The next European Library, issue 969, will appear on 4 September 2012.
*** ALAIN MALEGARIE, ALAIN REGUILLON: L'euro: un succès inachevé. Presse fédéraliste (C/O Maison de l'Europe et des Européens, 13 rue de l'Arbre-Sec, F-69001 Lyons. Internet: http://www.pressefederaliste.eu ). Carnet d'Europe series, No. 2/3. 2012, 131 pp, €12.
This issue of Carnet d'Europe - a review which, as its director Alain Reguillon explains 'does not have the vocation of being politically correct, but rather to encourage questioning about the reactions of the men and women who genuinely want to ensure that the European project progresses in the direction of a federalise State' - is from beginning to end a vigorous defence of the single currency and a vehement attack on national leaders who want to preserve their own powers and therefore refuse to use their powers for what it really is, namely a springboard towards a political Europe. In the introduction, the authors explain 'the sad moral (…) that one should never underestimate the passive or active resistance of certain politicians who will stop at nothing to meet their purely national ambitions and who care little how their decisions affect their fellow politicians or countries.' French political leaders are the main subject of their spleen, but the guilty parties could be extended to many more, including Machiavelli five centuries ago:
'It is clear that there is nothing more painful, more likely to fail and more dangerous than venturing to create new institutions; because he that does so makes an enemy of everyone who took advantage of the old order and has only lukewarm defenders in the people would take advantage of the new system. The said lukewarm attitude is due in part to the fear of adversaries who have laws they can use against them, in part also from the incredulity of men who do not really believe in anything new until they see that definite experience has been gained. Hence it arises that so very often that those who are adversaries and want to attack do so with burning zeal, while the others only defend things in a lukewarm way, so that it all collapses with them.'
Will the euro manage to escape this sorry fate? The authors say that all the conditions are already in place for failure. After explaining the single currency's long gestation period since the late 1960's, they highlight aspects of the euro that are often ignored, like the fact that it took less than thirteen years for the single currency to become the world's second most important currency, whereas it took the US dollar more than a hundred years to assert itself around the world. They make carefully backed up arguments to undermine the false attacks on the euro, whether the wailing about the euro being too strong (it has not stopped Germany from being a leading exporter - France's problem being lack of competitiveness of its exports) or criticism about the single currency causing inflation. In this connection, Alain Malegarie - director general of the Euro Institute in France and member of the National Euro Committee that was set up by France from 1996 to 2002 to prepare for the arrival of the - and his colleague put this powerfully into perspective, but agree that some euro-profiteering went on with people rounding up rather too liberally, some supermarkets, for example. They accuse politicians of failing to do enough to ensure that the euro was welcomed by public opinion: 'For exceptional circumstances exceptional measures are needed - introducing price controls, along with the other members of the eurozone,' they say, pointing accusingly at 'captains of the agri-food industry and big supermarket chains,' who took advantage of illegal price-fixing to round up prices. The main object of their ire, however, are political leaders who 'refused or were unable to promote the introduction of the single currency, reassuring the elderly and vulnerable, many of whom had not even caught up with the previous currency change in France and yet had to jump from the old French franc to the euro.' This failure was not found in France alone, which is why the euro 'found itself orphaned' and has become a 'black sheep' that some feel is on its last legs. To the culprits, be they politicians, opinion pollsters or journalists, the authors say that there has never been a single currency crisis, only 'a crisis of competitiveness, of growth and above all of political governance in Europe.'
Malegarie and Reguillon go on to show how the crisis has actually helped Europe make progress. After examining the bad solutions, like two currencies, leaving the euro and even protectionism and the death of the euro, they look at the various financial solidarity tools set up, focussing criticism on the restrictions introduced by the triumph of intergovernmentalism. They then set out their 'federal solutions' of a common industrial policy, a weighty federal budget (kicking off with 5% of European GDP and gradually rising to 15% as national policies are pooled). It can only be expected that these ideas will be greeted by indifference by many of the people who govern us, in France for example. But surely these ideas are as replete with wisdom as the ideas that have got us where we are today?
Michel Theys
*** PINAR AKMAN: The Concept of Abuse in EU Competition Law. Law and Economic Approaches. Hart Publishing (16c Worcester Place, Oxford, OX1 2JW, UK. Tel: (44-1865) 517530 - Fax: 510710 - email: mail@hartpub.co.uk - Internet: http://www.hartpub.co.uk ). 2012, 354 pp, £60. ISBN 978-1-84946-109-2.
After completing her doctorate, Pinar Akman now lectures at the University of East Anglia. In this book, she examines the aims of Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union on abuse of dominant positions. She starts by pointing out that the notion is not clear and is a source of uncertainty for companies, which question its legitimacy. On the basis of law and the economy, she shows that separating off 'exploitative abuse from exclusionary abuse is artificial and unsound.' After returning to the historic roots of Article 102 and reviewing case law and relevant scientific literature, she 'investigates potential objectives, such as fairness and welfare, as well as the potential conflict between such objectives.' The author also makes a critical examination of the way the Commission has been updating it, which leads her in fine to suggest a different type of approach to 'abuse' which is better suited to the initial objectives and fits with the economic thought of today in this connection. Above all, it takes account of exploitative abuse, exclusionary abuse and also the lack of an increase in efficiency.
(PBo)
*** LUIS ORTIZ BLANCO: Market Power in EU Antitrust Law. Hart Publishing (see above). 2012, 310 pp, £75ISBN 978-1-84113-528-1.
The notion of market power is central to EU anti-trust law and the aim of this book's author is not only connected with the idea of a dominant position, but also with other aspects of competition law. After defining what a market is. The author illustrates it by revising 'appreciable restriction of competition' and the 'concept of domination,' along with old and new EU tests of planned mergers and ') the idea of elimination of competition in respect of a substantial part of the market' and the notion of 'collective dominance. He concludes that a paradigm of market power exists under the EU antitrust rules, which guarantees legal certainty in the application of the antitrust rules.
(MT)
*** VINCENT SAGAERT, MATTHIAS E. STORME, EVELYNE TERRYN (Eds.): The Draft Common Frame of Reference: national and comparative perspectives. Intersentia (31 Groenstraat, B-2640 Mortsel. Tel: (32-3) 6801550 - Fax: 6587121 - email: mail@intersentia.be - Internet: http://www.intersentia.com ). "Ius Commune Europaeum" series, No. 99. 2012, 503 pp, €100. ISBN 978-94-000-0216-6.
Published nearly three years ago and the fruit of more than twenty-fives years of university research into European private law, the draft common frame of reference is a took that has naturally attracted the attention of political, academic and legal circles in Europe. This lengthy tome reports back on a scientific conference about the frame of reference in Courtrai, Belgium, thirteen months ago upon the initiative of the book's editors, all of whom work for the Catholic University of Leuven. The essays by European experts focus on contracts and other juridical acts, obligations and corresponding rights, interpretation of contracts, non-contractual responsibility, property law, sales agreements and specific contracts such as commercial agency or franchise. For each aspect, there is also an essay by a Belgian researcher, explaining how the draft common frame of reference could, in their view, be reconciled with the prevailing law in Belgium. (PBo)