*** L'Europe en formation. Revue d'études sur la construction européenne et le fédéralisme - Journal of Studies on European Integration and Federalism. Centre international de formation européenne (10 av. des Fleurs, F-06000 Nice. Tel: (33-4) 93979397 - fax: 93979398 - Email: europe.formation@cife.eu - Internet: http://www.europeenformation.eu ). 2013, No. 367, 199 pp. €20. Subscription: €50. La diffusion de l'Europe en formation sur Internet est assurée par la plateforme de revues scientifiques électroniques Cairn.info à l'adresse http://www.cairn.info/revue-l-europe-en-formation.htm
Sovereignty to some people it is a completely antiquated concept and others do not seem to be able to get a handle on it either. Is it still going to last the test of time or is it going to be submerged by globalisation, dissolve, become obsolete and effectively without any purpose at all? Can it be adapted to globalisation or European integration? Can the construction of a European legal and political order be perceived as a credible alternative to the sovereignty of member states? Does this new legal order quite simply, on the contrary, intend to preserve sovereignty and with it, the obligation on the European Union to respect the respective national identities of its member states, which can be interpreted, “sovereignty remaining as a kind of rejection of European construction”? These and many other questions are answered in this exceptional edition of the journal founded by Alexandre Marc, first-rate legal experts, economists and political scientists, as well as by who are also chronicling and shaping the history of the European Union.
This crucial question is looked at in a number of different perspectives, which, for obvious reasons, cannot all be analysed in this review. Let's look at, “the journey to Utopia” in which Claude Nigoul explains that in the distant past, “the incompatibility between sovereignty and federalism” was seen by federalists as chalk and cheese and they saw sovereignty as reflecting a fluctuating and totalitarian entity that they sought to negate. Some of the most radical of them, such as Proudhon and Marc, went as far as advocating a “stateless society”. Professor Eric Maulin, however, asserts the irreducible nature of territorial sovereignty, while Jean-Pierre Gouzy denounces the “equivocation of the sovereignists” in the context of European construction. It is plain to see that there are many different approaches and four different contributions look at the way in which sovereignty is specifically experienced under the Fifth Republic, Germany, the United Kingdom and Spain.
For the connoisseurs, three contributions are highlighted. Antonio Padoa-Schioppa highlights the, “real stumbling block” that sovereignty creates in the context of the European Union, which is at the same time responsible for its, “lack of efficiency and insufficient legitimacy”. This legal historian and expert in mediaeval and modern institutions in Europe believes that we should not forget that the subsidiarity principle, which is so often used in a negative way, also seeks to, “promote the development at a European level of public goods that cannot be obtained in any optimum way at an exclusively national level”. This effectively means that the citizens would do well to remember this fact and they are the real and “only sovereign”. Vlad Constantinesco focuses on whether the question of the Union can be solved within the framework of the European Union itself. This specialist in European law develops his analysis on the basis of the following hypothesis: by failing to tackle the question of sovereignty head-on, has any real functioning integration succeeded in dissolving national sovereignty and is this phenomenon being accompanied at a European Union level by any real determination to introduce elements of a genuine European sovereignty? In an effort to address this failing, he puts forward a number of possible solutions, particularly that of proceeding to a referendum at a European Union level to determine in the future that, “the will of citizens in member states” is taken into account as much as the will of their respective national governments. Is this utopian? Undoubtedly so but it is in the knowledge that, “the refusal to raise the question of sovereignty effectively means abandoning its sovereignty to actors who are neither legitimate nor accountable. Put quite simply, the powerful: the banks, rating agencies, financial markets and tax havens…” This observation now appears as common sense and serves as an ideal introduction to the appeal made in favour of a, “federal sovereignty for the euro zone” by Bernard Barthalay, who has, for a long time held the Jean Monnet Chair for the economics of European integration at the Université Lumière Lyon 2. He confirms that, “governments that are generally known for their reluctance to freely cede any of their sovereignty to a common political power, no matter whether it is democratic, find themselves in thrall to the markets and abandon their sovereignty to an infernal, faceless and unaccountable machine”. He puts forward as a number of ideas that could help us find an exit strategy to this crisis. The constitutional demands that have been provoked by this situation obviously include a question of re-establishing a European social contract that takes into account, “the failure of neoliberal policies” and the currently inexorable character of a, “high and increasing level of unemployment and wage stagnation”. Alexandre Marc argues that the new European social contract should be based on, “a basic and unconditionally guaranteed minimum wage, based on citizenship”. In the same perspective, it is imperative that competition, as sought by Germany, between member states should come to an end and there should be a return to free competition that is not distorted by competition between the member states themselves, “namely equal opportunities between companies in the single market”, which would require a common tax regime and a budget for the Eurozone. Together with these very precise ideas, such as setting up as soon as possible of a European Budgetary Institute, based on the model of the European Monetary Institute, which preceded the European Central Bank, Barthalay appeals to Europeans to once again become the precursors of their destiny and to develop, “a stakeholder capitalism”, which serves the general interest and not just the interest of the few… Utopian? Undoubtedly so, but in these present times would it not be madness not to seize hold of these priceless bottles of hope that have been thrown into the sea?
Michel Theys
*** SONJA WITTE: Einflussgrad der deutschen kommunalen Ebene auf die Politikgestaltung der EU. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, Postfach 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Kommunalwirtschaftliche Forschung und Praxis" series, No. 22. 2013, 482 pp. €83.95. ISBN 978-3-631-62841-6.
Sonja Witte's thesis seeks to highlight the influence that certain German municipal councils are able or have been able to exert on the development of European policies. Through a number of real case studies in which the elaboration of a number of directives were analysed, the author evaluates the different lines taken by the actors at all levels of the European decision-making process and clarifies the motives underpinning their action as the representatives of specific individual, institutional or state interests. Sonja Witte concludes her work with a number of recommendations to the German municipal authorities, so that in future they can express their legitimate interests at a European level, which she argues has not always been the case.
(GLe)
*** CHRISTOPH SCHNEIDER: Regionale Unterschiede der politischen Kultur in Deutschland und Europa. Peter Lang ( see address attached). "Empirische und methodologische Beiträge zur Sozialwissenschaft" series, No. 28. 2013, 476 pp. €71.95. ISBN 978-3-631-63938-2.
In this thesis, Christoph Schneider sought to compare political culture in different regions of several European countries (Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom). Given that the author was aware of the debatable character and the concept of political culture as an analytical level, Schneider does argue, however, that there is a level of consistency in this concept and draws on a number of solidly documented cases to support this view. He therefore defines the different criteria to determine and illustrate a given political kind of culture, which he applies to the regions studied in his empirical analysis. This study is also backed up by historical and sociological examples, which illustrate the differences between the cases studied but which also provides the perspectives for future developments. In the case of Germany, the author underlines, for example, the unusual persistence of a much higher level of antipathy on the behalf of citizens in the eastern part of the country to politics and institutions.
(GLe)
*** Régions & Communes d'Europe. Committee of the Regions (99-101 rue Belliard, B-1040 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2822211 - fax: 2822085 - Email: regionsandcities@cor.europa.eu - Internet: http://www.cor.europa.eu ). May/June 2013, No. 83, 20 pp.
This issue of the Committee of the Regions' newsletter contains a feature article on Croatia's accession and the Union's enlargement policy. There are also interviews with President Ramón Luis Valcárcel Siso, Commissioner Stefan Füle and the Croatian minister Vesna Pusic.
(MT)