*** SIMON SCHUNZ: European Union Foreign Policy and the Global Climate Regime. 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 ). "College of Europe Studies," No. 18. 2014, 371 pp, €52-40. ISBN 978-2-87574-134-9.
How did/does the European Union attempt to exert influence on the multilateral negotiations about how to combat climate change? Does it really exert any influence in this domain and if so, why? These are the questions which Simon Schunz scientifically answers in this social science doctoral thesis for the University of Leuven four years ago, which has been substantially adjusted for this book. This is an important tome becausse this environmental issue is described by Ban Ki-moon as 'the defining challenge of our generation,' and also because the European Union wanted to be a full foreign policy actor in this field, even demanding to be seen as its leader. Developing the concept of influence and carrying out a close scrutiny of the instruments and resources the Union utilises as a foreign policy player, the author assesses the effectiveness of the EU28's action.
After describing the analytical framework underlying his research, Simon Schunz - who is now senior lecturer at the University of Leuven after also earning diplomas from the College of Europe and the Free University of Berlin - analyses the European Union's behaviour and the impact it has had in the light of five periods of time during which there were changes of varying scale in the battle against climate change. He starts with the period 1980 to 1995, which saw 'the historical foundations of the global climate regime' and for which he shows that 'it was not so much the EU as such, but several of its more active member states that engaged in substantial climate diplomacy vis-à-vis the major player in these talks, the US.' He then looks at the phase of the negotiations that led to agreement on the Kyoto Protocol, when the EU tried to have a strong influence on the process through its 'proactive proposals' that did indeed lead it to gain some leverage over the magnitude of the emission reduction targets for industrialised countries. The author says, however, that this was only 'a medium degree of influence,' because the EU suffered from A noticeable 'discrepancy between its external ambitions and internal disagreements.' Over the period from 1998 to 2007, the European Union did manage to influence other countries when the EU member states acted in unity, although it was forced at times to accept more flexible rules than dictated to it by its environmental credo. Then follows the period from December 2007 to the hapless Copenhagen negotiations where the EU was even 'physically excluded' from a number of key meetings, the author attributing its lack of influence back then to an 'altered geopolitical context and its own incapacity to strategically adapt to this evolving environment.' In the final chapter, the author looks at the years 2010 to 2012, when the EU was 'arguably instrumental to the adoption of a new roadmap toward the conclusion of a climate agreement by 2015.'
This analysis over a lengthy period of time enables Simon Schunz to demonstrate that despite considerable efforts to champion of the fight against climate change, in practice the European Union has not been as effective as it desired. In the political recommendations formulated by the author in his conclusions, he points out that the EU should give itself the means to become a more flexible foreign policy actor, which will require the political will of all member states to go in this direction, because the internal coordination and external representation system would need to be reformed. The High Representative for Foreign Policy and the European External Action Service would have to be given a greater role in the strategic plan, and a troika comprising the EU Climate Commissioner, the environment minister of the country holding the rotating six-monthly EU presidency and the EU High Representative would lead the negotiations for Europe at United Nations level. The author says that people would listen far more to the European Union if it considered making more systematic use of coercive instruments to defend this cause that is so vital to humanity.
Pierre Bouvier
*** EMMANUELLE DOUSI: La gouvernance environnementale en crise. Rio+20: promesses, application incertaine. Editions Papazisi (2 Nikitara, GR-10678 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3822496 - Fax: 3809020 - Email: papazisi@otenet.gr - Internet: http://www.papazisi.gr ). 2014, 356 pp, €21.30. ISBN 978-960-02-2756-7.
The central theme of this book is how global environmental governance has changed, and a critical reading of the results of the most recent United Nations' conference on sustainable development, Rio + 20. The author concentrates on key questions connected with the environmental crisis and the solutions proposed to overcome them. A lecturer at the political science and public administration department at Athens University, Emmanuelle Dousi explains and scientifically analyses the environmental governance system, in other words, the way in which international policy players deal with and manage these problems. Throughout her analysis, the author is at pains to answer the question of whether regulatory intervention is a sufficient and necessary precondition for effective protection of the environment.
(AKa)
*** STEFFEN STRASSBURGER: Streitbeilegung im Rahmen des Kyoto-Protokolls und der Flexiblen Mechanismen. Ein Blick auf das Schiedsverfahren. 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 ). "Schriften zum internationalen Privat- und Verfahrensrecht" series. 2014, 184 pp, €54.95. ISBN 978-3-631-65061-5.
Steffen Strassburger deals in this thesis with conflicts that might arise between the various parties when applying the Kyoto Protocol to limit greenhouse gas emissions by means of flexibility mechanisms and the sale of emission rights. After describing the potential conflicts inherent in the protocol, the author focuses on the existing options for resolving them and how these options, such as the artibration procedure, work in practice.
(GLe)
*** 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 ). September-October 2014, No. 402, 120 pp, €22. Annual subscription: €115. ISBN 978-2-84387-415-4.
In this issue of the well-known review of future prospects, Eric Vidalenc and Laurent Meunier, members of the French Agence de l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'energy, examine the far more complex question than some might imagine of product obsolescence and its impact on the environment. Another article looks at the potential of utilitarian (rather than leisure) bicycles in France, aware that their development and use are in keeping with current energy efficiency and environmental demands. Finally, Jean-François Drevet looks beyond current tensions to examine how the European Union and Russia complement each other.
(MT)
*** ANKE REIMERS: Wettbewerbsrechtliche und regulatorische Analyse der Kapazitätenvergabe an Grenzkuppelstellen im Elektrizitätsbinnenmarkt. 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 ), "Veröffentlichungen des Institutes für deutsches und europäisches Wirtschafts-, Wettbewerbs- und Regulierungsrecht der Freien Universität Berlin" series, 2014, 204 pp, €54.95. ISBN 978-3-631-64807-0.
In this thesis, Anke Reimers provides an innovative, detailed study of legal issues arising from the calculatio and attribution of capacity to the European Single Markets in electricity from inter-connection posts at borders. These legal questions are studied from the angle of the law of regulation and also competition law. Based on the legal framework in force (namely Regulation 714/2009/EC and Articles 101 and 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union), the author analyses the general framework and legal conditions for the attribution of capacity, along with the tools used in this connection.
(GLe)
*** STÜDEMANN DIRK-CHRISTOF: Europäische Politik aus einem Guss? Energiepolitik zwischen europäischen Visionen und nationalen Realitäten am Beispiel von Deutschland und Frankreich. Peter Lang (Eschborner Landstrasse 42-50, D-60489 FRANKFURT AM MAIN Tel: (49-69) 7807050 - Fax: (49-69) 78070550 - Email: zentrale.frankfurt@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.de ). "Schriften zur Politischen Ökonomik Evolutorische und ökologische Aspekte" series, 2014, 356 pp ISBN: 978-3-631-64129-3.
France and Germany say they have committed to energy transition, but the two countries make use of very different concepts of energy transition and the various measures also vary widely in each country, which at first sight is astonishing against the backdrop of a unification of energy markets under encouragement from the European Commission. Dirk-Christof Stüdemann's thesis rightly explains the origin of these differences by analysing the relations between the French and German States and the European level, explaining which interests the policies committed to in either country are attempting to satisfy. The thesis calls for the European objectives for the unification of the energy markets to be made fully explicit in order to avoid it ending in failure.
(GLe)
*** GUNNAR PRAUSE, URVE VENESAAR, WOLFGANG KERSTEN (Eds.): International Business - Baltic Business Development. Tallinn 2013. Peter Lang (see above). 2013, 327 pp, €64.95. ISBN 978-3-631-63816-3.
This book gives an account of a conference organised by economists at Tallinn Technology University two and a half years ago in cooperation with the Hamburg Technology University. The event aimed to carry out an assessment of business development in the Baltic Sea Region coinciding with the end of the German Presidency in the Council of Baltic Sea States. The fifteen contributions included in the book look at logistics in the region and the organisational development prevailing there, along with business management and marketing, paying particular attention to the crucial cooperation between universities and the business world.
(PBo)
*** MARCO B. M. LOOS, ILSE SAMOY (Eds.): The position of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in European Contract Law. Intersentia Publishing (Trinity House, Cambridge Business Park, Cowley Road, Cambridge, CB4 0WZ, UK. Tel: (32-3) 6801550 - Fax: 6587121 - Email: mail@intersentia.be - Internet: http://www.intersentia.com ). "Ius Commune Europaeum" series, No. 121. 2014, 159 pp, €45, £43, $63. ISBN 978-1-78068-194-8.
Given the special nature of small and medium-sized enterprises, 'Is there a need for a kind of consumer law for professionals?' A workshop was organised as part of the seventeenth IUS Commune Conference, held in Amsterdam two years ago, to answer this question. This book provides an account of this work, which focused on the relations between SMEs themselves, and their relations with consumers on the one hand, and bigger companies on the other. The contributions cover the position of SMEs under the Common European Sales Law in particular and European contract law in general, the role which general contract law rules can play in protecting weaker parties, and the inappropriate terms used in the Common European Sales Law when it comes to SME protection. The book is enriched with a comparative analysis of rules issued in this domain in Germany, Belgium, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, with other contributors considering the potential for further harmonisation of rules on business-to-business practices. In the contributions, it is suggested that the concept of consumer should be extended to include SMEs, and that the definition of SMEs in the Common European Sales Law should be clarified. Means should be provided to verify which party is genuinely the weaker one, and the final contribution advocates extension of the scope of the Unfair Contract Terms Directive.
(PBo)
*** Commission en direct. European Commission (Communications Unit, DG HR D.3, CE-SC11, 01/18. Fax: (32-2) 2999285). October 2014, 62 pp.
In this issue of this internal European Commission publication, there is a very comprehensive dossier on policy for small and medium-sized enterprises. Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director General of DG ENTR and European Union SME representative, notes in an interview the importance of SMEs for the European economy (after all, they created 85% of new jobs in the European Union over the past five years), the problems they face and the options the Commission is exploring to hep them, such as ensuring that it will soon take no more than three days and cost no more than a hundred euros to set up a company.
(MT)