*** FRANCIS SNYDER, IMELDA MAHER (Editors): The Evolution of the European Courts: Institutional Change and Continuity - L'évolution des juridictions européennes: changements et continuité. Sixth International Workshop for Young Scholars (WISH) - Sixième Rencontre Internationale des Jeunes Chercheurs (RIJC). Etablissements Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5129842 - fax: 5119477 - jean@bruylant.be - Internet: http://www.bruylant.be ). "Travaux du Ceric", No, 18. 2009, 257 pp, €40. ISBN 978-2-8027-2765-1.
A few months ago, through its ruling on the constitutional implications of the Lisbon treaty, the German Constitutional Court, caused quite a stir. This book attempts to explore the situation that ensued. Although the treaty does not directly tackle the controversy created by the German judiciary, it examines the legal architecture that developed within the European community, under the impetus of the European Court of Justice, which employed Constitutional principles, the primacy of European law, the doctrine of the direct effect of respect for human rights, to affirm, over the years, the “constitutional, innovative and doctrinal” key. Ultimately, perhaps or even certainly, it takes to task a number of judges responsible for ensuring respect for national constitutional principles.
This book is the definitive accomplishment of the Sixth International Meeting of Young Researchers who, every year, meet up with their counterparts at three prestigious universities (the School of Law at University College Dublin, the Centre d'études et de recherches internationales et communautaire de la Faculté de droit et de science politique de l'Université Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille III and the Natolin campus at the College of Europe) - academic institutions held in great repute. The most interesting contributions to this book are from the “prize-winners” because their work has been revised in light of the comments and criticism made by experts in this area during the seminar. The analysis provided in this book is of a high scientific level, which also means the targeted readership is of a select degree. In practice, the studies focus on three major themes. The first attempts to locate the European legal bodies in the context of multi-level governance and “the diplomacy of transnational European legal networks in times of constitutional crisis”, the use of the primacy of European law (Reinhard Slepcevic describes the idea that this will create a uniform impact throughout the member states, as a myth) and the way in which the European courts have tackled resolutions from the United Nations Security Council. The second part tackles former and modern basic principles used by the European court to make their decisions on subjects such as preventing laws being abused and the relationship between the principle of free movement and sustainable development. Finally, the third part looks at the different challenges facing the European legal bodies such as the legal supervision of the freedom, security and justice area, the emergence of a new jurisdictional architecture in the context of intellectual property and the involvement of the European courts (Court of Justice, European Court of Human Rights and the British courts) in the context of the Cypriot conflict.
Returning to the controversial decision of the German Constitutional Court, focus agains falls on the contribution of the two researchers from Pisa, Giuseppe Martinico and Filippo Fontanelli, who examine the “techniques of hidden dialogue” between the courts in a multi-level system. In this regard, they reveal that the European Court of Justice adopts a much more conciliatory line when dealing with the national courts than with the international courts. This line is taken in an effort to protect its pre-eminent position when it comes to interpreting Community law.
Michel Theys
*** ARMIN VON BOGDANDY, JÜRGEN BAST (Editors): Principles of European Constitutional Law. Hart Publishing (16c Worcester Place, Oxford, OX1 2JW, UK. Tel: (44-1865) 517530 - fax: 510710 - email: mail@hartpub.co.uk - Internet: http//: http://www.hartpub.co.uk ). 2010, p 806, £150. ISBN 978-1-84113-822-0.
This is the second edition of a monumental book, updated since the abandonment of the constitutional treaty and its re-emergence in the form of the Lisbon treaty. The publication demonstrates that the authors are not going to be put off by different quirks of history. The book's editors immediately affirm that, "the European Council does not appear to have the competency for imposing its authority on the question of whether the founding treating have a constitutional character or not”. Neither do they mince their words when they assert that in light of, “the democratic-liberal tradition of constitutionalism”, primary law in the Union is definitively constitutional law. All the somersaults of recent years prove that the Union, “has lost its constitutional innocence”, which is probably a good thing, “somewhere between Amsterdam, Laeken and Lisbon, in addition to its former purely operational or intergovernmental sources of legitimacy also having lost a lot of their power” in face of increasing demands for democracy, the rule of law and the protection of fundamental rights. New dynamics will mean that the Union will not return to being a simple regulatory agency in an improved common market or regional arrangement between states. The great strength of this book is that its authors back up their convictions scientifically by exploring and taking apart each dossier. In the first part, they therefore seek to delineate a field for European constitutional law and subsequently analyse the relationship between federalism and democracy and that which prevails within the are a of European primary law and the national constitutions. In the second part, the institutions are in the firing line, as well as “executive federalism” and, “the federal order of competencies”, which according to book's writers, is the key for understanding the relations that have developed between the Union and its member states. In the same perspective, this new edition also seeks to explore how constitutionalism can be perceived in the domain of foreign affairs and protecting the Union's powers. The legal position of an individual is studied in the third part of the book in light of citizenship and fundamental freedoms in the context of the Freedom, Security and Justice Area. The fourth part of the book dissects the developing constitution in the perspective of the social order in the market economy, the labour market and competition. The final part of the work is extremely rich and contains contributions from big academic and legal players who look at the course European integration has taken.
(MT)
*** JOËL RIDEAU (Editor): Les droits fondamentaux dans l'Union européenne. Dans le sillage de la Constitution européenne. Établissements Bruylant (see address attached). « Droit de l'Union européenne series / Colloquies » No. 8. 2009, 489 p., €75. ISBN 978-2-8027-2724-8.
This follows on from a colloquy organised by the University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis three years ago, as part of a transnational research project (with the support of the Free University of Brussels and University of Bologna), which had been initiated by the Commission in an effort to identify, “the innovative principles of the European Constitution”. The book seeks to provide a comprehensive and scientific analysis of the subject involving the protection of fundamental rights as it continually evolves in the Union. In the first part, the different contributions provide a catalogue of protected rights and freedoms, which are of interest to the “law givers” (the judge more than the legislator) and include legal concepts and instruments that have evolved in this area: data protection in respect of fundamental rights in the fight against terrorism; children's rights; environmental and individual rights; social Europe and access to services of general interest. In the second part of the book, other legal experts, teachers and young researchers seek to assess the modalities of protection, which are being extended, particularly by way of “constructive dialogue” developed between national judges in Luxembourg and Strasbourg. In his conclusions, Professor Burgorgue-Larsen (Université Paris I Panthéon Sorbonne) illustrates how this dynamic has allowed for this catalogue of rights to be expanded but also shows that “not everything is marvellous in this modern fairy tale” whether it is in the area of protecting fundamental rights remaining an internal area of discussion or where the discussion stalls on the parameters, the criteria for controlling respect for these rights and the extent of this control, as well as the external dimensions and the projection of the European Union as a, “a geometric conditional that varies according to the Union's external action policy practised”. Finally, to sum up in a few lines, this book provides a rich clarification and scientifically qualified analysis that succeeds in backing up the arguments it puts forward.
(MT)
*** ROBERTO SPECIALE: Generazione ribelle - Quaderni ritrovati. Edizioni Diabasis (54 via Emilia S. Stefano, Reggio Emilia, I-42100. Tel: (39-0522) 432727 - fax: 434047 -: info@diabasis.it -Internet: http://www.diabasis.it ). 2009, 125 pp., €12. ISBN 978-88-8103-670-7).
Elected to the European Parliament in 1989 and 1994 (two mandates about which he provides a lively account, with fond memories of his colleagues), Roberto Speciale was, in particular, a very active and determined president of the regional committee. This small and very personal book does not, however, just focus on his European commitment but also recounts the story of his broader political engagement. It tells of his involvement in the Movimento studentesco, in Genoa during the 1960s, a heady period in the Italian student movement, well before May 1968. In this book Strasbourg is referred to for the first time not as a European Parliament plenary but as meeting organised in 1966 with representatives from the German SDS led by Rudi Dutschke. He was an activist first of all in the PSIUP, then the PCI, which became the PDS (an evolution in which he provides a personal account). Speciale is still continuing his European project in another way, in Genoa, with his Centro In Europa and Fondation Casa America (which encourages contact and exchange with Latin America). He has now decided to publish his notebooks of the past, which were effectively found again by someone completely unconnected who had to “empty” three apartments at three different addresses in the Liguri a capital but who decided not to throw them away but send them back to Speciale. In the introduction, Speciale explains the publication of these notes, which, as he says, were not meant to be published. They are, above all, a means for him to revisit significant events he experienced several decades previously but which, “still perhaps have something to say to other people”. “Good politics existed and I had the chance of seeing it”, he says, with a certain nostalgia. He also asks, with a reference to the title for this series, whether they still have a need to rebel today. This account, has some salient moments about a man but also a city that was loved, full of life and often difficult. The author is a native born son of Genoa, which gives this book added personal veracity.
(MG)
*** European View. The Meaning of 1989. Editions Springer (7 Haberstrasse, D-69126 Heidelberg. Tel: (49-6221) 345-4304 - fax: 345-4229 - Email: subscriptions@springer.com - Internet: http://www.springer.com ). Collection "European View", No. 8/2. December 2009, 164 p.
This new European View publication, the academic journal of the Centre for European Studies (the reflection group for the European People's Party) mainly tackles the situation in Europe twenty years after the fall of the iron curtain and the Communist regimes, as well as the last wave of Union enlargement. President Buzek refers to the transformation of Poland since then. There are also contributions on relations with the Union's neighbours and Turkey.
(PBo)
*** Le Courrier de l'Europe. Office de Publications Européennes (68 Bld de Port Royal, F-75005 Paris. Tel: (32-496) 380297 - Email: bruno.boissiere@cife.eu). December 2009, 34 pp..
This magazine issue is overseen by former MEP Bruno Boissière and is supported by the International Centre for European Training. Its main feature focuses on the European defence dossier at the time of the tenth anniversary of European Security and Defence Policy. It also includes contributions by Javier Solana, General Henri Bentegeat and Admiral Peter Hudson, who all seek answer the question of what exactly underpins this policy?
(MT)
*** Fedechoses… pour le fédéralisme. Presse fédéraliste (Maison de l'Europe, 18 av. Félix Faure, F-69007 Lyon. Internet: http://www.pressefederaliste.eu ). 2009, No. 146, 28 pp., €3. Annual subscription: €15.
This very militant federalist publication sees the Lisbon treaty as a way of getting out of an hazy situation and into a h ard-core, notably, a “federalist hard-core”, which in the eyes of Jean-Pierre Gouzy, should be the way forward for Union members and guide how they participate in its institutions. The situation is particularly urgent and if this sense of urgency is lacking, Europe will remain in this hazy hinterland and whose citizens will be increasingly switched off by it and become its victims. Other contributions clarify the federalist vision of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, at the two hundredth anniversary of this philosopher. Other contributions look at “humanity's common goods”. There is also an “open letter” that the African Federalist Movement, Jean-Paul Pougala, addressed to the Italian foreign affairs minister and former European Commissioner - Franco Frattini on how he sees relations between Europe and Africa.
(MT)