*** DIMITRY KOCHENOV, GRÁINNE DE BÚRCA, ANDREW WILLIAMS (Eds.): Europe's Justice Deficit? Constitutional Challenges. 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 ). 2015, 474 pp, £60. ISBN 978-1-84946-527-4.
This book emerges from the conviction shared by the twenty-eight academics, legal figureheads and political scientists who contributed to it that in the European Union, justice is far from what it should be, or it suffers from shortcomings at least. They already thought this back at the time of a colloquium they attended in September 2012 at the London School of Economics' European Institute to check scientifically whether the conviction was correct. The book reveals that it was, and Prof. Gráine de Búrca (New York University School of Law) is keen to point out in the general conclusions she draws that the euro crisis - with 'the policies of austerity which have had perhaps their most serious impact on the most vulnerable of Europe's population' - and the migrants who died for their desire to arrive in Europe, whatever it cost, are a greater incentive than ever before to verify whether, when it comes to justice, the European Union's action is really in sync with the grand principles it invokes.
On the back cover, this comment by Prof. Richard Bellamy, director of the Max Weber Programme at the European University Institute in Florence, perfectly reflects the huge pertinence of the approach taken in these pages: 'Both scholars and politicians have often argued that the economic and other benefits of the EU compensate for any democratic failings. Yet, as the eurocrisis renders these benefits less apparent, it becomes more appropriate than ever to ask whether it distributes them and any accompanying costs in a just way.' It is to this questioning of the link between justice and law in the Europe that is being built that questions are provided which, as Prof. Bellamy points out, are as disconcerting as they are enlightening. Given the full measure of the price they all attach to the ideal of justice, which leads the book's three editors to point out in the preface that 'justice is more than a formalistic component of the 'Area of Freedom, Security and Justice,' the authors verify the reality of the 'justice deficit' that they sensed, discerning the exact nature of it, assessing its implications for the future of the European project and, finally, entering a crucial debate - including among themselves... - about how it would be possible to fill the deficit. In the introduction, Dimitry Kochenov (Chair in EU Constitutional Law at University at Groningen University) and Prof. Andrew Williams (Warwick School of Law) kick off by stating that it is no longer possible for anyone to understand the European Union simply from the angle of economic integration: it is now engaged in so many different domains affecting the life of citizens in different ways that the question of justice - and therefore of possible injustice - has become a key element for assessing it. Having now turned into a 'mature legal system,' it 'cannot remain justice-blind,' since 'a market, however successful, cannot supply the constitutional core of the Union.' Arguments that are difficult to refute…
This exploration is structured in five parts, and the contributions are too rich to be described without running the risk of twisting the meaning. The first part considers the insufficient attention that has been paid by the Union thus far to justice, the problems facing justice, concrete cases of injustice that can be imputed to it, the rules that have to be respected in a plural Europe, the role played by the European Court of Justice, its connection with democracy, the role assigned to it in order to legitimise other institutional principles and decisions, and more besides. In the second part, various questions relating to the relationship between justice deficit and democracy are addressed, for example whether justice should be an 'apolitical force' or whether the deficit should be politicised; some participants say that there are strong arguments for politicisation, the apolitical reality of the Single Market 'depoliticising the economic sphere.' There follow in the three final dense sections reflections on, for example, the link between legitimacy and political justice, social justice, the use that is made of the ideology of human rights, the preference that is reportedly always granted in the Union to the centre over the periphery, the concept of vulnerability, environmental justice, and more. The three pages of European Library simply do not suffice to provide a proper account of this book!
Michel Theys
*** FRANCESCA IPPOLITO, SARA INGLESIAS SÁNCHEZ (Eds.): Protecting Vulnerable Groups. The European Human Rights Framework. Hart Publishing (see above). "Modern Studies in European Law" series, No. 51. 2015, 481 pp, £65. ISBN 978-1-84946-685-1.
Vulnerability is part of the human condition. In this book of essays, twenty-one high-flying lawyers examine how the Council of Europe (notably the European Court of Human Rights) and the European Union have contributed to determining the legal status of various vulnerable groups of people. They verify whether the action of the different players concerned strengthens the protection of vulnerable groups and the rights of vulnerable individuals or whether, on the contrary, it has only filled minor gaps or occasional shortfalls in the guarantees provided to them by member states of the two organisations. The “progressive 'vulnerabilisation' of European law” is assessed in five phases. Initially, the authors examine some of the groups traditionally recognised as vulnerable, namely children, the elderly, the disabled and, an even more general group, women. In the next section, other authors consider the fate reserved for people whose vulnerability results from being a member of a minority compared with dominant positions in any particular country in terms of culture, society, ethics or sexual orientation. Vulnerability is then considered in the light of the legal status recognised by States for non-nationals, with the book's editors pointing out in the introduction that this category 'considers vulnerability from the point of view of the legal position awarded by states to non-nationals - ranging from those deprived of any nationality and those who cannot avail themselves of the protection of their state of nationality, to those awarded the highest level of protection as citizens of the European Union.' Next come people whose vulnerability arises from damage done to them by other human beings through criminal activity, the final part of the book focusing on prisoners and other detainees, illegal immigrants and the socially vulnerable. This is a work of reference.
(MT)
*** BIRGER THOMAS HANSEN: Europäisierung des Gewaltmonopols. Die Staatsfundamentalaufgaben Sicherheit und Freiheit und die Implikationen ihrer Denationalisierung im Raum der Freiheit, der Sicherheit und des Rechts. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, P.O. Box 350, CH-Pieterlen. Tél.: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - Courriel: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). 2014, 299 p., 64,95 €. ISBN 978-3-631-65364-7.
In his thesis, Birger Thomas attempts to identify who holds the monopoly of legitimate physical violence these days, which was until recently the sole preserve of the nation state. To this end, the author sketches and analyses the process of transferring powers in this domain from the nation state to Europe. He analyses the contents of the various treaties and European Court of Justice jurisprudence, from which he infers that the process of transferring powers is not yet complete in this period at the start of the twenty-first century. The author's analytical abilities and ability to consider phenomena in an objective manner, freeing himself from any ideological constraints, give clear value to this thesis and the book arising from it. Birger Hansen is also at pains to sketch out the prospects of what would be possible and desirable in order to organise a sharing of the monopoly of legitimate physical violence that is both operational and politically tenable.
(GLe)
*** PETRUS SZABOLCS: Europäisches Strafrecht. Gegenwärtige Rechtslage und künftige Perspektiven. Peter Lang (see above). "Augsburger Studien zum internationalen Recht" series. 2014, 291 pp. ISBN 978-3-631-65947-2.
This thesis by Petrus Szabolcs looks at European criminal law, its current legal foundations and it future prospects. The various European criminal laws exercise great influence over the corresponding law of the member states, but European criminal law as such remains largely unknown. To remedy this lack, the author describes how this law functions and examines the competencies laid down for creating new rules under this law, before discerning how it might change in future. The latter exercise allows the author to raise the question of democratic legitimisation of the European Union, which has the power to legislate in this fundamental and highly sensitive domain.
(GLe)
*** SANDRA WANDT: Rechtswahlregelungen im Europäischen Kollisionsrecht. Eine Untersuchung der Hauptkodifikationen auf Kohärenz, Vollständigkeit und rechtstechnische Effizienz. Peter Lang (see above). "Schriften zum internationalen und vergleichenden Privatrecht," 2014, 275 pp, €64.95. ISBN 978-3-631-65700-3.
The choice of the legislation that shall apply in conflicts of law is a fundamental principle that appears in all regulations and draft regulations in this connection (Rome I, II, III, inheritance law, maintenance duties and so on). Although European rules governing conflicts of law have been experiencing for several decades now a harmonising at European level, the various laws on the choice of the applicable legal system are nevertheless often divergent and incoherent with each other depending on the country and the branch of law, revealing gaps and contradictions. Some branches of law particularly suffer from these incoherencies, such as cross-border family law and maintenance obligations. In her thesis, after highlighting the problems, Sandra Wandt proposes draft reforms of European laws on the conflict of law to render more effective the application of rules of law (clearly defined upstream).
(GLe)
The next European Library, issue 1104, will be published on Tuesday 1 September