*** NIKLAS BRUUN, KLAUS LÖRCHER, ISABELLE SCHÖMANN (Editors): The Economic and Financial Crisis and Collective Labour Law in Europe. 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 ). 2014, 372 pp. £55. ISBN 978-1-84946-614-1.
This book is red hot. It constitutes an accusation against the European political leaders that have forced European citizens to drink a sort of social hemlock or poison, particularly nationals from the countries most affected by the multifaceted crisis that broke out six years ago, using the pretext that they were attempting to give back some colour to the European economy. In reality, as Maria Jepsen lambasts in her preface, "the structural reforms have done little to create economic recovery” and are the result of, "a new approach in economic governance… that promotes the dismantling of collective rights", by undermining labour law, particularly collective labour law. The fact that the director of the research department at the European Trade Union Institute can make such an accusation, does not come as any surprise. What is more telling, however, is that the academics meeting up in the Transnational Union Rights Network were able, at the end of two seminars, of which this book is the outcome, to largely back up this accusation scientifically, which obviously confers this book with a completely different dimension.
Undoubtedly, it should be pointed out that the majority of authors contributing to this book are not economists. Is it any disadvantage, however, that it is legal experts and social policy specialists that in this case are gauging the state of society with their own instruments? Is it misplaced that their starting point is based on a supposition, as explained by Professor Antoine Jacobs (University of Tilburg) in his introduction, that had taken a lot of them to realise that, “a sustainable peace was impossible without social justice and that they needed” and to ensure that this newfound awareness about collective labour law and industrial relations, was not sacrificed on the altar of prescriptive neoliberalism whose negative impact over the past six years constitute the red lines in this book? Therefore, in opening the first part of the book, which deals with the Union's responses to the crisis, Isabelle Schömann denounces the, "increasing democratic deficit”, which is a particular result of the entry into force of a treaty on the European stability mechanism, which implies a "loss of budgetary and social sovereignty". Above all, how can it be justified that so much power was bestowed on the Troika, "without any (legal) recourse" against the legally contentious decisions made by this body? One should therefore not be surprised, explains this researcher from the European Trade Union Institute that, "purely economic and budgetary management of the crisis" deepens the divide between citizens, on one hand, and between the European and national institutions, on the other.
Lukas Oberndorfer is a member of the Austrian Chamber for Labour and is just as hard hitting. He excoriates the inter-governmental treaty that gave the Commission the right of budgetary scrutiny (which derives from, "the royal right of Parliaments") granted under this new Eurozone governance, which is, in his eyes, illegal and sets in motion an “authoritarian constitutionalism" of which national governments are more victim than the European Parliament. Professor Andreas Fischer-Lescano (University of Bremen) takes apart the memoranda imposed on countries receiving aid, which he believes are proof of a breach of European law by the Commission and the European Central Bank, which is the only body that would manage to ensure a return down the right path of European law and democratic rules that would allow the European Parliament to have its say. The premise of Professor Simon Deakin (University of Cambridge) is based on the observation that wage policy in the Union was placed under the restrictive imperatives of restoring competitiveness. He believes that a possible solution could be located in coordinating wages at national and transnational levels. It is at this point that the first part of the book ends. There are two more parts to it that focus on reforms imposed on national legislation in member states - with the accompanying pressure exerted to reduce trade union freedoms - and possible ways of preventing these rights being completely dismantled. These two parts of the book are as valuable as the first and subsequently contribute to a book that as a whole gives us a lot of food for thought.
Michel Theys
*** THANOS DIMADIS: Dans le dédale des mémorandums. Les expériences, les interprétations des événements dans les centres de décision. Éditions Okto (23 Markou Moussouri, GR-11635 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 7298252 - fax: 0180507 - Email: info@okto.com.gr - Internet: http://www.okto.com.gr ). 2014, 302 pp. €14.90. ISBN 978-618-5077-06-8.
For more than four years now, Greece has moved forward at the rhythm of the different memoranda. Similarly to out of focus photographs, the different reports and contradictory and fragmented interpretations of the situation prevent there being any clearer understanding of what has really happened over the course of this period. In this book, journalist, Thanos Dimadis provides us with the presentation of what he recorded as a correspondent for the Greek television channels “Alpha” and “Sky” when he interviewed the International Monetary Fund in Washington and the European institutions in Brussels, throughout this critical historic period. The author portrays the IMF as a sterile body consisting of senior functionaries cut off from the outside world. He also provides a very detailed and highly critical insight into the positions adopted in this regard by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, when he was the director general of the IMF. The author describes the key events that determined the future of the country and he seeks to analyse and interpret the motives and behaviour of the actors involved, which result from the different meetings and conversations held. He also attempts to clarify the main political causes underpinning these decisions on the basis of his personal experiences as well as the statements and interviews he had with the many different officials from the European and international institutions. It is by this journalistic endeavour that Thanos Dimadis highlights some of the invisible aspects of these events and subsequently helps to contribute to providing a less truncated vision of recent history in Greece.
(AKa)
*** PANAGIOTIS GRIGORIOU: La Grèce fantôme. Voyage au bout de la Crise (2010-2013). Éditions Fayard (3 rue du Montparnasse, F-75006 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 45498200 - fax: 42224017 - Internet: http://www.fayard.fr ). « Sciences humaines » series. 2013, 400 pp. €22. ISBN: 978-2-21367110-9
In May 2010, the International Monetary Fund, European Union and its Central Bank sent their experts on a mission to Greece and placed the country under their tutelage. Three years later, instead of there being a financial recovery, the country collapsed and the people of the country was subject to a humanitarian disaster, with Greece ending up as just a shadow of its former self. In this book, Panagiotis Grigoriou provides us with a chronicle of the frightful way of life that has been enforced in these times of financial crisis. He is both an historian and an ethnographer who has taught for many years in France but chose to live in Athens in 2008. When the recent events broke out, he decided to report on the daily lies of Greeks in a blog, Greek Crisis, which was a big hit straight away. The stories he tells relate to the middle-class that partially disappeared from the world of work, the working people affected and the lucky few who have been obliged to take the path of exile. He expresses the despair of the small shopkeepers, students, graduates and pensioners as they endeavour to change their situation, which often proves inadequate or impossible to leave the country, change their sector of work, develop political consciousness again, commit suicide or simply give up and die… He emphasises that these are the only alternatives left to a population that has been totally destabilised and which has no other objective than its immediate survival. The author believes that the crisis that has devastated Greece is not simply due to mistakes, real or asserted, by the political class or the explosive debt in the country. This cannot explain everything and this Greek academic makes the accusation that Greece was chosen as a laboratory for austerity programmes but has now reached the limit of what it can undergo. This book therefore seeks to provide an insight into the European project and its incoherencies and, indeed, its massive shortcomings …
(AKa)
*** Vive l'impôt ! Les conditions de l'impôt juste, redistributif et efficace. ASBL Politique (9 rue du Faucon, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5386996 - Email: secretariat@politique.eu.org - Internet: http://politique.eu.org ). « Les hors-série de Politique » series, No. HS23. October 2014, 78 pp. €4.
This special edition of this progressive Journal, "Politics" was put together under the auspices of the Belgian Christian Workers Movement during the occasion of the 92nd Social Week event. It focuses entirely on the issue of taxation and the taxes that increasing numbers of European citizens are opposing almost everywhere in the European Union. It is, however, mainly within a Belgian perspective that this question is tackled, in light of three major questions: how are social demands received? What could be the conditions for fair taxation, from a point of view of individual taxpayers and companies? What would be the conditions for an efficient system of taxation? Judging by the evidence, these questions are not just relevant to Belgium and this publication is just as interesting with regard to taxation and how it is used in a European context. In the contribution made by Christophe Degryse, a researcher at the European Trade Union Institute, the author explains that at a Union level there is an attitude of "I am head of the household" that predominates and which provokes what luxleaks has just confirmed, that tax competition is usually translated by, "a general cut in taxes for companies". Moreover, the mechanisms put in place to restrict excess remain, "insufficient when it comes to preventing the budgets of member states being reduced". Will this not be the case still for a long time to come? The ball is now in the court of the Juncker Commission but even more so in the court of certain national governments!
(MT)
*** ELENA HEIMANN: Substantielle Vereinbarungen Europäischer Betriebsräte: Praxis und Recht, Peter Lang (1 Moostrasse, P.O. Box 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Studien zum Arbeitsrecht und zur Arbeitsrechtsvergleichung" series. 2014, 234 pp. €54.95. ISBN 978-3-631-65110-0.
In her thesis, Elena Heimann tackles the question of major agreements concluded in negotiations between employers and European Works Committees: this involves agreements that have a general scope and involve all the employees in a company working in different European Union countries. After underlining the European legal standards that involve social actors and European level negotiations, as well as the substance of the directive on European were committees, the author tackles the question of compatibility of the standards introduced by these agreements with the principle of contractual freedom contained in the European texts and the standards laid down by the works committees in the different consortia involved. She acknowledges the importance of these major agreements in practice but also poses a legally complex question of the validity of these agreements in legal standards.
(GLe)
*** AMANDA LATINNE: The Mondragon Cooperatives. Workplace, Democracy and Globalization. Intersentia Publishing (31 Groenstraat, B-2640 Mortsel. Tel: (32-3) 6801550 - fax: 6587121 - Email: mail@intersentia.be - Internet: http://www.intersentia.com ). "Publications on Labour Law" series. 2014, 144 pp. €45, £43, $63. ISBN 978-1-78068-251-8.
It is now more than half a century after the emblematic Mondragón cooperative was set up as part of the Maria Arizmendiarrieta initiative in a Basque country full of the contradictions of social Catholicism and pride in its identity. Its name comes from a neighbourhood where it was set up and which is, now more than ever, in these times of endless crisis, synonymous with opening up and the springboard to another kind of capitalism that is more respectful of workers. But has this not all proved to be nothing but an illusion now that this company, "just like the others" with more than 80,000 workers, has become, in its own way, another multinational? This is the question that the author of this excellent book seeks to answer. As an historian and sociologist, Amanda Latinne first of all tells the story of how this adventure began, its context, its foundations and vision. Then, in her capacity as a legal expert in which she worked for two decades in the corporate world, she seeks to determine whether the initial project is still compatible in the economic and legal context that currently prevails. Finally, as a woman, pragmatist and above all, a mother she seeks to determine whether it is still possible to locate in this adventure, the idea is that would allow us, particularly young people, to find solutions to this never-ending crisis. Despite the fact that, "behind this facade of authentic social engagement, there is a multinational that frequently violates its own ideal" the author argues that the workers involved in this cooperation, but who are no longer all co-operators in it, are still hopeful.
(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 ). November-December 2014, No. 403, 160 pp. €22. Annual subscription: €115. ISBN 978-2-84387-416-1.
This edition of the French review on future perspectives, focuses entirely on the theme of ecological transition, in light of Australia's updating of the 1972 Club of Rome report, which confirmed that economic development causes increasing pressure on natural resources and explosive levels of pollution which, very soon, could lead to disaster. This explains the imperative of closely scrutinising changes in consumer behaviour, in view of guaranteeing more sustainable development. To this end, there are four possible scenarios for France up to 2030, devised by the Futuribles International group and presented in this publication, as well as potential alternative development models inspired from the circular economy. This is extremely important reading because as the editor Hughes de Jouvenel explains, "we are at the crossroads of two worlds", one which will ultimately die from it and the other that will largely have to reinvent itself.
(MT)