*** NADEGE CHAMBON, STEPHANIE BAZ-HATEM: Jacques Delors hier et aujourd'hui. S'affranchir d'un monde désenchanté. Desclée de Brouwer (10 rue Mercœur, F-75011 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40465400 - fax: 58511048 - Internet: http://www.ddbeditions.fr ). « Essais » series. 2014, 219 pp. €18. ISBN 978-2-220-06588-5.
Jacques Delors left the European Commission twenty years ago next December. Although he is regarded by many “older” people as embodying Europe as no one else could have done, who, however, among the young European generation or those currently entering or attempting to enter politics would have heard of him? A number of young pro-Europeans have had the privilege of getting to know this unique politician over the past fifteen years at Notre Europe. Stéphanie Baz-Hatem - who is still the head of this reflection and study group set up by Delors in 1996 and which has been known as the Jacques Delors Institute since 2012, and the researcher Nadège Chambon, have had the excellent idea of drafting this small but very personal publication to once again highlight the man and the trajectory he took. They also succeed in shedding light on his consistent philosophical output and action since 1995 and subsequently, “provide a number of keys he had to understanding the contemporary world and which remain valid intellectual, spiritual and political references and more often than not transcend partisan divisions to provide coherency and sense to the deafening din of change that our current generations are witnessing”. To a certain extent, we would say that this book comes at exactly the right time, particularly insofar as it explains away certain decisions and actions that led the European Union and the Eurozone in the direction they ultimately took…
First and foremost, there is the man and the political journey embarked upon. He was born into a working class background in Ménilmontant and the young Delors under the guidance of rather socialist leaning priests, according to Father Henri Madelin who wrote the preface, developed a Christian faith that would remain with him for the rest of his life. His first intellectual guides were Emmanuel Mounier and Jean Lacroix and he was strongly influenced by the ideas of “community personalism” that would make him hostile to individualism, especially of the exacerbated kind that flourished at the beginning of the new millennium. All the ingredients were in place to lead this ideological descendant of Marc Sangnier, the apostle of reconciliation between workers and left Catholicism, to living his life as an activist in charities, the unions and politics and ultimately to become, “the architect of future times” as described by Father Madelin. This is not exactly the description, however, given to him by those who criticise the fact that he did not attempt to put himself forward for the presidency in 1995 when this almost appeared to be his for the taking. His reply to these critics was that, “he would have to examine his conscience” but was certain that God would not reproach him one day for having made this choice, “out of cowardice”. From this point on, Stéphanie Baz-Hatem and Nadège Chambon decode the “Delors method” which consists in, “making his own usefulness a priority”, whilst not foregoing a certain “active pessimism”, given that Delors has always tried to, “understand the tensions of contemporary societies in an effort to be able to live together” and focus on equal opportunities and education, the struggle he continues to fight at the service of social democracy and Community Europe. This “Delorian pragmatism” also means that he has always advocated the economy over theory in the action that the architects of Europe were taking to construct the European project.
This rediscovery of a unique politician and “expert in humanity”, as fittingly described by Father Madelin, fully come to life when Nadège Chambon and Stéphanie Baz-Hatem identify the corrosive judgements that the former president of the Commission uses to describe some of the meanderings of European governance. This key underlying force behind the single currency therefore described Eurogroup as, “morally and politically responsible for the crisis” the euro zone has been suffering from since 2008 and that the “Commission services were not immune to the poison of financial ideology either”, which created the conditions for the crisis that is still affecting the Union today. This criticism is small beer compared to the twofold error he says has been committed by the European Council, which is responsible for creating an incapacitated economic and monetary union because during the 1990s and even more recently it failed to listen and nourished the, “hiatus existing between leaders who tended to think at the national level and the situation affecting their respective currencies and economies that were more anchored at a European level”. This leads to the authors' conclusion and the appeal from this “pessimist” who is still actively working to build, “a renewed institutional and democratic project” that can lead to the Federation of Nation States, that he has for a long time advocated, as well as the dawning of a “Europe of both flesh and soul…” Is this not indeed the most moving way of discussing Europe and its need to build the European project rather than all the election speeches awaiting us?
Michel Theys
*** Il Politico. Rivista italiana di scienze politiche. Rubbettino Editore (10 viale Rosario Rubbettino, I-88049 Soveria Mannelli. Tel: (39-968) 6664201 - fax: 662055 - Courriel: rubbettinoeditore@pec.it - Internet: http://www.rubbettinoeditore.it ). September/December 2012, No. 231, 236 pp. €20. Subscription: €52 (European Union) or €78. ISBN 978-88-498-3884-8.
This issue of the Italian journal was published in the middle of last year and is supposed to cover the final quarter of 2012. It is written by the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Pavia and fully focuses on the theme of the, “European Union, nationalism and cosmopolitanism”. In his foreword, Professor Guido Montani explains that this choice had been made for two reasons. First of all it results from the determination to protest against the, “narrow mindedness” of European leaders managing the economic and financial cataclysm that wreaked havoc in the European Union: the sovereign debt crisis revealed their inability, “to bridge the gap between the so-called European governance and the European federal government necessary to avoid the collapse of the Union” and in this failing, this professor of international political economy identifies their, “poor understanding of the historical meaning of European integration”. During the Noble prize winning ceremony awarded to the European Union, President Barroso declared that this was far from being an end in itself and in fact embodied in the quest for a cosmopolitan order, “this federalist and cosmopolitan vision” which he believes constitutes, “one of the most important contributions that the European Union can bring to a global order in the making”. The determination to declare in no uncertain terms this noble duty is the continuum running throughout all the different essays included in this publication by authors and researchers from several different continents and which seek to, “stimulate fruitful debate on the notion of nationalism, which was a European invention, and cosmopolitism, which is still viewed more as a philosophical notion than a political project for the future of humankind”. This is where the second reason for the choice of themes in this edition makes itself known, namely the determination to pay homage to a political thinker and a major Italian federalist Mario Albertini, who passed away in 1997. In the writing he bequeathed us and which are re-examined, readers are invited to go back to the sources of cosmopolitanism and federalism. The authors also explain that Kant would have no doubt been a supporter of the European Union as the beginning of the project for universal peace … (MT)
*** STAVROS ZOUMPOULAKIS: L'Aube dorée et l'Eglise. Editions Polis (33 Eolou Str., GR-10551 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3643382 - fax: 3636501 - Email: info@polis-ed.gr - Internet: http://www.polis-ed.gr. 2013, 115 pp. €10. ISBN 978-960-435-390-3.
How can a priest speak of members of Golden Dawn as, “good children that can become a sweet source of hope for despairing citizens”? Why is nationalist and extreme right wing rhetoric from the Greek neo-Nazi organisation considered normal by some in the Greek Orthodox Church? Why do the bishops that denounce racist and criminal activities appear as farsighted exceptions? Why does the official church not denounce political and physical violence in its declarations? Here are some of the questions that Stavros Zoumpoulakis, the director of the "Nea Estia" review and president of the National Library, poses in this book in which he also provides a certain number of possible answers. First of all he dismantles the traditional triangular rhetoric of Golden Dawn, namely, “Country, Religion, Family”. Secondly, he also says that only the official church has the possibility and even the duty of isolating the neo-Nazi abscess at a social and political level! At the current juncture in Greece this would appear to be more as a statement of intent rather than a real possibility. Nonetheless, the author's arguments are incisive. This far right organisation is both neo-Nazi, pagan, anti-Semitic, anti-Islamic and anti-Christian. The church therefore has all the more reason to denounce and commit Golden Dawn to oblivion. At the same time, the author explains why it is difficult for it to take the kind of consistent action that is required to put an end to this party. He also points out that in the current dramatic economic and social context of crisis, many people still continue to underestimate the risk posed by Golden Dawn and he warns that they are very wrong to do so.. (AKa)
*** JOSEF NIZNIK (Editor): Twentieth Century Wars in European Memory. 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 ). “Studies in Social Sciences, Philosophy and History of Ideas” series, No. 1. 2013, 289 pp. €45.95. ISBN 978-3-631-62785-3.
In this collectively written book edited by Józef Niznik, a lecturer and director of studies at the European unit at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Science, eighteen specialists show that the memories of two world wars in several European countries differ sharply. They refer to the symbolism of material objectivation in the memory of the war and examine this in the context of a given geographical area. They also demonstrate that this objectivation not only determines certain models of memory and specific perceptions of the past but also contribute to local and/or national identity, as well as the creation of a basis for attitudes towards other participants in the war. The instruments of memory actually have a life of their own and help shape the meaning that memory attaches to particular events in the historical and political process. The question that consistently runs throughout all the different essays in this publication looks at whether it is possible to “make” Europeans without a collective European memory or transgressing national perspectives. The memory of war inevitably demonstrates that the intrinsic human absurdity in this tragedy is undoubtedly the main vector for Europeanization. (AKa)
*** RUTH STEGER: Staatenimmunität und Kriegsverbrechen. Das IGH-Urteil im Verfahren Deutschland gegen Italien vom 03.02.2012. Peter Lang (see address attached) 978-3-631-64337-2.
On 23 December 2008, Germany went to the International Criminal Court (ICI) for a ruling on the legality of a decision by the Italian Appeals Court calling on the former to compensate: 1) soldiers from the Italian army deported to Germany between 1943 and 1945 and who did not benefit from the status of prisoners of war; 2) civilians deported to Germany and subject to forced labour; 3) civilian victims of exactions and massacres committed by the Wehrmacht between 1943 and 1945. In its decision of 3 February 2012, “The Jurisdictional Immunities of States”, the International Criminal Court ruled in favour of Germany by invoking the violation of the principle of the immunity of states by the Italian courts and indicating that in so doing, Italy had breached international public law. The Italian position therefore appeared unfounded because the violation of Germany's diplomatic immunity by the Italian courts is without question. The Court also adopted this position. The strength of the work carried out by Ruth Steger, however, is the way in which it highlights the fact that despite the ruling of the ICC, the Italian courts were right to demand that Germany compensates the Italian victims of Nazism. Italy effectively presents a quite specific situation: in 1945 it was considered to have been conquered and during the signing of the peace treaties in 1947, its population did not have the same rights to reparations as the so-called “victorious” countries, despite numerous German laws on the matter. The author also highlights the fact that the practice and jurisprudence created certain restrictions to the principle of the immunity of states (particularly with the appearance of the notion of the relative immunity of states). In this regard, the comparative analysis of jurisprudence with certain jurisdictions, particularly the European Court of Human Rights, displays a certain particular interest. At the end of the book, the author outlines the path of general and fair compensation procedures for people who had been harmed in one way or another by National Socialism. (GLe)
*** Dokumente / Documents. Zeitschrift für den deutsch-französischen Dialog / Revue du dialogue franco-allemand. Verlag Dokumente (86 Dottendorfer Strasse, D-53129 Bonn. Tel: (49-228) 92129365 - fax: 690385 - Email: aboservice@dokumente-documents.info - Internet: http://www.dokumente-documents.info ). 2013, No. 4, 112 pp €7. Subscription €18.90.
This edition of the journal on Franco-German dialogue was set up in 1945 by the French priest and resistance fighter Jean du Rivau and is extremely critical of the “flat” celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty and the persisting anti-German stance in certain quarters of French society. The editor-in-chief, Gérard Foussier, is particularly scathing of the so-called humorous article published in Le Figaro, where the author of this article accuses the Germans of, “giving us a lesson in virtue and courage whilst forgetting that they organised the shoah and lost the war” and attempting to, “impose their laws through a Chancellor who has less of a moustache than the Führer but who is just as much determined”. It goes without saying that the Franco-German “driving force” of European construction has been unable to cross the Maginot Line in certain French minds. In an effort to remedy this situation, the spotlight is trained on some of the lessons to be drawn from the most recent general elections in Germany, as well as a dossier focusing on the difficulties encountered by those promoting Franco-German bilingualism in the context of the prevailing dominance of the English language. (MT)