*** MICHEL BARNIER: Se reposer ou être libre. Editions Gallimard (5 rue Gaston Gallimard, F-75328 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 49544200 - fax: 45449403 - Internet: http://www.gallimard.fr ). 2014, 231 pp. €11.50. ISBN 978-2-07-014490-7.
The title of this book comes from Thucydides, who, in his History of the Peloponnese War, warned that a choice had to be made between having an easy life or being free. This dilemma is exactly the same today if we are to believe Michel Barnier. Although he was preparing to resign from the European Commission for a second time and had his eye on the post of candidate to take over the leadership of the European People's Party from José Manuel Barroso, he put this book together to explain to his French compatriots that if they wanted to remain free they had to choose Europe as a means of saving France and its 27 partner countries! Writing as a political leader, this message is a significant one in a country where the cult of General De Gaulle and the (claimed) "greatness of France" are cultivated much more than that of the (almost) unknown figures of Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman. There is also one or other passages where the discomfort of the author is perceptible, for example, when he asserts, in his introduction, that there can be no question, in Europe, of dreaming of, "a federal state that would substitute for the nation states or regions". This may be so but is the "federation of member states" on the lines supported by Jacques Delors, which he rails against, just a semantic pirouette to outline a federal political entity that is able, in certain situations and areas, to subliminally assert itself over the nation states and regions? This discomfort is again present when the Savoy born politician explains in the same paragraph that, "we need nations to reconcile citizens with the European project. We need nations to fight nationalism". In a country where the threat embodied by the Front nationale of Marine Le Pen is growing and, to a lesser extent, so too is the threat of the sovereignists of the left, the idea he expresses almost makes us smile because it is nothing other than a sign of political respectability to the French elite and his political family, in particular.
These excusable faults can, however, be compared with the appeal for European construction that this former important Commissioner for the Internal Market, who has now become a simple, "but active citizen who seeks to be both patriot and committed European" makes. On the debris left by a financial crisis that is a "caricature of neoliberalism and misconception… According to which, the markets will regulate themselves", Michel Barnier outlines seven concrete ways of changing Europe and, above all, making the idea of the European project an attractive one to Union citizens again. The first area described sees him creating the groundwork for "a new path to growth and job creation" and eradicating the spectre of a "new lost generation". Even though as early as 2011, he expressed "doubts about the severity of austerity policies", he confirms the direction that had been chosen and asserts that leaving the question of debt untackled "would undoubtedly lead to abdicating our national sovereignty more rapidly than any kind of European treaty ever could". This assertion will also very certainly be appreciated by the French political elite. Although he believes it abnormal, due to the situation of sovereign debt, have to "spend more money on paying interest on educating our children", he finds it, nevertheless, indispensable to clean up public finances "in a fair and differentiated way" by ensuring, for example, that "the most vulnerable sections of the population are affected least". In the same vein, he proposes that member states collectively redefine their models for growth and together shift from a rationale of economic and tax competition to a "strategy for cooperative growth" based on the individual strong points of each country. To this end, he also believes the economy needs to be financed in a more appropriate way and that the Eurozone is consolidated by providing it with "genuine economic and budgetary coordination instruments" by, for example, "merging the posts of vice president of the Commission in charge of economic subjects, with the president of Eurogroup”. This will undoubtedly require a new treaty to be drafted to this end, particularly in view of "providing the Eurozone with a budget and its own resources again".
In this book Michel Barnier thrusts his hands into the grease of European integration with both a methodological and measured approach. Once again, he provides strong ideas in the five different areas he outlines: industrial policy, energy policy "for a non-fossil fuel continent", for a "digital Europe", a population and immigration policy, a policy for making Europe a "global actor" on the world stage, a new social policy, in view of "providing Europe with both direction and ambition again". He does this principally to draw European citizens closer towards feeling both personal attachment and affection for Europe, which he believes, is absolutely necessary, "if we want to write another page of European history together". He also believes that Delors was right when he stated that it would be impossible to simply fall in love with a market. Is a major political project, however, capable of creating passion and ownership outside of the framework of a single France and other national boundaries? Michel Barnier believes it is but is he not therefore at risk of taking a path that could see France confines to the margins of history?
Michel Theys
*** DAVID SIRITZKY: Parlons Europe en 30 questions. La Documentation française (Direction de l'information légale et administrative, 29 quai Voltaire, F-75344 Paris cedex 07. Tel: (33-1) 40157010 -Internet: http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr ). « Doc'en poche » series, « Entrez dans l'actu » series. 2014, 100 pp.€5.90. ISBN 978-2-11-009823-8.
The chance opening of a page in this book immediately gave rise to a sense of irritation. If the author is to be believed, the Franco-German "driving force" behind Europe came into being in January 1963, when the Elysée treaty was signed by Konrad Adenauer and General de Gaulle, in France. The vote in favour, has therefore been left out of history, by the German Chancellor, 10 years earlier, to the proposal for a common European future as proposed by Robert Schuman - and, through him, another French contemporary of the period: Jean Monnet. Nonetheless, other parts of the book quickly demonstrate that David Siritzky has not sold out his European knowledge to French orthodoxy? This knowledge was developed as the Legal Secretary of the European Court of First Instance, before took charge of the French National Assembly, a post he still exercises today. His book provides some pages of edifying and solid responses to the many different questions raised in a country where, according to the most recent Eurobarometer survey, barely 34% of citizens trust the European institutions. Given that this disaffection amongst citizens is not a singularly French phenomenon, the clarification the author provides is invaluable to all those who do not wish to give in to the siren calls of national insularity. The author is convinced of the need for the European project and he identifies three challenges that must be met to save it. The most difficult is that of "clarifying what the European project is", as a means of providing it with a compass again, which can be understood by its citizens. In this connection, he quotes Seneca, for whom, "there is no good wind for those who don't know where their next port will be". He calls on citizens to either choose between a "European area", "an extended market" or a "European power" that could become a "genuinely political Union" that really is able to have an impact on the international stage. The author argues that this would require "the transfer of important competencies to the Union". He also emphasises that if they are going to be able to protect themselves from the criticism of supporters of national sovereignty they will have to make this historic choice and that it will be up to European citizens alone to make it. How very right he is!
(MT)
*** Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law. Intersentia (31, Groenstraat, BE-2640 Mortsel. Tel: (32-3) 6801550 - fax: 6587121 - Email: mail@intersentia.be - Internet: http://www.intersentia.com ). 2014, vol. 21, No. 2, 156 pp. annual subscription: €195, £185.25, $273.
This publication is the result of a seminar held at the University of Antwerp in May last year. This issue of this extremely valuable and interesting journal focusing on European in comparative law entirely concentrates on multi-level governance which, according to Professor Patricia Popelier and the researcher, Werner Vandenbruwaene, is now entering its phase of "constitutional adulthood". The different contributions in the publication seek to construe the normative dimension of multilevel governance as a framework for present-day constitutional law, operating in an age of complexity. Three different perspectives are examined. First of all, the systemic perspective, in which Andrea Simoncini (Université of Florence) demonstrate that the Lisbon Treaty provided an optimum amount of possibilities for dialogue between legal, political and social actors. Professor Adam Cygan (Université of Leicester) then suggests that the regions remain, to a large extent, left out even though they exercise more responsibility in the implementation of European law. His criticism particularly focuses on the aptness of the Committee of the Regions to secure regional autonomy and give constitutional relevance to regional governance. Giuseppe Martinico (Sant'Anna Higher Education Institution in Pisa) looks at recent developments in economic governance within the Union to demonstrate the extreme complexity of multilevel governance. The two other perspectives chosen by the researchers include structural coupling between the different levels (this involves the authors looking at how the different constitutional systems and parliaments from the member states propositioned), and the specific instruments used for this type of governance.
(PBo)
*** PANOS LOUKAKOS: La vue invisible. La presse et la politique en Grèce après la junte. Éditions Hestia (84 rue Evripidou, GR-10553 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3213907 - fax: 3214610 - Email info@hestia.gr - Internet: http://www.hestia.gr ). « Témoignages et biographies »series. 2014, 314 pp. €14. ISBN 978-96-0051593-0.
The majority of Greek citizens agree that the current crisis is not only economic and social but also, principally, political. It will lead to huge political and social upheavals that are creating a new Greece, that is, for the time being, still unknown. In this book, Panos Loukakos Brinkley describes the political arena and press in Greece since the 1970s up until 2010. As a respected journalist, he has experienced these events from a perspective gained from being on the front line and he has been in constant contact with the different protagonists. He provides readers with his own perception of what he has experienced through his own personal notes that have not been edited until now. These will undoubtedly help the historians of tomorrow when they write Greek history of the last 30 years of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st and help interpret the causes of the current catastrophe.
(AKa)
*** GAIL K. HART, ANKE S. BIENDARRA (Editors): Visions of Europe. Interdisciplinary Contributions to Contemporary Cultural Debates. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen, Switzerland. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Berliner Beiträge zur Literatur- und Kulturgeschichte" series, No. 17. 2014, 178 pp. €39.95. ISBN 978-3-631-64841-4.
Sometimes it requires taking a certain geographical distance from the European Union in order to hear the positive comments regarding its development and potential. This is indeed the case with this book, which stems from a conference organised at the University of California almost 3 years ago to inaugurate the faculty of languages and European studies, which at that time provided courses in French, German, Italian and Russian, as a means to better understand the "idea of Europe" and get to grips with the coherency and incoherence it sometimes creates. In the introductory chapter, "This Is Not a Manifesto", John H. Smith's starting point is the complaints formulated by many different intellectuals (Beck, Habermas, Menasse, Flassbeck, Mak, Negt…) regarding the pitfalls created by governments when dealing with the integration process as a means of confirming that they have been right, in the context of the crisis that has endured since 2008. He argues that it is clear that the solution should be greater political centralisation but also emphasises that a crisis exit strategy from above requires political identification with the European project. This senior German lecturer believes that developing a "political will" is crucial and is also mentioned by the different European studies departments that now more than ever are involved in identifying the European thread that is hidden behind the apparent specificities of the different countries, nations and peoples, in an effort to ensure that Europe is able to go ahead. It is this new way of envisaging European studies that is illustrated in this publication and the sometimes brilliant contributions are always worthy of interest and have an historical link with our portion of the continent, languages and cultures that prevail and the opening up to different approaches that can the advocated. The different contributions provide us with another taste for continuing with the great European adventure!
(MT)
*** EDUARDO J. RUIZ-VIEYTEZ: United in Diversity? On Cultural Diversity, Democracy and Human Rights. 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 ). "Diversitas" series, No. 16. 2014, 131 pp. €39.60. ISBN 978-2-87574-130-1.
Eduardo Ruiz-Vieytez is senior lecturer in constitutional law and director of the Institute of Human Rights at the University of Deusto in Bilbao. He based his book on the premise that the prevailing ideas of democracy are out of sync with the multicultural societies could become the norm and, consequently, urgently need to adapt the democratic framework and practices to cultural and identity diversity, with the fundamental aim being the guarantee of human rights. The author somewhat provocatively states that, "if our aim is a society in which everyone can enjoy their fundamental rights equally, we need to take into account the identity of all the different individuals". His main goal is therefore to develop a certain reflection and debate, which in his eyes, is crucial. After critically setting the scene, the author's main aim is to provide perspectives for building a more democratic world that is more respectful of minority rights.
(PBo)
*** The next edition of the European Library, No. 1075, will be published on Tuesday 6 January. May we take this opportunity to wish our readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.