*** PHILIPPE VINCENT: Institutions économiques internationales. Editions Larcier (Groupe De Boeck, 39 rue des Minimes, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2)5480713 - Fax: 5480714 - email: commande@deboeckservices.com - Internet: http://www.larcier.com ). "Droit international" series. 2009, 347 pp. ISBN 978-2-8044-2062-8.
This book will be a useful reminder for experts and also, at the start of the twenty-first century, for 'Everyman' wishing to understand the comings and goings of institutions in this globalised world, for whom it will be a true delight. At frequent intervals, there is much talk about the International Monetary Fund, the World Trade Organisation and the World Bank. How many people, however, actually know how these world trade and economic cooperation bodies arose and how they have grown in strength over the years? Who could clam to understand the internal workings of these bodies, how they operate and how they are governed? Very few, of course, because most of us have only a superficial understanding and we will find this explanatory book by Philippe Vincent extremely useful. It follows on from a 30-hour lecture course for students of international relations and development at Liège University in Belgium and is a real delight in that he explains in a clear and reader-friendly manner in fewer than 350 pages the key facts needed for an overview and an understanding of the general set-up.
Written by a lawyer who was not trying to made a political, sociological or economic analysis of the institutions in question, reading between the lines in the book one can discern the true from the false, sort the wheat from the chaff and marshal the ideas that are often spouted about these institutions. The author takes a very scientific approach and refuses to get sidetracked by politically-biased arguments. For example, while he says that international rules on trade and investment, or international farm policies "can only be beneficial to all," it is also true that, as Lacordaire puts it, "between the rich and the poor, freedom is oppressive but the law is liberating," and he explains at the start of the introduction that these institutions leave much to be desired: "They do not take enough notice of the damage caused to the environment by no-strings-attached globalisation that cares little for the future. The austerity programmes they have imposed on a number of countries have turned out to be disastrous for their inhabitants, who have often been forced out of work and education and deprived of basic needs… in the name of the sacred monetary orthodoxy". This statement gains in intensity as one reads the book, particularly as it is confirmed by cold scientific fact rather than the heated arguments of a political activist.
Proof of this comes right at the start of the first section of the book on international trade cooperation bodies. Before describing the World Trade Organisation in any detail, or how international investment is regulated and the regulations governing trade in commodities, the author describes the basic ideas of free trade and protectionism, the arguments made in favour (and against) free trade, and changes in international trade over time like the alterations that took place after the Second World War (how GATT arose alongside the United Nations and the impact of the Marshall Plan) and the triumph of globalisation. This triumph saw nations "forgetting that their prosperity was built on their domestic market, protected from protectionism". Philippe Vincent therefore warns: "It might be better for countries to think back to a time when the pensée unique reigned supreme in this connection although pay continued to fall in real terms, leading to a contraction in domestic demand that had already been hit by the impact of restructuring and relocation that increased inequality a little more every day". In the following pages, the author does not examine European Union law as such because this would require a whole tome in itself, he explains, but he does provide useful explanations of the powers of the EU within the WTO and big issues of interest to the EU, like the banana dispute and how this impacts on the relations between the EU and ACP banana growers, the 'Everything but Arms' initiative, the hormone-treated beef dispute, genetically-modified organisms and the tricky subject of farm subdues, etc.
Addressed in the same spirit of rigour and precision, the second part of the book looks at global financial and monetary cooperation institutions. Again, the author starts by pointing out the origins of currency, probably dating back to a few cities in Asia Minor in the form of "small metal balls of electrum, a natural alloy of gold and silver that was found in the bed of the River Pactolus," followed by the arrival of private paper money, the first attempts to introduce a public paper money and the creation of central banks, moving from the gold standard to the gold exchange standard and the emergence of the various Bretton Woods institutions, institutions that are then analysed in the following chapters. No revolutionary analysis, in other words, but an extremely valuable overview. It would be a great shame for students to be the only people to benefit from reading this book…
Michel Theys
*** NICOLAS THIRION (Ed.): Droit international et européen des sociétés. Editions Larcier (see above). "Droit des sociétés" series. 2009, 304 pp, €68. ISBN 978-2-8044-3219-5.
Although globalisation is nothing new because capitalism has always naturally and spontaneously tended to expand geographically, it goes without saying that the sheer scale of globalisation in recent years means that dividing companies up into subsidiaries, company relocations and the creation of subsidiaries and agencies has become these days, as Prof. Nicolas Thirion of Liège University and vesting senior lecturer at the 'Université Catholique de Louvain' in Belgium explains in the introduction, "the common fate of economic life". This naturally led to legal rules being changed to bring them into line with the internationalisation of business life and company mobility and these changes to adjust to the mobility of companies have required regulatory work that goes beyond state boundaries to the international or even supranational level. This explanatory book following on from lectures to higher education legal students provides an overview of the legal changes accompanying the globalisation of the economy by companies. The first section of the book identifies the first legal provisions to accompany globalisation by researching both public and private international law. The second section is even more meaty in that it systematically examines the body of rules at EU level with the 'more integrationist nature' of the EU "justifying a much more comprehensive legal system" than at international level "in order to ensure within the Common Market (and then the Single Market) the greatest level of company mobility within the EU". The authors proceed to scientifically dissect this body of rules in groups, concentrating on primary law, derived law (like the EU directive coordinating company law, company capital and restructuring, accounts and auditing), the industrial cooperation legal tools (European economic interest groups, European publicly limited companies and European cooperatives) and European Court of Justice case law. With the aim of being coherent and not turning the book into an indigestible solid lump, the authors (who are all current or former staff work gin on commercial law at the legal faculty of Liège University) have avoided areas closely connected with company law like financial law, the law governing stock markets and social law. This deliberate omission leads one to hope that another successful book will be published in this connection in the near future…
(MT)
*** DOMINIQUE BERLIN: Contrôle des concentrations. Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles (26 av. Paul Héger, CP 163, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 6503799 - Fax: 6503794 - email: editions@admin.ulb.ac.be - Internet: http: //http://www.editions-universite-bruxelles.be ). "Commentaire J. Mégret" series. 2009, 597 pp, €80. ISBN 978-2-8004-1459-1.
Monitoring company mergers and acquisitions in the name of healthy competition is one of the European Commission's flagships, although the original European Community treaties did not actually mention competition. Much ground has been covered since then, to such an extent that no fewer than 402 mergers and acquisitions were notified to the Commission in 2007 alone. Meanwhile, the regulatory arsenal has frequently been considerably extended and rehashed, both in terms of the scope of the EU rules and their content. Professor at Panthéon-Sorbonne University in Paris (Paris I), Dominique Berlin has taken the wise decision of examining this complex issue. In the first part of the book, he explains the role of mergers and acquisitions in the EU and then looks in the second part at the control mechanisms as such under EU law. He pays particular attention to measures introduced in a 2004 EU regulation and related legislation that form the body of law governing the EU's scrutiny of mergers and acquisitions. The author aksi looks at reports and memorandums in which the European Commission explains competition policy and its own powers. A fine reference book!
(PBo)
*** TOBIAS WITSCHKE: Gefahr für den Wettbewerb? Die Fusionskontrolle der Europäischen Gemeinschaft für Kohle und Stahl und die "Rekonzentration" der Ruhrstahlindustrie 1950-1963. Academie Verlag (D-10785 Berlin. Internet: http: //http://www.akademie-verlag.de ). "Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte" series, No. 10. 2009, 383 pp, €68-90. ISBN 978-3-05-004232-9.
For economic, political and historic reasons, coal and steel have been a case apart in the European construction project since the Paris Treaty that gave rise to the European Coal and Steel Community. This is why coal and steel have been treated differently from other industries in EU competition policy. This book describes changes in the coal and steel industries following the creation of the ECSC, followed by the European Economic Community and then the European Union. The ECSC High Authority and the Commission were not only in charge of company mergers and acquisitions but also, more importantly, they had powers over the collective management of the shutting down of coal and steel plants in Member States. Tobias Witschke looks at the history of EU legislation in this domain and changes in the two industries. He pays particular attention to ECSC action in the Ruhr region of Germany, examining the behaviour of national governments from 1950 to 1963 following the creation of the ECSC, and also examining the High Authority's powers and the drafting of Article 66 controlling mergers and acquisitions in the European Community.
(JD)
*** ISABELLE BAUDET: Négociations commerciales dans les relations B2B. Guide Juridique. Editions Larcier (see above). 2009, 170 pp. ISBN 978-2-8044-1506-8.
This book by Isabelle Baudet, doctor of law and a lecturer at ESC la Rochelle in France, is a guide to help readers find their way around trade negotiations between producers and shops. The connection between industry and trade has often been the subject of public intervention and upstream negotiations enable the latter to directly influence retail prices and therefore control the way prices for consumers are formulated. In France, the 'Trade Code' governing B2B negotiations since the early1950s protects independent shopkeepers from the power of industry and also confers significant duties on producers when it comes to pricing, which created fertile ground for the rising power of big supermarket chains and their often dubious trading methods. Initiatives to curb supermarkets' purchasing power in France (like the 1973 Royer Law and the 5 July 1996 Raffarin Law) did little to counter the trend and instead accentuated it. The latest initiative to reduce supermarkets' powers is part of the August 2008 law to update the French economy, which recommends banning discriminatory practices while allowing and encouraging the negotiation of suppliers' prices and sales conditions to prevent abuse. This book explains the complex legal framework in France governing trade negotiations between professionals, reviewing the various mechanisms available to suppliers and those available to shops and supermarkets, along with mechanisms for negotiating sales conditions and prices.
(NDu)
*** MAREIKE KÖLLER: Ausländische Direktinvestitionen und regionale Integration - das Beispiel Irland. Peter Lang (1 Moostrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3471727 - email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Cege-Schriften (Centrum für Europa-, Gourvenance- und Entwicklungsforschung, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen), No. 16. 2009, 281 pp, €48.10. ISBN 978-3-631-59078-2.
Within the European Union, the Celtic Tiger of Ireland used to be held up as a model of a booming economy thanks to the raft of direct foreign investment it was able to attract. This book examines the Celtic Tiger phenomenon and its connection with European regional integration. The author examines the conditions that favoured the massive expansion, including both domestic (geographical location) and foreign policy considerations (being part of the European Union). In the light of what sets Ireland apart and enabled it to attract such a wealth of foreign investment, Mareike Köller looks at whether the most recent countries to join the European Union could use the same strategy to grow their economies.
(EPi)