*** MARISE CREMONA, JÖRG MONAR, SARA POLI (editors): The External 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 - e-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "College of Europe Studies" series, No. 13. 2011, 434 p. €43.90. ISBN 978-90-5201-728-0.
This is the result of joint work carried out between the University of Strasbourg, the European University Institute of Florence and the College of Europe in Bruges. The book includes contributions by legal experts and political scientists that seek to scientifically clarify the external current and potential repercussions of the gradual rise in power (since the European Council of Tampere) of the European Union's freedom, security and justice area. This external dimension is now a fact of life and in 2010 the Home Affairs And Justice Council adopted 114 texts, including 26 of which that focused on aspects of external relations. It is therefore difficult to deny that the Union has now become an established international actor in a domain that for so long remained the guard dog of its member states. Nonetheless, to what extent has it succeeded in its objectives? In what specific sectors has it been able to assert itself? What have been the obstacles and handicaps keeping it back? It is in an attempt to answer these questions and many others that around 15 different writers provide an assortment of different contributions. Between them, they provide a far-reaching analysis of the political and legal dynamics operating in this field. Each aspect of the institutional and legal framework is examined, as well as the policy interaction and political interconnection, the external aspects of migration policy, legal cooperation and counterterrorism, in addition to co-operation with the Union's main international partners in this area.
This extremely meticulous scientific undertaking includes an observation made by Jörg Monar in his concluding chapter, which points out that the externalising process of the freedom, security and justice area has created four different categories of results. Firstly, the internal objectives pursued by the Europeans provide the driving force for external action carried out at this level, which means that “external strategy appears as an instrument of internal strategy rather than an end in itself”. Mission accomplished? Not totally but why not? For one reason, because the objectives pursued in the justice and home affairs area (the fight against corruption and terrorism, for example) are now covered by the Union's overall external strategy and moving from words to deeds is still proving difficult. One of the reasons for this, as explained by Professor Monar (College of Bruges and the University of Sussex) is that ministers tend to want to “protect their respective turf”, whilst ministers for foreign affairs also have a very poor idea of how to preserve exclusive control of police and legal cooperation capacity within the framework of European security and defence policy for civilian crisis management. The second category of results can be located in the possibility of developing police and legal cooperation with third countries, which the Lisbon Treaty facilitated by conferring the Union with a legal personality. Nevertheless, these are only operational capacities and remain the exclusive remit of member states, which possibly encourage their countries to consider it more practical to develop direct links with these states rather than go through the operational vacuum of the Union. It is also true to say that in this area, the different member states remain perfectly free to conclude their own bilateral agreements and their solidarity has come in for a rough ride over time, as spectacularly and sadly demonstrated both in the way the US divided the Union over how new member states could benefit from its visa waiver programme. Finally, should it come as any real surprise that the “opt outs” have not added anything to the credibility and political weight of the Union as an international actor in this domain?
Based on the operation that it successfully carried out with its enlargement policy (more or less with the case of Bulgaria and, especially, Romania), the Union also wanted to be able to export some aspects of its legal and police model to partner countries, particularly those benefiting from European Neighbourhood Policy and countries in the Balkans. In this respect, the results illustrate that the carrot of long-term accession is really one of mobilising the energy of countries that are no longer required as the cogs in the “protective external glacis”. Once again, is there any reason why we should be surprised about this?
Pierre Bouvier
*** BICHARA KHADER (Editor): Les migrations dans les rapports euro-méditerranéens et euro-arabes. Etudes de cas. Editions L'Harmattan (5-7 rue de l'Ecole Polytechnique, F-75005 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40467920 - fax: 43258203 - Email: diffusion.harmattan@wanadoo.fr - Internet: http://www.librairieharmattan.com ). 2011, 229 pp. €24. ISBN 978-2-296-56273-8.
This book is the continuation of a scientific seminar that examined the European experiences of immigration and integration. It focuses on countries and regions where migratory problems are relatively recent, less known or more unexpected. Prof Bichara Khader, director of studies and research into the contemporary Arab world at the Catholic University of Leuven provides us with an “historic and statistical summary” of Arab immigration into the EU. He then gauges the effectiveness of its decision to external eyes immigration policies, which he describes as “police by remote control”. Ivan Martin then looks at the “labour market in the Mediterranean area”, before other contributions in French and English that tackle more specific issues such as regularisation in the European area and integration in the context of Brussels. Other studies follow, which look at migration questions involving Croatia, Morocco and Turkey, as well as immigration and/or integration policies involving Catalonia, Italy and Portugal.
(MT)
*** VOLHA VYSOTSKAYA: Who Goes? Who stays? Who returns? Migration Journeys of Highly Skilled Workers from Russia to Germany and Back Home. Editions Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, Postfach 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). “European University Studies / Europäische Hochschulshriften / Publications universitaires européennes”, No. 441. 2011, 132 pp. €18.50. ISBN 978-3-631-60595-0.
This book stems from a PhD thesis defended at the University of Bremen and seeks to identify the real motives why people migrate. It looks at the current living conditions for highly qualified Russians leaving to work in Germany and why some of them have decided to return to their home country. The author meticulously scrutinises the reasons and conditions that encourage certain people to migrate or not then looks at why some of them decide to stay on in their host country, while others go back home.
(MT)
*** MAREK NOWAK, MICHAL NOWOSIELSKI (Editors): (Post)transformational Migration. Inequalities, Welfare State and Horizontal Mobility. Peter Lang (see address details attached). Series "Dia-Logos", No. 13. 2011, 298 pp. €41.90. ISBN 978-3-631-61756-4.
This book provides an account of the work undertaken by a number of researchers, mainly sociologists, into the causes of migration from Central and Eastern Europe to the European Union. The original premise was that these waves of immigration were possibly a deferred reaction to social changes and a kind of adaptation to the labour markets and social security systems in these countries that were not working sufficiently after the changes that began in 1989. This hypothesis is based on a number of very different experiences in countries such as Poland, the Czech Republic (where there are more immigrants than emigrants), Estonia, Hungary and Latvia. We subsequently obtain an understanding of very different specific situations. In this part of the book, the contribution made by Guglielmo Meardi (University of Warwick) focuses on the position adopted by the trade unions in Western European countries to the economic immigrants coming from Eastern Europe. These unions sought to reconcile the interests of immigrant and indigenous workers and avoided the temptation of pitting one group of workers against the other. The second part of the book analyses certain problems that immigrant workers can encounter in their host countries. Ingrid Jungwirth ( University of Humboldt) demonstrates, for example, that highly qualified Eastern European women have suffered from discrimination in Germany in scientific and technological sectors. A sociologist from Padua describes an identical problem affecting Ukrainians in Italy, whilst Marta Kolankiewicz (University of Lund) illustrates the problems of racism and discrimination suffered by immigrants in Poland.
(PBo)
*** KATARINA SVATIKOVA: Economic Criteria for Criminalization. Optimizing Enforcement in Case of Environmental Violations. Intersentia Publishing (31 Groenstraat, B-2640 Mortsel. Email: mail@intersentia.be - Internet: http://www.intersentia.com ). "European Studies in Law and Economics", No. 8. 2012, 168 p. €60, £57, $84. ISBN 978-1-78068-050-7.
This book is the result of a PhD thesis defended at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. It examines the relevance of the 2008 directive: member states applying criminal sanctions to those guilty of causing environmental pollution. From an economic point of view, why should society itself use criminal law for certain breaches of environmental law and private or administrative law for other infringements? This is one of the questions the author seeks to analyse. This is an extremely relevant topic, given the way in which environmental law is applied in Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the Flemish region of Belgium. The author concludes by defending the viewpoint that using criminal law should strictly be limited and the use of administrative sanctions in the form of fines should be applied as an alternative.
(PBo)
*** INGA IMMEL: Access to European Justice for Environmental Civil Society Organizations. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, Postfach 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "European University Studies / Europäische Hochschulschriften / Publications Universitaires Européennes" series, No. 604. 2011, 314 pp. €44.70. ISBN 978-3-631-61979-7.
Provisions in the Aarhus Convention of 1998 provide European citizens with the right to undertake administrative and legal proceedings against acts or failure to act that have subsequently resulted in damage to the environment. Initially, European legislation restricted this to individuals alone, a decision that was revoked by the European Court of Justice. In this PhD thesis, Inga Immel explains why and how participation by civil society organisations that seek to protect the environment should now be strengthened at all levels of European governance, both political and legal, in an effort to consolidate this governance. It is in this perspective that the author provides the reader with both a meticulous and comprehensive analysis to illustrate how the statutes and rules in European Court of Justice procedures are employed in an effort to present an “amicus curiae brief” capable of providing independent expertise to European judges.
(MT)
*** MATTHEW MORAN: The Republic and the Riots. Exploring Urban Violence in French Suburbs, 2005-2007. Éditions Peter Lang (see address details attached). 2012, 288 pp. €44.40. ISBN 978-3-0343-0718-5.
A PhD thesis in French studies served as a matrix for this book, which provides a fascinating insight into the situation existing on the housing estates in France, following the violent riots that occurred in Clichy-sous-Bois in 2005 and at Villiers-le-Bel two years later. On the basis of a meticulous field study, Matthew Moran illustrates factors that are likely to lead to violence. He examines the difficult relationship between the dispossessed estates and the Republican model and reveals some of the causes, namely the huge division existing between Republican ideals and the daily reality of life on French council estates. He also looks at the unity proclaimed by political leaders and the actual disunity experienced at a local level and that between the authorities and ordinary citizens. The book provides an extremely useful insight into the social, political, ideological and religious netherworld of a French society that is experiencing serious fractures on its housing estates.
(PBo)
*** Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights. Intersentia Publishing (see addressed details attached). March 2012, No. 30/1, 130 pp, €45. Annual subscription: €145, £138, $203.
This journal specialises in the theme of human rights. This issue contains an essay by the legal expert Elizabeth Craig ( University of Sussex), which demonstrates that an approach that is more focused on justice is being outlined in an effort to ensure respect for minority rights. This development was mainly the result of the Council of Europe's framework convention for the protection of minority rights. Stephanie E. Berry argues that the European Court of Human Rights is in danger of undermining the progress achieved towards establishing coherent standards in Europe on minority rights that enable states to take into account religious prejudice located within the majority of the population. The author also tackles the question of the rights of participation accorded by the Russian Federation for its minority populations.
(MT)
*** Causeur. Causeur.fr (10 rue Michel-Chasles, F-75012 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 53677082 - Email: causeur2@causeur.fr - Internet: http://www.causeur.fr ). July-August 2012, No. 49-50, 80 pp. €6.90. Subscription: €59 (Digital: €34.90).
This issue provides us with a feature article entitled “I live in France” and in which Elisabeth Lévy describes a country that “unable to imagine a common future… does not end up grieving over its past suffering”.
(MT)