*** HELENE MICHEL (Editor): Représenter le patronat européen. Formes d'organisation patronale et modes d'action 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 ). Collection "Travail & société", No. 76. 2013, 271 pp. €38.50. ISBN 978-2-87574-057-1.
This book consists of a scientific attack by sociologists, political scientists and historians on a subject that has given rise to a number of wild imaginings: the influence of business Europe on European policy. This is a lengthy undertaking (it particularly draws on the results from a joint investigation funded by the directorate responsible for research, studies and statistics at the French department of employment and social affairs). Its first accomplishment is to scientifically analyse a number of counter-truths. The extremely important scientific evidence provided by these academic specialists will obviously not be appreciated by everybody.
How can the interests of the employing class be represented and defended as being “European” when they are not in fact homogenous or have even been affected in the same way by the construction of the European project over the past 60 years? How do employers' organisations get their voice heard? In what way do employers' representatives participate in European policy? These are the kinds of questions the authors in these nine chapters of the book attempt to answer. “Common places” or « lieux communs » is included in the section written by Hélène Michel. This professor of political science at the University of Strasbourg specialises in the subject of interest groups and her starting point is that certain ideologues in these matters, as well as conspiracy theorists and enthusiasts believe that, “Brussels has become the place where collusion is significantly employed and developed between economic and political interests”. The annual “European Business Summit” in Brussels where, “European Commissioners meet with representatives from employers' organisations in Europe and heads of the major multinationals” undoubtedly gives these suspicions a certain amount of credibility. Nonetheless, a vision of “business Europe” that secretly commands the future of the European Union and its policies is groundless because all the postulates upon which these denunciations are based are easily contested. The first of these assumptions tackled by the author involves the idea of, “the world of business having a clear and common vision with regard to European construction”. This is completely untrue. The business community is far from being a monolith and is currently engaged in a situation of economic competition that does not lend itself well to the definition of a common interest or action. The second assumption is that these economic actors are by their very essence disconnected from the national context, which is largely false because not all the different bosses frequent the same boards of directors of multinationals. European business interests do not affect all the sectors and companies in the same way, which would imply that the “European transition” (the notion the authors prefer to use instead of Europeanization) is also created by different causes as well.
All these different factors encourage the authors to provide an understanding of what are the different interests of employers in the European Union and the way in which they are shaped, which leads them to underline the relationship that can exist between European organisations and their national counterpart models. Throughout the book's nine chapters, the reader is provided with an insight into the European area occupied by employers' organisations, as well as the view from the inside of these organisations themselves. The role played by the Commission in setting up these representative bodies is also examined, as well as the dimensions and broad guidelines structuring the area these organisations occupy and the practical processes involved in setting some of them up (setting up the French employers' group in Brussels, the European Association of Craft, Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (UEAPME) by way of its recognition as a social partner, defending national public companies by setting up the European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation and of Enterprises of General Economic Interest and creating the European Round Table of Industrialists as a club for major industrialists). The two chapters preceding the conclusions focus on employers' representatives at the European Economic and Social Committee and members of the Busineseurope team, in terms of their representative practices. This book provides interesting information from beginning to end! Pierre Bouvier
*** NICOLAS VERSCHUEREN: Fermer les mines en construisant l'Europe. Une histoire sociale de l'intégration européenne. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (see address details attached). « Euroclio » series, No. 74. 2013, 380 pp. €49.20. ISBN 978-2-87574-025-0.
Nicolas Verschueren currently works at the Trans-Atlantic Relations Centre at John Hopkins University in Washington. He has been a consistent specialist in the area of economic and social history, first at the Université libre in Brussels and then at the University of Luxembourg. In this book he makes a contribution to previous writing on the social history of European construction based on the historical paradox characterising this enterprise. The first Community was founded on the coal and steel sectors, although these sectors would soon experience a cruel decline, with the consequent disappearance of the miners themselves. The objective pursued by the author is to depict a social history that allows for an analysis of the European social policies contained within the development of the coal industry between 1945 and 1980 and to measure the goals and effects from the beginning of the social transformation provoked by this development in the more precise context of the Belgian Borinage region. This examination is divided into two major parts. The first examines attempts within European social policy to do everything in its power to protect the principles of the welfare state and full employment. In it, he initially retraces the beginnings of a trade union Europe on the basis of a case that has previously been neglected, that of the “21 Committee” which operated in the European Coal and Steel Community. The second chapter focuses on one of the aspects considered to be most positive in the social action propounded by the Ceca, namely, house building for workers. This involved significant inventiveness by the High Authority, the forerunner of the Commission and which, “went beyond the exact remit of the treaty to provide a genuine European social policy”. Conversely, the third chapter examines a less positive episode, namely, the failure of attempts to establish a European miners' status, which subsequently led to a disengagement from union representatives in the European project. The second part focuses on the social impact of the closure of the mines in the Borinage coal basin. The author illustrates how assistance to minors and the development of a regional community policy through regeneration aimed to maintain the social and political consensus. The results can still be seen today and confirm that industrial regeneration policy promoted at the time has been far from a total success, even though, ultimately, it was the crisis in the 1970s that did the most damage. (MT)
*** ANN NUMHAUSER-HENNING, MIA RÖNNMAR (Editors): Normative Patterns and Legal Developments in the Social Dimension of the EU. 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 ). "Modern Studies in European Law" series, No. 40. 2013, 269 pp. £55. ISBN 978-1-84946-435-2.
This book stems from an international symposium organised two and a half years ago at the faculty of Law at the Swedish University of Lund. It aims to explore the normative and legal evolution that has taken place in the last decade or so within the social dimension - in terms of labour law, social security law and family law - of the European Union and its member states. In the first part of the book, the authors focus on different theoretical perspectives on law and society. The following contribution focuses on the positive and negative developments in protection mechanisms, whilst the third part focuses on the impact of economic forces. Finally, in the last part of the book, the authors look at how increasingly differentiated work relations, flexicurity, equal treatment principles and social cohesion aspirations, as well as 'the European Union integration project' as such, influence legal developments in terms of solidarity and social justice. Unsurprisingly, the majority of contributions highlight the fact that in the context of the prevailing crisis, developments have been more to the advantage of the market than protecting those operating within it. It also comes as no surprise that the rapidly ageing population will be one of the European Union's major challenges if it is to ensure any meaningful kind of sustainable society. It will also need to rethink the concept of the nuclear family, not only in terms of obligations towards children, but also towards senior citizen. (PBo)
*** JAN JAKUB MICHALEK, MICHAL BRZOZOWSKI, ANDRZEJ CIESLIK (Editors): The Relationship between Human Development, Exports and Foreign Direct Investments in Emerging Europe. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, Postfach 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Polish Studies in Economics" series, No. 2. 2013, 145 pp. €32.95. ISBN 978-3-631-62566-8.
In this book, a number of economists, the majority of whom are based at the University of Warsaw, seek to verify whether the economic opening up of a country proves to be much less costly when it is able to draw on a high level of human development. The work therefore focuses on examining the means employed by a country with regard to human and social development within it and seeing whether this has unproductive implications or a positive impact on international trade and foreign investment. The authors provide a number of positive scientific responses to this unusual question: reducing spending on human development is counter-productive because improving education systems and healthcare results in the effective simulation of international trade and direct investment. This is an interesting illustration, even though it will be of particular interest to economists whose specialised approach will enable them to obtain the full value from reading this account… (PBo)
*** BRIGITTE STRAUSS: Schutz vor Diskriminierun Privatpersonen im Straf-, Arbeits- und Zivilrecht. Darstellung des französischen Rechts mit Vergleich zum deutschen Recht von dem Hintergrund der Umsetzung EU-rechtlicher Vergaben. Peter Lang (see address details attached). "Publications Universitaires Européennes / European University Studies" series. 2013, 371 pp. €62.95. ISBN 978-3-631-63962-7.
Legislation tackling discrimination in France and Germany has clearly and substantially become part of European standards in this area. Nonetheless, in France, legal protection against discrimination has a long tradition and developed independently of European standards. In this study, Brigitte Strauß, presents the different ways of outlawing discrimination under criminal, civil and labour law in France. She also provides a comparative legal study by examining provisions in German on unequal treatment. The author concludes that despite more forceful sanctions on discrimination in France in all legal areas, the general level of protection against discrimination in daily lives is not extremely different to that in the other two countries examined. (GLe)
*** MIRONA MARISCH: Das System der Arbeitnehmervertretung und des Sozialen Dialogs im rumänischen Recht im Vergleich zum deutschen Recht. Peter Lang (see address details attached). Collection "Studien des Instituts für Ostrecht München", No. 74. 2012, 245 pp. €51.95. ISBN 978-3-631-62684-9.
In this thesis, Mirona Marisch examines an original subject that has been rather neglected in the past but is in fact an extremely contemporary issue. She compares collective rights at work in Germany and Romania. First of all she looks at the developments that have occurred in this area since the transition from communism to the liberal economy, as well as the legal bases underpinning these developments. She then provides an unambiguously comparative analysis of the role played by the unions, workers' representation and collective bargaining in each of the countries. This analysis reveals substantial differences on a level of corresponding legal standards as well as in practice. Mirona Marisch concludes her thesis within a European perspective and outlines the challenges facing Romania in this area since it has joined the Union. She is, however, aware of the limitations on European competences in this field and explains the reasons for these limitations. (GLe)
*** CHRISTOPH DEMMKE, TIMO MOILANEN: Government Transformation and the Future of Public Employment. The Impact of Restructuring on Status Development in the Central Administration of the EU-27. Peter Lang (see address details attached). 2013, 154 pp. €36.95. ISBN 978-3-631-62971-0.
In this book, two scientists specialising in public affairs examine how central government in 27 EU countries in the Union before Croatia joined have developed during the reform process that has increasingly been stepped up over the past decades. In addition to the decentralisation process and diversification observed recently, it is particularly the effects of the crisis and austerity policies on public administration that are examined. Highlighting the very popular slogan “doing more with less” in Europe, Professor Demmke from the European Institute of Public Administration in Maastricht and the College of Europe) and the political scientist Timo Moilanen emphasise that its implementation will also be responsible for producing a number of negative repercussions, particularly with regard to the morale of civil servants. They believe that it is important to ensure that the improvements sought in terms of productivity are not exclusively decided on the basis of cost effectiveness but also on the quality and continuity of the services provided. In the same perspective, they examine the introduction of flexicurity at different government levels and the fact that this cannot be compared at all with what has been going on in the private sector. (PBo)