*** SYLVAIN SCHIRMANN (Editors): Quelles architectures pour quelle Europe ? Des projets d'une Europe unie à l'Union européenne. 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 ). « Publications de la Maison de Robert Schuman » series, No. 2. 2011, 342 pp. €20. ISBN 978-90-5201-742-6.
During the 60th anniversary of the founding declaration made by Robert Schuman on 9 May 1950, La Maison de Robert Schuman organised a colloquy on which this book provides a very comprehensive account. Through 15 different scientific contributions (written in German or French, with the subject summarised in one or the other language, as well as English) portraits and visions of statesman, the leaders of political parties and top-flight figures from the European institutions are explored from the end of the Second World War to the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the launch of the European Union through the Maastricht Treaty of 1992. All the different possible trajectories for the European project are outlined and those that have helped build the institutional Meccano, through the European policies developed over the different decades.
The proceedings from these study days in May 2010 begin with the transcription of the ideas put forward by Jacques Delors and Paul Collowald, the former journalist and director general for the European Parliament's information Department, who now presides the Robert Schuman Association. These transcriptions are of the ideas expressed in the “State of Play and European Prospects” roundtable. The book is then divided into four different parts. The first part revisits the time of the first Community initiatives in light of the European vision of Hungarian parliamentarian and diplomat, Pál Auer, forced into exile in France in 1947 and who became a militant for the European Movement. The initiatives and visions of different French leaders after the war are then explored, as well as those of Robert Schuman, who was possibly the “ forgotten apostle of Euro-Africa” and finally, the action taken by Jacques Chaban-Delmas and Umberto Serafini in favour of a Europe of local municipal areas and regions. Europe at the time of the “Six” founding members of Europe is also presented through the pro-European action carried out by the former president of the Italian Council, Amintore Fanfani, the efforts made by the stepson of Winston Churchill, Duncan Sandys, at the head of the European Movement, the European policy of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg under Prime Ministers Pierre Werner and Gaston Thorn and the action carried out by Willy Brandt to anchor, “ democratic Germany in a united Europe”. The third part of the book, “Building Europe in a Time of Crisis” explores the thinking and action taken by Italian federalist Mario Albertini, who, “sought to unite Europe, in order to unite the world”, the European action by Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, with the support of President Giscard d'Estaing, to the relaunch during the European Councils of Fontainebleau and Milan, to the European policy of Christian Democrat Chancellor, Helmut Kohl. The final part of the book provides a valuable insight into the European architecture as seen by the Spanish prime minister Felipe González and the portrait painted by Polish mediaeval expert Bronislaw Geremek on European unification, which he saw as, “a solution to the pain, suffering and humiliation of men and the failure of society to flourish”.
The historian, Marie-Thérèse Bitsch, draws conclusions on these scientific insights, which illustrate, “the enormous diversity of the different possible European architectures envisaged” during the second half of the 20th century. She highlights the fact that in 1984, Mitterrand and Kohl exposed the threat of a geometrically variable Europe in order to get Margaret Thatcher to understand that her country could become marginalised if she persisted in her refusal to accept a reasonable agreement on the question of the United Kingdom's financial contribution. In a certain way, history is repeating itself and with David Cameron is almost certain to do so… The Emeritus professor at the University of Strasbourg also demonstrates that the leaders, most of whom were federalists, except in France, “cultivated the religion of concrete results that could help push forward integration and at the same time preserve or promote their individual national interests”. Once again, nothing in this connection is exactly new! Most of the contributions also shed light on the very regular attempts by Germany and France to agree on directing or introducing further impetus to the project of European construction, which has always caused a certain amount of ire among the overwhelming majority of their partners, who find it difficult to swallow the idea of a directorate from which they are excluded. Once again, the historical stutter of history is heard. In this respect, Jacques Delors is called on to is describe the real situation affecting the Franco German couple, which he describes as being at a bit like, “11 o'clock mass without any of the faith” so much so that if, “the Franco German liturgy has not changed”, nothing would really indicate that those now officiating, Merkel and Sarkozy really believe in it any more. The former president of the Commission also criticises the European Council where one goes as if it were the time of the “Treaty of Westphalia, namely, the concept of nations, as if we have learned nothing at all”. Before Jacques Delors urges Herman Van Rompuy, “to help make the Community method live” he warns that the European Council should not meet up every month and states categorically that, “… the concept of nations is blind, shortsighted, and could not help us get over our pettiness and short termism in order to achieve the project that unites us and which embraces every country”. This is imperative reading for this day and age …
Michel Theys
*** JOSEF LANGER (Editors): Analysis and Visions for Europe. Theories and General Issues. Peter Lang (1 Moostrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen, Switzerland. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). 2011, 235 pp. €39.10. ISBN 978-3-631-60135-8.
What will the European Union look like in two or three decades time? This is the question that the mainly experienced scientific authors of this book attempt to answer and which they explained during a symposium organised by the sociology department at the Austrian University of Klagenfurt. The book presents eight of the presentations at the symposium and five additional articles, including the introduction by Professor Langer. In the first part of the book, Józef Niznik, from the Polish Academy of Sciences, examines the question of whether current theories on European integration can help towards predicting the future of the Union. He considers that they can't because they cannot even, “grasp the full specificity of EU integration”. Further on in the book, the sociologist, Josef Langer, revisits a certain number of European scenarios from the past and what was left of them when they hit reality. This enables him to make the observation that we should all be careful in our assumptions and that the, “market economy, private property, social inequality and technological progress (i.e. capitalism) as basic parameters of EU societies will still be in place in two or three decades”. We can only wonder whether, in the current economic and financial storm, Professor Langer would still attempt to be as categorical as he was in 2009 … Hans-Peter Meier-Dallach looks at this issue in the light of the changing European landscape, particularly developments in major cities such as… Zürich. He subsequently asserts that, “Europe as a historical body, organism and personality and Europe as a utilitarian system moving towards a totalitarian future”. The second part of the book many tackles institutional questions. Thomas Döring, Eithne Knappitsch and Birgit Aigner ( From the School of Management at the University of Applied Sciences in Carinthia) consider that the Union's economic theories and economic practices are not really compatible insofar as the current division of labour between it and the member states is, “partly inconsistent with normative criteria”. Lojze Socan (Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Ljubljana) does not totally disagree and considers that the 2020 economic development programme is far too conventional and insufficiently ambitious to tackle the threat of competition from emerging countries. Finally, Vittorio Olgiati (Faculty of Law at the Italian University of Macerata) considers that lawyers will have a privileged position in this future EU. The final three parts of the book focus on the knowledge-based Europe, an analysis of the European research area, for example), enlargements and border questions (two authors are optimistic with regard to Turkish accession) and finally the situation of the European Union that is difficult to understand, with a contribution by the Slovenian ambassador to Turkey, Milan Jazbec, who asks whether the “Empire” should attempt to provide itself with a more humorous face in order to put itself over better.
(PBo)
*** Shift mag. Tipik Communication (270 av. de Tervuren, B-1150 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2355619 - fax: 2355699 -Email: hello@shiftmag.eu - Internet: http://www.shiftmag.eu ). 2011, No. 19, 40 pp. Annual subscription: €5. This edition of the magazine includes, “l'Europe parler à Bruxelles” and focuses on previous major figures that have marked Europe, such as the emblematic Stéphane Hessel, who first opened up the doors.
(MT)
*** NEIL WALKER, JO SHAW, STEPHEN TIERNEY (Editors): Europe's Constitutional Mosaic. Hart Publishing (16C Worcester Place, Oxford, OX1 2JW, UK. Tél.: (44-1865) 517530 - fax: 510710 - Email: mail@hartpub.co.uk - Internet: http://www.hartpub.co.uk ). 2011, 395 p., 60 £. ISBN 978-1-84113-979-1.
This excellent book is an extension of at least five seminars organised at the School of Law at the University of Edinburgh during the academic year of 2008-2009. It provides some penetrating analyses of the developments in constitutionalism process, which despite all the different problems, has marked and characterised the European project as we know it. In their introduction, Professor Neil Walker and Stephen Tierney first of all describe the assassination of the so-called “constitutional” treaty by French and Dutch citizens, which in fact did not affect the constitutional route that Europe had embarked upon in the least because, “the increasing legal and political authority of the European Union and is developing forms of cultural identity mean that constitutionalism… remains a key, if controversial, discourse and practice for those seeking to explain, justify and frame the progress of the new supranational polity and the challenges it poses to the state system”. The authors' starting point, however, is also based on the premise that by exclusively focusing on the Union, “as the key factor in nonstate constitutional activity in Europe”, would be mistaken because this approach would only provide an, “incomplete picture of the complex constitutional configuration-or ' mosaic'-of contemporary Europe”. This book therefore explores a much broader constitutional context than that usually examined. It also touches upon the relations carefully developed between the Union and its member states, such as, for example, the provisions prevailing within their Union and the latter, as well as the impact of the European Convention on Human Rights and international organisations such as the WTO. Criminal and labour law are also examined in the same perspective.
(PBo)
*** JEAN-FRANCOIS DREVET: Chypre entre l'Europe et la Turquie. Éditions Karthala (22-24 boulevard Arago, F-75013 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 43311559 - fax: 45352705 - Email: karthala@orange.fr - Internet: http://www.karthala.com ). 2011, 252 pp. €24. ISBN 978-2-8111-0551-8.
A teacher and graduate from one of the major French universities, Jean-François Drevet draws from his wealth of experience as a senior official at the European Commission to analyse almost clinically, the situation in Cyprus and how this impacts on its inhabitants. He also examines possible developments in the legal framework of the Community acquis and commonly accepted standards in international law. In his eyes, a solution will only come about within the Community framework, particularly because “certain powers”, particularly the US and the United Kingdom are applying, “geo-strategic concepts prevailing in the Middle East and are sacrificing the interests of 1 million inhabitants in Cyprus on the altar of more global considerations”. After somewhat taunting those who consider that the customs union between Turkey and the Union in 1996 enabled the latter to keep its promise to integrate the Turkish people into what was simply a “common market” at the time of the association agreement in 1963, the author then methodically examines the different facets of the Cypriot conundrum. In his conclusions, he identifies three major hypothetical developments: a status quo which would not be positive to anybody; a “Belgian scenario” based on a more robust political regulation that ensures the implementation of an operational federal system by reducing the development divisions between North and South in the island. The author considers that this third scenario would provide the most stability but would depend on three essential factors: firstly, the construction of a European Cypriot identity, which appears to him to be “on track”; followed by, Turkey's disengagement from its role that remains the, “main obstacle to a balanced resolution” and finally, by revising the island's strategic function with, “a better taking into account of Cypriot interests by the Anglo-Saxon powers”. There is nothing certain that this last point will be listened to in London …
(PBo)
*** GERARD TAUTIL: Robert Lafont et l'occitanisme politique. Petite contribution à une pensée moderne. Fédérop (Le Pont du Rôle, F-24680 Gardonne. Tel: (33-5) 53278095 - fax: 53278072 - Email: editions.federop@wanadoo.fr - Internet: http://www.federop.com ). "Minorités nationales" series. 2011, 213 pp. €15. ISBN 978-2-85792-201-8.
In this small book, a professor of philosophy portrays the cultural and political flag bearer of the Occitan region in France. Occitan writer and theoretician, Robert Lafont has been a ceaseless critic of French society and its neo-Jacobin ideology. However, he goes beyond the concept of decentralisation and appeals for the birth of a political and federalist Europe.
(MT)