*** DÉBORAH LASSALLE: L'Europe de l'intérêt général. Academia - L'Harmattan (29 Grand' Place, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve. Tel: (32-10) 452395 - fax: 454480 - Email: info@librairie-academia.be - Internet: http://www.editions-academia.be ). "Publications de l'Institut européen de l'Université de Genève" series, No. 11. 2013, 317 pp. €35 (Belgium, France) and €37. ISBN 978-2-8061-0043-6.
This book is the extension of a doctoral thesis developed at the University of Geneva just under three years ago. It invites readers to examine the specific case of the European Commission and how it has become, “the mouthpiece of the European general interest”, as president José Manuel Barroso described it during the ceremony in which he made his formal sermon at the last Commission to the European Court of Justice in May 2010. Although the Commission has remained, since the era the High Authority of the European Community of Coal and Steel at the beginning of the 1950s, “the central institution in the European integration process”, this is because it has not ceased to be the institution (unprecedented in the history of Europe and the world) in charge of promoting the general interest. This is a subject that obviously warrants examination at a doctoral level and this is what Professor Nicolas Levrat attempts ensure, as thesis supervisor, and which goes far beyond any legal frontiers or blinkered uni-disciplinary approach …
The book is structured into four different parts. In the first part, the general interest is approached a as a concept of endorsement, particularly in the perspective of the “deficit of legitimacy” under European derived law. Déborah Lassalle then immediately sets about decrypting, “the conceptual ambiguity of the European general interest in European law” in the context of this “integration tool” that this general interest has become in the hands of the European judiciary. The third part of the book seeks to analyse the modalities of, “the European general interest as embodied by the Commission”. This concept is then explored and examined within the perspective of European environmental policy, such as the participation criteria in the Reach legislation on chemicals and the subsidiarity principle in the context of the European coal market.
It goes without saying that summing up this kind of book is not an easy exercise. Only a few of the main threads in the work can therefore arbitrarily be highlighted in this Bibliothèque européenne. For example, Déborah Lassalle initially argues that, “the European general interest can be differentiated from the national interest and common international interest insofar as it is embodied by the European Commission”, which has always played a “major political role in endorsing derived law”. With its “White Paper” on European governance in 2001, the Commission set itself the task of developing derived law based on the principles of primacy over national law and subsidiarity when it implements it, as well as in the examples of solidarity. The author believes that the European general interest must continue to be ensured by the Commission in its role of “interpreter and mediator”, which the Court in Luxembourg appears quite happy to acknowledge. Nonetheless, the Lisbon Treaty has also recently created a certain amount of uncertainty regarding the, “monopoly on the European general interest as exercised by the Commission” and the subsequent irresistible rise in power of the European Council, which, “sharply changes the setup in Governance” and introduces a number of competitors to the Commission in the person of, in particular, the stable president of the European Council. Does this all, however, constitute a revolution? Perhaps, because the Commission, as opposed to Herman Van Rompuy or the individual who succeeds him, will continue to provide, “significant resources in an effort to impose its vision at the European Council and among member states” and that also, thanks to the Lisbon treaty, it is also succeeded in developing a certain mastery of the European Council agenda.
In the meantime, the economic and financial crisis has also revealed the difficulty the European Council still has in, “formulating the common European interest”. Did this not rather paradoxically illustrate the most obvious proof of the Commission's indispensable role mediator because it is indeed independent?
Michel Theys
*** ANTONIS ELLINAS, EZRA SULEIMAN: La Commission européenne et l'autonomie bureaucratique. Les protecteurs de l'Europe. Editions Epikentro (9 rue Kamvounion, GR-54621 Salonika. Tel: (30-231) 0256146 - fax: 0256148 - Email: books@epikentro.gr - Internet: http://www.epikentro.gr ). 2013, 296 pp. €19. ISBN 978-960458427-7.
This book is the result of research undertaken on innovative administrative policy that provides an original and very significant contribution to the way in which the European Union is studied. Its authors show how the European Commission administration is one of the most powerful in the world and influences the lives of around 500 million European citizens and how it uses its own resources to promote its own respective autonomy. Over the past two decades, the institution of the “Commission” has been on the defensive and different political leaders have been seeking to rein in its power. Antonis Elias, an assistant lecturer in political science at the University of Cyprus and Ezra Suleiman, professor of international relations, founder and former director of the programme on European policy and society at the University of Princeton, examine the struggle by this administration to maintain its autonomy. By examining the profiles of almost 200 senior officials at the Commission they reveal the complexity of this institution and proceed to an extremely important analysis of the coherent culture of supra-nationality as developed by the senior civil servants in Brussels on behalf of the Union, which is in fact an increasingly disparate ensemble of member states. Despite the harsh criticism reserved for the political elite, these bureaucrats, according to the authors of this book, subsequently succeed in avoiding controls by political leaders and remain at the very core of the challenge. They could even be described as the real “leaders” because the several headed structure of the Union's political authority restricts the ability of European and national political leaders to put a brake on the autonomy of the Commission and the resistance of these leaders has in fact led to undermining the legitimacy of this organisation, due to it being constantly under political attack. The wealth of data in this investigation appears to prove, however, that the bureaucrats at the Commission continue exercise their power as the “guardians of Europe”. (AKa)
*** MICHEL CLAESSENS: Petit éloge de l'incompétence. Editions Quae (RD 10, F-78026 Versailles Cedex. Tel: (33-1) 30833406 - fax: 30833449 - Email: serviceclients@quae.fr - Internet: http://www.quae.com ). 2013, 135 pp. €16. ISBN 978-2-7592-2070-0.
This short essay is difficult to pigeonhole but it is brilliant, nonetheless. Michel Claessens is both a scientist and communications expert. He worked at the European Commission's DG Research for a long time, before becoming head of the Iter communication programme service, the international experimental fusion reactor in France. A more serious kind of man would be difficult to find but nonetheless, in the limpid prose found in these pages, he calls on readers to consider incompetence as one would all the other competencies too and adds that we should consider it in a similar way to the, “skills and accomplishments that society obviously has to promote and develop, which we should not be afraid of witnessing in ourselves” because there are interesting ways to promote this… “constructively”. The author believes that the notions of competence and incompetence now need to be redefined because the former can also be destructive (for which he provides examples) and the latter can turn out to be creative (for which he also provides a number of examples). One of the main qualities of this hugely intelligent essay is the way in which it illustrates how, “possessing knowledge does not always mean providing reason” and therefore does not always mean one is right … (MT)
*** JAN BÜCHEL: Fernsehen für Europa. Transnationale mediale Öffentlichkeit als kulturpolitischer Auftrag der EU. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, P.O. Box 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Studien zur Kulturpolitik" series. 2013, 300 pp. €49.95. ISBN 978-3-631-62904-8.
In this book, Jan Büchel's starting principle is that television is the most influential means of providing information and that in this respect it must be used to help strengthen the European project by providing appropriate information about Europe. In an effort to work out what objectives a European television channel should have, the author, first of all, examines the concepts of public space, identity, culture, communication and multilingualism and underlines the indispensable quality of latter. He also attempts to put forward a number of suggestions for making different communication methods operational at a European level (the issue of language is also tackled, as well as that of perception, television viewers' habits and a whole range of challenges that need to be met in an effort to reach the vast European public). He then provides a comparative study of the way in which public audiovisual services are organised in six European countries (Germany, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Hungary and Lithuania) and the way in which these TV channels have attempted to transcend national borders and their successes and failures in this connection. Jan Büchel also seeks to assess the level of Europeanization in the six European oriented channels currently in service, by taking into account five quantitative factors (the number of institutional actors in the different countries involved in the project, the number of languages provided, the number of people who are able to receive the channel, etc.) and four qualitative elements (the quality and consolidation of long-term financial planning, the degree of media independence, etc.). This data is then broken down into different graphs in respect of the different channels examined. This part of the book constitutes the end of the thesis underpinning this book and is both intellectually rigorous and methodological. It also provides a certain aesthetic charm, despite it sometimes running the risk of appearing over-simplistic. Overall, the major contribution of this book is the way in which it is energised by a genuine pro-European conviction and how it underlines the successes of the European-based channels. It does, however, also look at some of the real communication and media problems within Europe and provides a sharply critical but constructive insight into what has not functioned effectively in this regard and subsequently provides a warning to readers about what mistakes should be avoided in the future. (GLe)
*** MICHAEL FISCHER (Editor): Kunst als Marke europäischer Identität. Peter Lang (see address details attached). "Subjekt und Kulturalität" series is. 2013, 278 pp. €56.95. ISBN 978-3-631-62948-2.
Just like politics and the economy, art and cultural heritage are also factors for European integration! This central idea underpins this assortment of articles and each of them present an insight into art, whilst at the same time emphasising how this art constitutes a significant marker in European identity. The following themes in this series are of particular significance: the role of theatrical arts and in which some of the authors underline the vector of the enlightenment at a European level; the question of communication between different cultures and civilisations, which is also particularly seen through a Japanese point of view and the contribution of Spanish culture to literature, theatre and flamenco. (GLe)
*** LAURENT DIOUF, ANNE VINCENT, ANNE-CECILE WORMS: Les arts numériques. Centre de recherche et d'information socio-politiques (Crisp, 1A place Quetelet, B-1210 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2110180 - fax: 2197934 - Email: info@crisp.be - Internet: http://www.crisp.be ). « Dossiers du Crisp » series, No. 81. 2013, 84 pp. 7,50 €. ISBN 978-2-87075-121-3.
Les arts numériques (the digital arts) have their roots in the dadaist movement of the 1920s. They have helped make digital technology and interactive media more available and have also brought into question notions of what is a work of art in the public sphere, as well as by the artists themselves. The description “digital”, as applied to art, is not universally accepted as one single definition. This makes this Crisp Dossier so interesting, firstly because it examines the definitions of digital art and draws up a typology, whilst describing its evolution and analysing the different channels in which it is disseminated. In the second part of this publication, the authors examine the situation in the French speaking part of Belgium. (PBo)
*** Futuribles. L'anticipation au service de l'action. Futuribles Sarl (47 rue de Babylone, F-75007 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 53633770 - fax: 42226554 - Email: revue@futuribles.com - Internet: http://www.futuribles.com ). January-February 2014, No. 398, 144 pp. €22. Annual subscription: €115. ISBN 978-2-84387-411-6.
This edition of the Futuribles begins with a contribution by researcher Pierre Moeglin (Université Paris 13) on the impact of communication and information technology and the use of the internet, particularly on higher education. It puts into perspective the “Massive Open Online Courses” available to the public and analyses the different aspects of new forms of distance learning, which, according to Moeglin, sometimes herald new and significant changes in education and cultural sectors, with the subsequent economic repercussions that they bring. It should also be noted that “the emergence of a European neo-populism” as described and analysed by Jean-François Drevet, is a risk for the next European Parliament because far right MEPs could possibly organise themselves in an “European Eurosceptic Alliance”. (MT)
*** Étudier ou enseigner à l'étranger 2014 - 2015. Wallonie-Bruxelles International (2 place Sainctelette, B-1080 Bruxelles. Tel: (32-2) 4218211 - fax: 4218787 - Email: wbi@wbi.be - Internet: http://www.wbi.be ). 2013, 146 p.
This pamphlet is aimed at young French speakers in Belgium and is published by the French speaking Community of Wallonia-Brussels. It seeks to provide a variety of ideas to all young people who may be attracted by the idea of spending some time abroad. It can be consulted at http://www.wbi.be/etudierouenseigner on the internet and provides a guide to all the different grants for studies and teaching posts available. In addition to national programmes, there is also useful information about the different European institution programmes and facilities provides by other international institutions. (PBo)