*** JORG MONAR (Editors): The Institutional Dimension of the European Union's Area of Freedom, Security and Justice. 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 ). “College of Europe Studies” series, No. 11. 2010, 268 pp, €31.90. ISBN 978-90-5201-615-3.
This publication is the extension of a research project carried out by the University of Strasbourg, in collaboration with the College of Europe in Bruges. It also received financial support from the European Commission. It consists of a number of different contributions and provides both a meticulous and clear analysis, which is both critical and constructive. It explores how the institutions have participated and have been adapted to the irresistible increase in importance of legal and home affairs in the European context. The Union's institutions are subsequently examined by a number of experts from the academic world and/or by senior civil servants: the Council of Ministers by Hans G. Nilsson (head of the department at the Council Secretariat General and a guest lecturer at the College of Europe); Julian Siegl (an intern at DG JLS the time of writing this book); at the Commission by Richard Lewis ( former head of the Immigration and Asylum Unit at the Commission and a teacher at the Free University of Brussels' European Studies Institute); David Spence (Commission Delegation adviser to the United Nations in Geneva, at the time this book was being put together), at the European Parliament (Emilio De Capitani, Head of the Secretariat at the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee) and at the European Court of Justice by Professor Vassilis Hatzopoulos (Democritus University in Thrace and the College of Europe), who outlines the “new habits” which have been outlined for him in the domain in question by those who drafted the Lisbon Treaty. Other analyses are also provided in the same perspective, which explore the special structures and other functions that have developed within the Union's activities in these fields: Europol (Michael Niemeier, Director of international cooperation at the Bundeskriminalamt; Marc André Wiegand, an official at the German Home Affairs Department); Eurojust (Maylis Labayle, who was working as an intern for the vice president and Belgian representation when this book was published; Hans G. Nilsson, already mentioned above); at Frontex (Lieutenant General Montez Beuving, former president of the managing committee for this body); the Union antiterrorism coordinator (Gilles de Kerkhove backed up by Serge de Biolley, adviser to the Belgian permanent representation to the Union and an assistant at the Free University of Brussels' European Studies Institute; Emmanuel Barbe (Deputy Secretary General of the European Affairs Secretariat General of the French prime minister's office), who subsequently traces the “success story” of the liaison magistrates. The book contains a number of “personal reflections” from the expert, Charles Elsen, who has for a very long time been director-general of the DG at the Council Secretariat General.
All these different specialists carefully clarify the different aspects of the general trends summarised in the introductory chapter by Jörg Monar the light of the often chaotic but inexorable developments occurring in the field of justice and home affairs in the Union. The director of the European political and administrative studies at the College of Europe in Bruges begins by pointing out that a lot of progress has been made in this area with regard to both sovereignty and the principle of territoriality. In the beginning, it was obviously strictly intergovernmental cooperation that was promoted and precursors such as Trevi - pour “Terrorism, radicalism and international violence” in the 1970s and Schengen in the decade that followed. The need to obtain a unanimous vote was, “without doubt the most effective obstacle to unwanted integration”, which was maintained for certain points in Community-remit dossiers through the Maastricht and Amsterdam treaties and again witnessed with the very recent and watered down framework decision on the European arrest warrant in 2008. The author highlights a number of other characteristics specific to this domain, such as the need to develop strong operational resources, which member states have taken advantage of, in addition to the high degree of differentiation prevailing in this domain, particularly with the opt out and involvement of countries that are not part of the Union. Over time, a new institutional dynamic has, nonetheless, asserted itself through necessity, which enabled European states to enhance their action in this field. The Commission, the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice gradually managing to whittle down the monopoly of action enjoyed by the Council, thanks to the progressive disappearance of the three pillars inherited from the Maastricht Treaty. For Jörg Monar, the Lisbon Treaty is another step in the right direction even if he considers that the old division will continue to slightly influence the decision-making and action taken by the Commission, Parliament and the European Court of Justice in certain areas. Evolution has therefore proved positive, albeit fragile: the Franco-Italian spat over the Schengen provisions is a very apparent reflection of this scenario … Michel Theys
*** MASSIMO FICHERA: The implementation of the European Arrest Warrant in the European Union: law, policy and practice. Intersentia (31 Groenstraat, B-2640 Mortsel. Tel: (32-3) 6801550 - fax: 6587121 - Email: mail@intersentia.be - Internet: http://www.intersentia.be ). “Supranational Criminal Law: Capita Selecta”, No. 10. 2011, 253 pp, €65. ISBN 978-94-000-0172-5.
The subject of this excellent research project is to critically examine the superlative identification instrument represented by the European arrest warrant and how it can operate in the non-harmonised landscape of the European Union. Massimo Fichera begins by describing the evolutionary process of legal cooperation in the penal arena. He then examines the sources of mutual recognition within the framework of the Council of Europe. With this as his premise, the author subsequently analyses the slow and arduous gestation of the European arrest warrant, based on the hypothesis (which he subjects to examination) of a high degree of mutual trust and the pressure created by the attacks perpetrated on 11 September. He illustrates the fact that the infringements that justify the use of the European arrest warrant were, “vaguely defined or which were not subject to an appropriate harmonisation”. In this perspective, a balance sheet was drawn up in Italy and the United Kingdom and a subsequent remedy to the shortcomings was put forward. One of the conclusions was that although the European arrest warrant was more efficient than traditional extradition, it provided fewer guarantees in terms of the protection of human rights and the rights of the defence. (PBo)
*** TARU SPRONKEN: An EU-Wide Letter of Rights. Towards Best Practice. Intersentia (31 Groenstraat, B-2640 Mortsel. Tel.: (32-3) 6801550 - fax: 6587121 - Email: mail@intersentia.be - Internet: http://www.intersentia.be ). “IUS Commune Europaeum” series, No. 92. 2010, 523 pp., €75. ISBN 978-94-000-0163-3.
Anyone arrested and interrogated by the police because they are suspected of being involved in a crime has, above all, certain… rights. This consists of the right to silence or the right to a lawyer or even a doctor during the first few hours of custody. It is also necessary that the person in question knows their rights or, at least, are able to benefit from appropriate information in their regard. This study aims to verify that this has always been the case throughout the Union. Set up by the German Federal Justice Department and funded by the European Commission, this research product was headed by a lecturer at the University of Maastricht between 2009 and July 2010. It has helped to verify whether written information is assured in the specific context of Union countries and how this information is used. On the basis of the European Court of human rights' jurisprudence, the writer of this book develops a normative framework that seeks to establish standards and a legal basis for the information provided to a suspect in the initial phase of a police investigation. As part of his conclusion, Professor Spronken develops (in all the different Union languages) a model “letter of rights”, which could be used as a source of future inspiration for the EU27. (PBo)
*** YVES BUR: Union européenne et Conseil de l'Europe, la force de la coopération pour l'Europe des droits de l'homme. Commission des Affaires européennes (Boutique de l'Assemblée nationale, 7 rue Aristide Briand, F-75007 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40630033 - Internet: http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr ). "Rapport d'information" series, No. 3083. 2011, 104 pp, €5. ISBN 978-2-11-131231-9.
In this Rapport d'information (newsletter), the French MP responsible for writing it welcomes the fact that the Union has a comprehensive arsenal for protecting fundamental rights. Nonetheless, he points out that this domain is why the Council of Europe effectively exists and he subsequently calls for vigorous complementarity to be developed between these two organisations. He argues that the accession of the Union to the European Convention of Human Rights is only the first half of this trajectory. (MT)
*** ANNE-SOPHIE MILLET-DEVALLE (Editors): L'Union européenne et la protection des migrants et des réfugiés. Editions A. Pedone (13 rue Soufflot, F-75005 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 43540597 - fax: 46340760 - Email: librairie@apedone.nett - Internet: http://www.apedone.net ). 2010, 290 pp, €32. ISBN 978-2-233-00611-0.
This book contains the details of a colloquy that the Institute for Law, Peace and Development at the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis organised almost a year ago on how they European Union positions itself on the question of migrants and refugees. This colloquy and book proved to be a premonition because this theme has once again become a burning issue over recent weeks and continues to provoke debates and even controversies within the Union. This is pointed out by Anne-Sophie Millet-Devalle in her preface, where she also underlines the need to improve the scope and coherency of protection for these people, which is now, more than ever determined by the fact that their situation is, “often increasingly analysed in a perspective of the European Union's security and managing migratory flows, rather than guaranteeing rights”. Politics also seeks to impose a drastic distinction by the institutions and member states between migrants and refugees. Although in this book, academics are loath to accept this differentiation. The book begins with a horizontal perspective of developments in the legal framework for protection as defined by the Union, which is written by Catherine Witol de Wenden. The national and institutional dimensions for protection are then examined, in addition to an assessment of the convergence developed between member states in this field. The Union's external protection is then examined in four different contributions: Francesco Luciani (Commission) looks at Union action helping migrants and refugees who transit or reside in a non-EU country, whilst Annabelle Roig (HCR) dissects, “attempts to externalise the protection of refugees within the development of the external dimension of European asylum policy”. Another section focuses on, “the fragmentation of protection”, which is particularly down to the fact that, “there has been a sharp increase in the different categories of migrants and refugees”. The last part of the book looks at the uncertainties affecting protection (particularly for non-accompanied minors, in addition to standards and minimum guarantees). The conclusions are drawn by Professor Laurence Burgorgue-Larsen, who describes the Union's values as somewhere between utopia and realism when it comes to the protection of migrants and refugees … (MT)
*** MOULOUD BOUMGHAR: Une approche de la notion de principe dans le système de la Convention européenne des droits de l'homme. Editions A. Pedone (13 rue Soufflot, F-75005 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 43540597 - fax: 46340760 - Email: librairie@apedone.net - Internet: http://www.pedone.info ). "Publications de la Fondation Marangopoulos pour les droits de l'homme", No. 16. 2010, 404 pp. ISBN 978-2-233-00596-0.
This book is the re-edited and condensed version of a PhD thesis at the Pantheon-Assas University and which subsequently received the Jacques Mourgeon prize from the French Society for International Law. Obviously, it will be of interest to a target readership of legal specialists, especially because the author (after having worked at the European University Institute in Florence) now teaches public law at the Université Littoral Cote d'Opale de Boulogne-sur-Mer - and has focused his impressive research project on the subject that will only be of passionate interest to a handful of scientists in the world. The starting point in this paper is in fact the very notion of law and the European Convention of human right is in fact the subject of this research and the experimental field in which it takes place. Mouloud Boumghar begins by providing a definition of the principle and locates it as a standard qualified as such by the European judiciary. Subsequently, he refutes the main approaches adopted in legal theory and his definition also proves to be the result of a meticulous analysis of a democratic society, its notions and the pre-eminence of law. Emmanuel Decaux therefore points out in his preface that, “this is a complete reconstruction of the notion of legal order contained within this publication”. The author then analyses the “functions” of the principle by way of a rereading of the jurisprudence as laid down by the European Court of human rights. According to Decaux the author, “reconciles judicial logic and the democratic ideal”. (PBo)
*** PAUL GIFFORD, TESSA HAUSWEDELL (editors): Europe and its Others. Essays on Interperception and Identity. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen, Switzerland. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - e-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Cultural Identity Studies" series, No. 18. 2010, 297 pp, €41.10. ISBN 978-3-03911-968-4.
This publication brings together academics specialising in different cultural domains. It analyses the invisible processes at the beginning of the 21st-century and which have helped identify the formation of a European identity, whether this involves gender-based roles and paradigms such as “otherness”, the role of border zones and those on the margins of society, the hidden grammar of hostility and violence, public and private areas of representation etc…