to protect its positions and attain its goals. She then analyses the complexity of NATO by focusing on relations between the EU and members of the European Community and the necessity of coordinating different view points and feelings, not only at a level of approach and strategy but also in relation to what were the goals of détente. The final chapter draws the conclusions on the "performance" of the West during the Conference and the consequences of this page of history from a triple point of view: confrontation with the Soviet block, trans-Atlantic relations and the process of European integration.
(NDu)
*** SUSAN STEWART: Russia and the Eastern Partnership. Loud Criticisms, Quiet Interest in Cooperation. Editions SWP (3-4 Ludwigkirchplatz, D-10719 Berlin. Tel: (49- 30) 88007-0 - fax: 880 07-100 - Email: swp@swp-berlin.org - Internet: http://www.swp-berlin.org ). "SWP Comments" series No. 7. May 2009, 4 pp.
This article from the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik examines Union relations with its Eastern neighbours, as well as the reactions these generate within their giant Russian neighbour. In an effort to extend European Neighbourhood Policy and develop Europe's Eastern dimension, EU Heads of State and governments held a summit with leaders from Byelorussia, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Commentaries on the participation of Byelorussia at this meeting were not sparing, due to the specific and far from simple relationship the country has with Russia. Moscow, believes that this relationship could be jeopardised by European influence. Nonetheless, although Russia does not see this European initiative in a good light and as an intrusion into its sphere of influence, it is not totally against investing in new European Union initiatives. The author seeks to clarify the Kremlin's ambiguous attitude and the possible repercussions of this dossier for Russia and the Union.
(NDu)
*** JUDY BATT, JELENA OBRADOVIC-WOCHNIK (Editor): War Crimes, conditionality and EU integration in the Western Balkans. European Union Institute for Security Studies (43 av. du Président Wilson, F-75775 Paris cedex 16. Tel: (33-1) 56891930 - fax: 56891931 - Email: info@iss.europa.eu - Internet: http://www.iss.europa.eu ). "Chaillot Paper" series, No. 116. June 2009, 103 pp. €10. ISBN 978-92-9198-142-7.
Based on the principle that the EU's sacrosanct political conditionality "only works if it has a partner prepared to play the game", the writers of this "paper" focus on the difficult case of the former Yugoslavia. In a total transition stage that balances between crisis management and integration policy, this does, in fact, present the Union with a major challenge: that of burying past conflicts in order to replace it with regional cooperation in full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTFY). For the authors, this means producing a critical analysis of the action taken by each party: relegating the efficiency of the Union (in the perspective of the glass being half empty or half full), they produce a balance sheet of the policies and activities of the ICTFY and provide a complete country-by-country update on the progress and problems encountered along the path towards the integration of the Western Balkans to the Union. All of the most sensitive cases are looked at, such as the border conflict between Croatia and Slovenia, inter-ethnic cooperation, domestic war crimes, nationalist tendencies and police reform in Bosnia, in an effort to fully take into account the challenges facing the Union in a post-ICTY world.
(TBa)
*** MURIEL ASSEBURG: European Conflict Management in the Middle East. Toward a More Effective Approach. Editions SWP (see address attached). "SWP Research Paper" series, No. 4. February 2009, 53 pp.
This study focuses on the different approaches adopted by the European Community in the context of the conflict between Palestine and Israel. The Union seeks to assume a more concrete role at an international level and cannot, therefore, remain on the sidelines or exclusively leave it up to the US to take action. In this context, Muriel Asseburg, Head of the Middle East and Africa Department at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin made a visit to the Carnegie Centre for the Middle East in 2008 where for six months she interviewed the embassy personnel of European member states and European Commission delegations, as well as political representatives from Syria and Lebanon, in an effort to examine the European strategy in the region and develop possible ways for obtaining peace. After having described the framework in which European policies are established towards Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories, Ms Asseburg analyses the policies implemented by the Union for each of these entities in an effort to identify the objectives pursued, the instruments used, as well as the results of these policies and subsequently aims to locate the reasons for the success and failures encountered. The final part of the publication proposes a number of general conclusions and more efficient approaches that could be adopted.
(NDu)
*** ANTONY BEEVOR: D-Day et la bataille de Normandie. Calmann-Lévy (31 rue de Fleurus, F-75006 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 49543600 - fax: 45448632 - Internet: http://www.calmann-levy.fr ). 2009, 638 pp, €29. ISBN 978-2-7021-4016-1.
In this impressive book, a career soldier and historian known for his extensive knowledge of the Second World War looks at the Allied landings of 6 June 1944 and the battle of Normandy that followed. In so doing, Antony Beevor's Anglo-Saxon style historical narrative provides a thorough update on the subject. His book drew on both archives in the US and United Kingdom, as well as unprecedented documents and records of debriefings with US soldiers. He highlights the disorder, the improvisation, strategic and tactical errors, as well as the lack of troop preparation that almost cost the Allies victory but which was saved by their superior air power.
(PBo)