*** MICHEL DEVOLUY: Comprendre le débat européen. Petit guide à l'usage des citoyens qui ne croient plus à l'Europe. Éditions Points (25 bd Romain-Rolland, F-75014 Paris. Internet: http://www.lecerclepoints.com ). « Essais » series. 2014, 159 pp. €7. ISBN 978-2-7578-3659-0.
This is one of those books that doesn't cost a lot but which is worth its weight in gold. This one is particularly reinvigorating and breathes new positive energies into citizens who, having been thrown into the current quagmire, may be inclined to howl to the moon with the wolves against this Europe that is responsible for all the world's woes. As Jean Monnet Chair for European economics and Emeritus Professor at the University of Strasbourg, Michel Dévoluy is not one of those who accepts things lying down or who will be going to the voting booth next May with rancour in his heart. He uses this small guide to identify the different problems and challenges facing us, in the simplest terms. It is therefore accessible to a lot of people and in it he calls on citizens to mobilise and get themselves to the voting booths, as others used sometimes to go to the barricades in times gone by. He begins this book by explaining that, “it is now time to move on from the Eurocracy to democracy” and points out that his book is a product of, “both reason and optimism” because the inertia and patching up job undertaken by the princes of Europe on behalf of their citizens, “has only put the problems off” and we now need to move onto something else without any further procrastination, “political Europe, at least for the Eurozone, is the best solution to the current difficulties and preparing for the future”. He explains, therefore, that citizens voting in next May's elections have to create the foundations for a genuinely democratic and political Europe because the Union can no longer, “be based exclusively on a pro-European elite or political leaders encapsulated in their own national priorities” if we really are serious about finding an exit strategy to the crisis.
In the first chapter, Professor Dévoluy scrutinises the changes required for a majority of citizens being able to take ownership again of European construction, which has hitherto been, “incomplete, dominated by neo-liberal doctrine and insufficiently democratic”. According to this economist, the European economic and social model that sets member states against each other in competition and which has subsequently created the unacceptable situation of “tax and social dumping”, needs revising lock stock and barrel. Hence, his first possible solution advocates that, “we need to move away from unbridled competition to more solidarity and collective responsibility by promoting upward convergence of member states' economic and social models”. Is the author going to find someone willing to contest the need of going in this direction? Professor Dévoluy subsequently absolves the member states and points out that if they are heavily in debt, it is not so much due to their bad management or the “far-reaching recession” affecting them and the ultimately ineffective austerity measures because the problem is that, “the way in which the European economic and financial system is functioning requires a significant rethink”. This analysis explains his scathing diagnosis: the current crisis, “proves that the dominant economic doctrine underlines monetary stability and budgetary rigour, whilst completely undermining the welfare state. This highlights the blatant lack of political integration for the Eurozone”. The author has no kind words to say when he criticises the, “supposed federal management of the global recession”, which he says is nothing other than federalism applied by way of rules akin to “federal tutelage” and whose result is unquestionably negative given that, “Eurozone states have largely lost their budgetary sovereignty without having had any democratic transfer of power at a Union level in return”.
He therefore argues that it is now necessary for citizens to move forward and build a peaceful society by emancipating themselves from the “dominant neoliberal doctrine” and the “domination of the European Council” because it is true that it is probably unrealistic to expect the heads of state and government to assume the helm and transfer their own powers to Europe. The author subsequently argues that, “in order to be efficient and democratic, moving forward to completion of the Union must be done by energetically involving the European Parliament and, above all, basing their support on the active mobilisation of European citizens”. If this is not forthcoming we will once again see that any changes undertaken will ultimately mean no change at all … If this is not going to be the case again, Professor Michel Dévoluy makes an inventory of all the advantages and benefits Europe has and which should be used to push forward a democratic and citizens' revival of Europe, which would effectively mean a clean break with the control exerted by the technocrats and a thoroughgoing review of the institutional architecture to promote a European Parliament that is close to its citizens and which limits the power and the damage inflicted by the inter-governmental system. He also develops an “agenda”, which he says should be implemented in an effort to this time build, “a federated Europe at the service of its citizens”. He explains that this would involve federal planning, the emergence of European parties and trade unions, as well as the arrival in office of a “European government based on an elected parliament”. So many of these ideas will undoubtedly not be to the liking of the European governments. Nonetheless, this antipathy is at least preferable to what could result from at best a Eurosceptic wave and at worst, a Europhobic and destructive tsunami. This is the only real question we need to be asking ourselves today if we really want a political and responsible leadership!
Michel Theys
*** SOTIRIS DALIS: L'Union européenne et la gestion multilatérale de la mondialisation. Le monde multipolaire, l'Union européenne et la « divergence grecque ». Éditions Papazisi (2 Nikitara, GR-10678 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3822496 - fax: 3809150 - Email: papazisi@otenet.gr - Internet: http://www.papazisi.gr ). 2013, 354 pp. €23.43. ISBN 978-960-02-2873-1.
Sotiris Dalis is a senior lecturer in International relations at the Department of Mediterranean Studies at the Aegean University. His central argument throughout this book is that, “Europe is not the problem but the solution”. The most recent challenges over the past few years and the fears that they have created have compelled Greece and its leaders to invent a new universal political life that is capable of meeting these challenges. Throughout his political analysis and the crises affecting the different democracies of recent years, the author displays a critical viewpoint but without rejecting the project of European political integration as the best means of guaranteeing the future, not only for Greece, but for the European Union as a whole.
(AKa)
*** Fedechoses… pour le fédéralisme. Presse fédéraliste (Maison de l'Europe et des Européens, 242 rue Duguesclin, F-69003 Lyon. Internet: http://www.pressefederaliste.eu ). December 2013, no. 162, 40 pp. Annual subscription: €30.
This critical journalist and pro-European supporter, Jean-Pierre Gouzy, uses his customary “Billet” column to attack the “subsidiary role” enjoyed by the European Commission in the inter-governmental text seeking to establish banking union. He sees this as a means to undermine, “the Community's institutional balance as conceived of by Jean Monnet in the 1950s”. The most severe charges, however, in this issue, are brought by Robert Toulemon in the article entitled, “Perseverare diabolicum”. This former director general at the European Commission takes to task his French compatriot Pierre de Boissieu, whom he accuses of fighting to ensure that there is no Union that is either federally inspired or simply Community based. What he objects to is a note that the former French permanent representative and former secretary general of the Council co-signed with former Commissioner Vitorino and, less surprisingly, the former British permanent representative, Wall, to defend the thesis of, “the only legitimacy will be that of the states”. Toulemon points out that this is, lamentably, part and parcel of the French diplomatic tradition. He also underlines the fact that these three figures are afraid of the, “politicisation of the Commission” and therefore reject the choice of the Commission president being subject to election. In the same perspective, Toulemon criticises the fact that the note by Boissieu, whilst praising the quality of the legislative work undertaken by the European Parliament, “proposes to weaken it by replacing it with an assembly composed for the main part by delegates of national parliaments” to control the euro zone. His sermon is interspersed with his expressed wish to proceed to a “genuine clarification of the Union's ultimate aims” because the vagueness that has been cultivated over the past 40 years has led to regression and even worse.
(MT)
*** DANIEL GUÉGUEN: Repenser le lobbying européen. Pact European Affairs (21 square de Meeûs, B-1050 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2303868 - Email: info@pacteurope.eu). 2013, 89 pp €35. ISBN 978-2-9601271-1-9.
Daniel Guéguen is now a veteran of lobbying in the capital of Europe. At the beginning of his most recent book, he explains that he has got to know over 40 years of his career, “the four ages of European lobbying”: first and foremost, diplomatic lobbying, then strategic lobbying, associated with completion of the single market, transversal lobbying, which has seen civil society titillate the influence of industry and, finally, the arrival of legal lobbying with the Lisbon Treaty, which effectively, “thoroughly modifies” the institutional environments and requires the question of European lobbying to be subject to a thoroughgoing rethink. On the basis of his lengthy experience and interviews with a panel of 75 professionals and decision-makers, he uses this book to discover the hidden faces of the most recent treaty replete with all its great unknowns. He subsequently illustrates what these are to, “show how the opacity of the new committee procedures can be penetrated” or blocked by a hostile delegated act. The author provides some good practical advice on how to adapt a lobbying strategy to the new institutional paradigm, whether this is in the pre-drafting or drafting phase of European legislation or during the adoption of these basic acts. He subsequently affirms that, “the frequent holding of trilogues short-circuits the Council and Parliament during the plenary sessions” or when delegated acts or implementing acts are involved. In conclusion, the author calls on the lobbyists to take a close look at themselves and give their support to the idea of compulsory regulation of the profession, so they are also able to, “become the mechanics of Europe” and help contribute to the post-Lisbon decision-making process and make it more transparent, democratic and efficient.
(MT)
*** DIDIER GEORGAKAKIS, JAY ROWELL: The Field of Eurocracy. Mapping EU Actors and Professionals. Editions Palgrave Macmillan (Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, UK. Tel: (44-1256) 329242 - fax: 479476 - Internet: http://www.palgrave.com ). 2013, 296 pp. £65. ISBN 978-1-137-29469-2.
The term “Eurocacy”exists in all European languages. But beyond the fantasies surrounding the “Brussels bubble” we know very little about the members of Parliament, Commissioners, European civil servants” lobbyists, members of the Council of Governors of the European Central Bank, European trade unionists, diplomats and journalists working in the shadow of the European institutions. What are their social and professional trajectories? What kind of authority do they have? Based on work actually carried out in the field, this book is written by two academic specialists - Didier Georgakakis, a University professor of political science at Université de Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne and Jay Rowell research director at the CNRS in political sociology at the University of Strasbourg. Their task is to provide a number of answers scientifically backed up to these questions, by drawing on the theory of Pierre Bourdieu regarding the arena of bureaucracy. 45 years after the book, “The Eurocrats” by Altiero Spinelli, this book provides new and very useful clarifications regarding the structures of relations underpinning the political system of the European Union.
(AKa)
*** ERIK AKSE: Influencing the Preparation of EU Legislation. A Practical Guide to Working with Impact Assessments. John Harper Publishing (27 Palace Gates Road, London N22 7BW, UK. Tel: (44-1767) 604951 - Email: custserv@turpin-distribution.com - Internet: http://www.johnharperpublishing.co.uk ). 2013, 310 pp. €65, £53. ISBN 978-0-9571501-4-0.
Many Europeans, sometimes those who are even very well-informed, think that the European Union is a, “sort of bureaucratic monster”. In his preface to this book, Dutch MEP, Jan Mulder, describes this phenomenon. Edmund Stoiber, the former minister president of Bavaria also helped write the preface and emphasises that it would be at least useful to rectify the impression that the European Commission concocts its legislative proposals in a far-flung ivory tower full of know-alls. This explains the praise heaped on this book by the president of the high level group on administrative charges because it provides a comprehensive evaluation of the way in which the impact assessment works, enabling all those covered by European legislation to participate in its elaboration. Having experienced the European institutions behind the scenes for 30 years, Erik Akse provide a didactic explanation about the origins of these impact analyses: how they came about, how they have been incorporated into the European decision-making process and the way in which stakeholders have to tackle them in order to put forward their points of view and interests effectively. Examples offering practical advice are also given to this end and the author includes a number of ideas in his presentation about how this system could be improved.
(PBo)
*** ERRATUM. Paul Collowald has informed us that contrary to what was written by Dario and Francesco Velo in their book “A Social Market Economy and European Economic Monetary Union” (see Bibliothèque européenne No. 11015/1035 on 11 February 2014), the economist Alfred Müller-Armack, inventor of the concept of the social market economy, was not the German minister of foreign affairs during the signing of the Rome treaties because this role in the Adenauer government was occupied by Heinrich von Brentano.