*** SEBASTIEN MAILLARD: Qu'avons-nous fait de l'Europe ? Lettres à Robert Schuman. Editions Salvator (103 rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs, F-75006 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 53103838 - Email: contact@editions-salvator.com - Internet: http://www.editions-salvator.com ). 2013, 121 pp. €14. ISBN 978-2-7067-1053-7.
This really is a good book. It describes the European adventure much better than a lot of supposedly knowledgeable books on the subject because it speaks to all the European citizens who read it from the heart. It was written by the excellent French journalist, currently the Rome correspondent for the daily La Croix newspaper, after having worked in Brussels for four years. There is therefore nothing surprising about the fact that it is such an easy read. The ideas put forward, however, are anything but lightweight, quite on the contrary. Sébastien Maillard taught European affairs at Sciences Po and at Boston College. He is also an expert who masters his subject perfectly. In this case, it is his journalistic talent that really shines and enables him to tie together technical knowledge with the beauty of the overall design, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the European project began sixty years ago by Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet. Another great advantage he has that comes out in the book is the approach he adopts, namely the letters he writes and sends to Robert Schuman informing him of the despair felt by European citizens regarding the recent turn of events in the EU28. In his preface, Jacques Delors, points out that, “we are now forced to look at the foundations of our unity project because Europe is undoubtedly going through its most serious crisis in its history since the war of 1939-1945”. Delors also affirms that going back to the genesis of the ideas of Europe's founding fathers could prove useful too. The former president of the European Commission explains that at this current juncture, “what we need are two or three leaders who have their pilgrims' staffs firmly in their hands in an effort to regain the old guiding spirit”. There is every reason, obviously, to really get to grips with a book that provides, “a very relevant analysis of what the thoughts of a statesman would be and who seeks to unite European countries through his humanism based on the fundamental values of our long history”.
In his very first missive, Sébastien Maillard tackles the “mystery of a gesture” made by Robert Schuman, this, “conservative by tradition with a cautious temperament”, this frontiers man, like on of the last of the “men from Lorraine” with his declaration on 9 May 1950 made at the Horloge Chambers at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris. “Tell Monnet that I'm going”, the decision of the French Foreign Minister, is subsequently taken and the first project, the Community of Coal and Steel, begins to take shape in secret, which would be unthinkable in the present day. “It would be useful if we could find an adviser from a hostile government or rival ministry, who has got wind of the project, to mention it, in secret, to a sympathetic journalist. The latter would have immediately tweeted the news to their followers… You would have immediately denied it, unconvincingly, and the rumour would have spread like wildfire… Experts would've been interviewed to underline the madness of the project. A survey commissioned by an opponent of the project would say that a large majority of French people were against European unification… Your political adversaries would have immediately demanded the holding of a referendum to definitively bury your first rate European project” … and yet, Schuman and Monnet were successful even though the time has come for a, “detour, including a semantic one, in your project” (a Community is, however, more fraternal than a Union, especially when this has been reduced to a number of acquis and other such things!) and the, “lack of political will to pursue it”. Sébastien Maillard is not going to meekly accept this and advocates that we take another look at the profiles of this founding father, the statue of which was put up in the park of the Cinquantenaire rather than the Schuman roundabout. Maillard does not want to apologise for what has happened but rather, give thanks for the political gesture made on 9 May in the hope that it will regain its freshness and fecundity.
This book is therefore a call to arms in the service of commonsense. As Schuman says himself, “Europe is an enterprise in reason and not feeling”, which today, is being very severely manhandled. In the four letters that follow, Sébastien Maillard reignites the flames of hope and like a miracle, Robert Schuman answers him, “I received your letters”… In his response, the “Founding Father of Europe” speaks of the vision of reforming Franco-German relations and rebuilding a “relationship of trust”, which also means rebuilding a lot of things, such as the European institutions which, “distrust each other and bicker amongst themselves”. The author believes that, “the first question to tackle head-on is that involving the United Kingdom's relationship with Europe”. This alliance has always been difficult but it teaches us a simple lesson in common sense, that it is not a enough for, “a candidate country to methodologically accept the legal acquis that have been accumulated before the country in question joined… assurances are also needed from the very beginning, without hurrying into things, that the country supports a common political vision and shares the same will to achieve this”. The real problem, however, is that this common vision and will, are what have effectively been lacking over recent years at the European Council and have led to return to the, “inter-governmental practices that Jean Monnet and I sought to free ourselves from”. Will the writer, as well as Jacques Delors, be able to find the two or three leaders who have sufficient lucidity to breathe life into Europe and its old spirit again?
Michel Theys
*** FRANCOIS ROTH, JACQUES HENNEQUIN: Robert Schuman, Conseiller général de la Moselle 1937-1949. 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 ). "Cahiers Robert Schuman" series, No. 2. 2012, 128 pp. €26.80. ISBN 978-2-87574-015-1.
In this book, two lecturers pool their knowledge to shed light on the way in which Robert Schuman, before launching his great European adventure, assumed his lesser known mandate, that of General Adviser in the Moselle region. We subsequently discover this statesman from the Moselle region's fondness for a border region on which “European commitment” took root, as pointed out by Patrick Weiten, the current president of the General Council (whose history is also recounted in this publication) and whose Scy-Chazelles residences still bears testimony to this. (MT)
*** CHRISTOS LASKOS, EUCLID TSAKALOTOS: Crucible of Resistance. Greece, the Eurozone and the World Economic Crisis. Editions Kapsimi (55-57 Zoodochou Pigis, Athens. Tel: (30-1) 2103813838 -fax: 2103839713 - Email: info@kapsimi.gr - Internet: http://www.kapsimi.gr ). 2013. 192 pp. €14. ISBN 978-074533380-9.
This book was written by two university lecturers who are active members in the radical left Syriza party in Greece. It looks at the deep crisis in Greece and seeks to find a number of different explanations that differ somewhat from those prevailing in the corridors of power in Brussels and Berlin. The two authors therefore contest the assumption that this new tragedy is the result of some kind of Greek “exceptionalism”. They locate what has occurred in a historical context that is much older and incorporates the global economic crisis and that is currently shaking the euro zone. The economist, Laskos and University lecturer and politician, Tsakalotos (University of Athens) launch a scathing attack on the drastic austerity imposed on the country, which has led to the emergence of different kinds of resistance and the rising power of their own party. They argue that the claims of Greek exceptionalism is, for the most part, nothing but a lie, as well as a means to make us forget that this global crisis is the logical result of deregulation in the neoliberal economic order, which forced onto the scene spectacular disparities of income and wealth that undermine the very foundations of democracy. Greece and the Eurozone need to find an exit strategy but this would require confrontation with the neoliberal order as well as what has effectively become the Keynesian social democratic regime. (AKa)
*** UWE PETERSEN: Unconventional Consideration Manners of the Economic Crisis III. What is to be done as a solution for the crisis? Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, Postfach 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). 2013, 120 pp. €27.95. ISBN 978-3-631-64314-3.
This book was originally written in German and focuses on the fractures in the economic system, as well on the opportunities and limitations that exist for curing it. Uwe Petersen is an economist from the University of Heidelberg and begins by analysing the traditional measures adopted in economic policy and how they have been used. Consequently, the author points out that conventional policies have only treated the symptoms whilst exacerbating the fragility of economic system. He therefore advocates less conventional approaches for tackling the financial economic crisis, which are more acceptable from an ethical point of view. (AKa)
*** CESAREAO RODRIGUEZ-AGUILAR DE PRAT: Euroscepticism, Europhobia and Eurocriticism. The Radical Parties of the Right and Left vis-à-vis the European Union. Presses Interuniversitaires européennes - Peter Lang (see address attached). “Euroclio” series No. 75. 2013, 153 pp. €38.50. ISBN 978-2-87574-041-0.
This publication was written by a professor of political science at the University of Barcelona. It is an extremely contemporary account, given the forthcoming European elections that could see Eurosceptic ideas triumph as never before. In actual fact, the author explains that Euro-scepticism is nothing other than a catch-all concept, which makes any kind of nuanced interpretation of the current opposition to European integration, difficult. In this publication, the author seeks to provide some clarity to this nebulous array of opponents and subsequently analyses the manifestoes and programmes presented by 22 parties during the European elections of 2009. He also shows that although the parties of the far right to not attempt to conceal their Europhobia at all and reject the methods and the very principle of European construction, the parties of the radical left theoretically remain in favour of integration process and only disagree with the direction advocated by the Union authorities to this process. (AKa)
*** MICHELE CHANG, JORG MONAR (Editors): The European Commission in the Post-Lisbon Era of Crises. Between Political Leadership and Policy Management. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (see address details attached). “Cahiers du Collège d'Europe / College of Europe Studies” series, No. 16. 2013. 298 pp, €42.30. ISBN 978-2-87574-028-1.
The European Commission has sometimes been depicted as an all-powerful institution dictating its law in too many different areas of life. Others attempt to portray it as a bureaucracy acting at the behest of the member states. The European Union has been obliged over recent years to meet a number of significant challenges, such as implementation of the Lisbon Treaty and work out ways of how to respond to the global economic and financial crisis. How has the current Barroso Commission fared? Has it adapted its institutional structure and functions to become more efficient or has it simply yielded to initiatives from member states, some more than others? The preface to this publication is written by Maros Sefcovic and this new volume emanates from the College of Europe in Bruges. The book provides a number of responses, backed up scientifically and looks at a number of different areas in which the Commission has been active to varying degrees. The changes over the past decade are meticulously analysed in this publication. (AKa)
*** LESZEK JESIEN: The European Union Presidency. Institutionalized Procedure of Political Leadership. Peter Lang (see address attached). 2013, 401 pp. €91. ISBN 978-3-0343-1274-5.
The questions raised in this book and to which this Polish political scientist seeks to bring a number of answers, focus on the role and importance of the presidency of the Council and the European Union. How has the Presidency over time managed to develop such a significant role in the approaches adopted by the Union? Has it succeeded in launching large-scale projects, resolving major problems and up till the Lisbon Treaty, represented the Union with effectiveness abroad? What are the main challenges that need to be met and how should they be best prepared for? The answers provided by the author to these questions attempt to identify the way in which political leadership is carried out in the European Union and, more importantly, the influence of the presidency over the development process involving European integration. There are so many different insights provided that allow us to understand the integration process over the long-term and in this connection the author provides the reference framework for practical projects that future presidencies may decide to apply. (AKa)
*** JAMES ELLES: Reflections on European Issues. James Elles (Parlement européen, rue Wiertz, B-1047 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 22847951 - Email: james.elles@europarleuropa.eu - Internet: http://www.jameselles.com ). 2013, 260 pp.
In the perspective of the forthcoming European elections in 2014, British MEP, James Elles, a member of the group of conservatives and reformists, publishes this anthology of reflections on subjects that he has had to tackle. In this publication he looks at certain contemporary issues that will still be burning issues in years to come. The central theme focuses on the economy and how to reconcile crucial austerity measures with those that can stimulate growth. All the different themes and subjects are tackled by the author in the context of an increasingly key question, what is the United Kingdom's relationship to the European Union or not to beat about the bush, should it be in or out? (AKa)