*** Une dynamique européenne. Le Comité d'action pour les États-Unis d'Europe. Economica (49 rue Héricart, F-75015 Paris) et Fondation Jean Monnet pour l'Europe (Ferme de Dorigny, CH-1015 Lausanne. Tel: (32-2) 5480720 - fax: 5480722 - Email: info@strada.be - Internet: http://www.larcier.com ). « Cahiers rouges » series. 2011, 394 pp. €29. ISBN 978-2-7178-6037-5.
This is the 212th edition of the Cahier rouge series. In this issue it publishes the main discussion points at a colloquy organised by the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe in Lausanne in September 2009, in collaboration with the University of Cergy-Pontoise and the Jean Monnet association. The latter managers the premises it occupies in the Parisian outskirts. The main advantage of this book is that it includes contributions by specialists in the academic world, as well as contributions by authors and major players in this area. A previous study therefore helped clarify the challenges in the here and now, as well as those in the future. The colloquy and book are both structured into three different parts: the organisation of the Action Committee for the United States of Europe, created by Monnet after he handed over control to the High Authority for the European Coal and Steel Community. His main areas of action and real influence are therefore those involving the “Monnet Method”
A book of this kind cannot be easily summarised, it has to be savoured from one page to the next because each page is a wealth of information and provides official sources of clarification. The author of these few lines is keen to highlight some of the answers provided to the question permeating this book: what was in fact the real influence of this Committee? Antonio Varsori (University of Padua) explained that it enabled Jean Monnet, who had become an ordinary “ senior retired civil servant” to maintain “an influence on many European decision-makers” whilst exercising this capacity, particularly on the Germans and British, even though his influence in practice was “minor”. The reason for this is that in 1955, at the Messina Conference, the political era had changed. This is borne out by a conversation between Monnet and his brother in arms Max Kohnstamm, sent to Sicily and who was a harassed by his “boss” in an effort to influence the outcome of the ministerial meetings. In the following dialogue he addressed Monnet with the entreaty, “Sir, I beg you to understand one thing, they are not there to build Europe, they are here to bury you”. After which Monnet chuckled and replied, “well then, they're very much mistaken”. He was neither completely wrong nor completely right … Valérie Aubourg (University of Cergy-Pontoise) quite clearly demonstrates that the, “English affair” had certainly marked, “the apogee and limits of the Action Committee's influence”. The committee had been the first to expand and to allow in British representatives, Edward Heath, at the head of them. Today, is it really necessary to congratulate the Anglo-Saxon world on its loyalty? During the “roundtable” organised at the end of the colloquy, Mario Soares did not hesitate to denounce the United Kingdom as being guilty of, “always seeking to sabotage political Europe” and afterwards, during the time of Blair, “trying to convert several convinced Europeans to the cause of neoliberalism, the ideology which resulted in the casino economy… and the current financial and economic crisis, which is also a social, political and environmental crisis…”
Another mistake Monnet and his committee made was in being right too soon. We can see this clearly with the role played by Helmut Schmidt who, as pointed out by Guido Thiemeyer (University of Cergy-Pontoise), saw Monnet as a “political father”, and who would subsequently meet a certain Valéry Giscard d'Estaing at the Committee. In this regard, “even though Monnet did not see the creation of the EMS, he can, however, be considered as one of those who conceptualised it”, because, as explained by Thiemeyer, Giscard and Schmidt initiated in 1978 the European Monetary System on the basis of models developed and discussed at the Committee. Given the monetary and budgetary problems currently being experienced, it is completely pertinent to point out that the members of this Committee sought to create in 1958, “reserve monetary funds, supported by member states' central banks but from which member states that were in a balance of payments deficit, would be able to receive loans”. This is idea was developed the following year by, “calling for a European reserve fund to be created in order to provide loans, independent of the International Monetary Fund, to states that were experiencing balance of payments crisis”. These may prove to be a very pertinent historical wake-up calls to the national rulers that have been governing us since and continue to do so …
Throughout the book, the figure of Monnet is shown to be someone whose horizons were not limited to Europe alone: Gilles Grin (Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe) clearly shows that for Monnet, the Community was not an end in itself but a simple stage towards, “universal government”. Professor Gérard Bossuat (Université de Cergy-Pontoise) confirmed that he was undoubtedly, “more interested in the construction of institutions for peaceful unity rather than the construction of European unity in itself”. In this respect Wilfried Loth (University of Duisburg-Essen) sees Monnet as an, “organiser for globalisation”. There is no doubt about it, Monnet was definitely a figure from a different era!
Michel Theys
*** Fédéchoses… pour le fédéralisme. Presse fédéraliste (Maison de l'Europe, 18 av. Félix Faure,
F-69007 Lyon. Internet: http://www.pressefederaliste.eu ). 2011, No. 152, 36 pp, €8. Annual subscription: €30.
This federalist publication in this 36 page edition seeks to tackle action taken at an international level to attempt to ensure good environmental health and healthy climate policy on the earth, “as well as the tool for direct democracy” as represented by the European Citizens Initiative. Lucio Levi from Italy proposes that this tool is used to, “build a movement from below”; Guido Montani sees it as the promise of a, “ new springtime for European democracy” and the former MEP Sylvia-Yvonne Kaufmann considers that it represents, “a major responsibility for federalists to assume”. The vice president of the European Federalist Youth, Pauline Gessant is persuaded that it provides, “a formidable opportunity” after having reamined a demand for such a long time. For the editor, this instrument for citizens' mobilisation should be used as a means organising a constitutive Convention during the 2014 European elections. This objective will be to ratify this federal Constitution, “through a European referendum in the countries that participated in the drafting of this document, in an effort to go beyond the blackmail of national veto”.
(MT)
*** ALAN HARDACRE (Editor): How the EU Institutions Work and… How to Work with the EU Institutions. John Harper Publishing (27 Palace Gates Road, London N22 7BW, UK. Tel: (44-20) 8884774 - Email: jhpublish@aol.com - Internet: http://www.johnharperpublishing.co.uk ). 2011, 389 pp. ISBN 978-0-9564508-6-9.
This publication contains a preface by the vice president of the Commission Maros Sefcovic and his counterpart at the European Parliament, Diana Wallis. Significant praise is paid in this respect but the book is also a remarkably practical guide to the politico-institutional world of European Union. Alan Hardacre is a former lobbyist in Brussels and he has surrounded himself with a number of his former colleagues, as well as his current colleagues at the European Institute of Public Administration in Maastricht, to develop a working instrument that will encourage an understanding of the actors and rules in the Union. The authors initially show how different institutions operate. They then unravel the decision-making process through the new co-decision and committee procedures. The most innovative part of the publication is in the third part of the book that seeks to explain how working with the institutions and the decision making process in the Union functions. The authors even succeed in showing how a successful lobbying campaign can be achieved.
(PBo)
*** ROBERT FRANK, HARTMUT KAELBLE, MARIE-FRANCOISE LEVY, LUISA PASSERINI (editors): Building a European Public Sphere - Un espace public européen en construction. From the 1950s to the Present - Des années 1950 à nos jours. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: pie@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Multiple Europes" series, No. 44. 2010, 257 pp. €33.90. ISBN 978-90-5201-629-0.
Does a European public sphere exist or not? If it does exist, what is it? In the best of cases, would it not simply be the addition of public spheres that remain resolutely national and which would at best become a possible “European identity in different and contradictory national versions”? These are some of the questions at the heart of this collectively written book, edited by four well-known specialists in European history. The research subject is therefore tackled in its historical dimension but not exclusively so. It is also in light of its “conceptual dimensions” (borders between public and private spheres, public space ethics, the specificity is of transnational and European public spheres etc). This leads Professor Harmut Kaelble (University Humboldt of Berlin) to suggest that the European public sphere is not a variant of a public space but rather, “a composite public sphere made up of interconnected national public spheres” that is “more elitist” than each of the former. The research is also carried out in light of action undertaken by the European institutions, particularly at a cultural level and including collaborative ventures between the Commission and Arte. The European public sphere is ultimately tackled in relation to the, “non-European transnational public sphere” made up of migrants coming from the former colonies of European countries. Professor Robert Frank draws the conclusions for this collectively undertaken research project and points out that, “European construction and European activism does not automatically create a European public space because reference spaces, activists and decision makers remain at a national level”.
(MT)
*** MARLOES BEERS, JENNY RAFLIK (editors): Cultures nationales et identité communautaire - National Cultures and Common Identity. Un défi pour l'Europe ? - A Challenge for Europe? Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (see address attached). "Euroclio" series, No. 57. 2010, 283 p., €34.50. ISBN 978-90-5201-638-2.
As pointed out by the historian Gérard Bossuat in his preface, we are no longer a simple product of Greco-Roman heritage as the archetype of European identity. Nonetheless, scientists have not stopped looking at the situation and nature of identity that helped push towards European construction, through the Union, as its exclusive organisation, explains Professor Bossuat (Université de Cergy-Pontoise), which has also helped provide Europe with its own powers capable of transforming the lives of individuals. This book is an extension of a conference at Cergy-Pontoise between young researchers from the Richie association. This book is testimony to this conference in which 22 of them pooled their many areas of expertise (history, political science, anthropology etc) in an effort to identify the vectors of European identity and measure their influence or shortcomings. In practice, the authors in turn tackle the nature of Community identity (with contributions written in French and English). They also look at this identity in relation to national culture, which continues to weigh heavily on Europeans' memories today, as well as the role of the European institutions in creating this possible additional identity. The vectors and symbols of Community identity are explored, as well is the role played by other actors and national considerations. One key message from this well-crafted, collectively written book, which is also put forward by David Trefas, is that, “different Europeanised national identities are developing and interconnecting”. They are creating a new identity, which can be added to the previous ones and which will, in a certain way, transcend them.
(MT)
*** BO STRATH (editor): Europe and the Other and Europe as the Other. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (see address attached). "Multiple Europes" series, No. 10. 2010, 517 p. €46.20. ISBN 978-90-5201-650-4.
A lot of ink has been spilled on the subject of European identity since the Copenhagen summit of 1973, where the political decision was taken to introduce a decree for developing this identity. This book alone has been responsible for raising a lot of questions and discourse because it is now in its fourth edition in just under 10 years. Nonetheless, the question of putting our fingers on what this European identity actually is continues to be a subject of great fascination to many seeking to resolve this mystery. Politically, as pointed out by Professor Bo Strath in his introduction, the concept of identity has become the leitmotiv of European construction and integration when the nine original member states (the first enlargement had just taken place…) considered it appropriate that Europe (in the monetary and oil shenanigans of the time) would actively seek to build an international order worthy of this name. At an academic level, however, the quest to intelligently underpin its identity persists but this time in a context where the future is full of fears and where, “nationalism, populism and protectionism have infiltrated the heart of Europe”. The very highflying academic quest on which this book is based is therefore more than ever appropriate and its subject, the theme of European identity, is examined in a critical way. The authors seek to construct in an effort to be able to subsequently reconstruct better in the future.
(PBo)
*** LUCIO LEVI: L'internationalisme ne suffit pas. Internationalisme marxiste et fédéralisme. Fédérop (38 rue du Doyenné, F-69005 Lyon). "Textes fédéralistes" series. 1984, 70 pp. ISBN 978-2-85792-028-8.
Fédérop publishers have decided to renew and sustain two series that had been created and produced since 1975 by French militant federalists. These two series had been forgotten, “National Minorities” and Federalist Texts”. This book by the political scientist and eminent Italian federalist is part of this latter series since… 1984. Obviously, the world has completely changed since this epoch but examining the thoughts of an important federalist thinker is still useful. This is all the more true given that although the world has changed, certain problems have not gone away. Therefore, Lucio Levi writes that the political and military borders between states were, “prison walls to people and workers” and that in this connection war should be waged against these walls nationally and internationally. Is this idea really inappropriate now?
(MT)