*** CECILE AMAR: L'homme qui ne voulait pas être roi. Conversations avec Jacques Delors. Editions Grasset & Fasquelle (61 rue des Saints-Pères, F- 75006 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 44392200 - Email: webmaster@grasset.fr - Internet: http://www.grasset.fr ). 2016, 228 pp. €18. ISBN 978-2-246-85725-9.
During his whole life, "active pessimism" was one of the Jacques Delors' driving forces. In the twilight years of his life and suffering from a number of physical ailments that is increasingly reducing his ability to take action, which he finds unbearable, he confesses that, "I would prefer to be 60, with lots of ideas to put into action". He would indeed have lots of ideas because the subject of his constant passion, Europe, is now going through a rough time and is bringing his pessimism to a crescendo and constraining it to passivity. He refuses, however, to accept that he will never again be able to take action to ensure that Europe, which, "was his life breath, the land where he flourished", does not go to rack and ruin. This is the main message he gives to the journalist Cécile Amar, the top reporter at the "Journal du Dimanche" during the five lengthy interviews he gave her between June and December last year. Previously, the journalist had had the chance, indeed the privilege, to consult at her leisure, the initiative of Martine Aubry and the personal archives conserved by Jacques Delors regarding his 10 years at the presidency of the Commission. These were "boxes full of gold", enthuses the author, who, on the basis of this treasure, encouraged this third "European citizen of honour, after Jean Monnet and Helmut Kohl" to play the "resonating" notes that give life to the world of yesterday and today.
What can we make of this foray into the texts of his speeches at the European Councils, the plans and manuscript texts of his speeches, as well as the, "words of his small but extremely recognisable handwriting with which he wrote to Jules Dassin over the death of Melina Mercouri?" Above all, the evidence is clearly that Delors appears as a unique radical at a time when according to Cécile Amar's sad description, "Europe is disintegrating and where no one or almost no one believes in it in an epoch when politics is sinking, becoming insipid and where it appears pointless to attempt to find any sense in the values guiding our leaders". This sad inventory could almost have been drawn up by the poet Prévert and upsets this man who still hopes and will always hope that, "his legacy and heritage and the ideas dear to him" can help to encourage some sort of U-turn given that, "the ambition of what is possible and pragmatism" provided the cornerstones of Delors' own politics. The problem we are left with is establishing whether this former trade unionist frozen in the shape of Mounier can still be heard, at least on the premises where the destiny of the Union is being played out? This cannot be guaranteed because he is in fact the herald of a message that cannot be denied or accepted either. This is especially the case when he asserts that they need to urgently, "recast the Economic and Monetary Union". This Cassandra has always said that this union has suffered from the innate weakness of its own construction but he has not been listened to in this connection. He also points out in his White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Solidarity, which he presented in 1994 that his idea of a "European loan" could have provided the response to the problems currently besetting the Eurozone but that this was not accepted either given the, "German obsession with the deficit, an obsession shared by many other countries" had prevailed to the disadvantage of any coordination of economic policy worthy of the name. This subsequently produced the major fractures we are currently experiencing and which cannot be overcome unless, "a greater transfer of sovereignty" is accepted and upon which this former President of the Commission has a number of concrete ideas.
Is Jacques Delors still getting a hearing? This figure who was once described by President Helmut Kohl as, "a great German and a great European" and by François Mitterrand (for whom he refused to become the Prime Minister in 1983 because he was unable to continue in the 'financial portfolio'" and which led the former President of the French Republic to accuse him of wanting to reduce his own position to the status of some kind of "idle monarch", is not exactly tender when it comes to the current European political personnel, particularly the members of the European Council. His interviewer summarily points out that in his time, "Europe worked better and the politicians still appeared to be guided by destiny". He confirms this but admits that in the current EU 28 he is unable to see any European blood circulating or common ambition. As the President of the Commission, he sought to be at the service of the Heads of State and Government above all but he also adds, implacably, that, "These leaders and the way in which the European Councils are currently taking place, look more like they belong to a club of countries linking them by certain rules rather than a militant group that wants to take Europe forward". He also refused to be a French presidential candidate because as part of the French Republic's regime, "There is only one leader" which he believes "a bit fascistic" and does not appear to be a great admirer of either François Hollande or the majority of French leaders who, "prefer to be in the hands of Commission accountants than in those of a supranational power". Jacques Delors still has friends in France, but not all of them are in the Socialist Party. He is not overly concerned by this fact because he is a free man with the In reply to the question of whether he would like it if God existed, he would only say that after his death his answer would be, "You did what you could".
Michel Theys
*** The Federalist Debate. Papers on Federalism in Europe and the World. Einstein Center for International Studies (26 via Schina, I-10144 Torino. Tel./fax: (+39-011) 4732843 - Email: info@federalist-debate.org - Internet: http://www.federalist-debate.org ). 2016, No. 1, 64 p. Annual subscription: €15.
This issue of the French federalist publication edited by Lucio Levi begins with the remarkable speech made by the former President of the Italian Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, to the University of Pavia on 27 November last (see the article on this in Fedechoses… For Federalism published in the Bibliothèque européenne 1138). This figure was also the very respected President of the European Parliament's Constitutional Committee, in which he appealed to Eurozone countries to urgently make a leap towards a supranational Europe that is integrated coherently. He believes that gradual integration, as advocated by Jacques Delors, is no longer a sustainable solution given the threats now facing the European Union.
There are also several contributions on the lessons to be learnt from the less than noble way in which the Union or at least its member states, managed the asylum seekers crisis. Nadia Urbinati considers that this constituted a moment in which the sun had set on the question of European citizenship, whilst Sylvie Goulard MEP is extremely bitter with France, the so-called "country of human rights" and its current action which justified Robert Badinter's assertion that it was just the country of the "declaration of human rights" and nothing more. Alfonso Iozzo's ideas should also be highlighted in an effort to help provide the European Union develop real budgetary powers by ensuring its autonomy and that it does not become a synonym for "forced centralisation" at a federal level as is currently the case in the US.
(MT)
*** SOTIRIS RIZAS: Les factions et les partis politiques dans la Grèce d'après-guerre. Editions Hestia (84 rue Evripidou, GR-10553 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3213907 - fax: 3214610 - Email: info@hestia.gr - Internet: http://www.hestia.gr ). 2016, 216 pp. €12. ISBN 978-960-05-1663-0.
What exactly is a faction in a political party? It is a political identity based on an ideology, mind-set, predisposition or even history. Often, factions are formed and consolidated after deep splits have led to political, economic and social divisions. The political camps can survive even if the conditions that created them have changed. A faction has a social base and historic roots. This is the point of view argued in this book by the historian, Sotiris Rizas, the director of research at the Greek Modern Academy Research Centre in Athens. He also points out that although the parties appear in public as factional bodies, this often involves a demand rather than an actual situation. Sometimes fractions coalesce in the figure of a political individual but unity is always a challenge and is never guaranteed. The continuity and discontinuity of factions and parties in Greece, as well as their integration, are explored in this book within an historical perspective stretching from 1945 to September last year, when the elections revealed a new political crystallisation and which we still do not know how long it will last.
(AKa)
*** GEORGIOS KONTOGEORGIS: La gauche Syriza comme la nouvelle droite. Editions Patakis (38 Panayi Tsaldari, GR-10437 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3650000 - fax: 3811940 - Email: bookstore@patakis.gr - Internet: http://www.patakis.gr ). « Sciences sociales et politiques » series. 2016, 456 pp. €18.80. ISBN 978-960-166760-7.
Georgios Kontogeorgis is a professor of political science and rector at Pantheon University in Athens. In this book he examines the main trajectory of the left since its origins in the modern world until the Syriza government. According to the author, the activities of the left have revealed since the very beginning that "socialism" provided another way out of despotism rather than the nexus of a society that has gone beyond "capitalism". The blood spilt in the streets during the 20th century flowed in an attempt to establish whether the property of the economy belong to the state or to the private sector but, above all, not whether society should participate in the system. The author is also the director of research at the CNRS (France). He believes that the collapse of socialism revealed the universal veering of the left to the right: the political and economic system is conceived as such for everybody with the goal of closing down society and promoting the interests of the private sector and the possession of goods in general. After displaying their "left right" disagreements in an attempt to gain power, their rivalry subsequently focused on the way they should be the most efficient assistants of the market. The conservative mutation of the left then, quite naturally, led to civil society demanding its political autonomy. At the dawning of the new century, Georgios Kontogeorgis, has no doubt, that the left will not be part of history and worse still, in this climate, the Syriza left will one day give in to the temptation of taking refuge behind the reactionary semantics of the age of Enlightenment.
(AKa)
*** YANNIS DIMARAKIS: Le naufrage de la négociation grecque (janvier-juin 2015). Editions Papazisi (2 rue Nikitara, GR-10678 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3822496 - fax: 3809020 - Email: papazisi@otenet.gr - Internet: http://www.papazisi.gr ). 2016, 163 pp. €14. ISBN 978-960-02-3208-0.
Yannis Dimarakis is an expert in negotiations and in this book he provides both a reading and evaluation of the negotiating period carried out by Greece with the Troika during the first half of last year. In it he refers to the codes governing the art of negotiating. This "pinpointing" enables the author to illustrate the negotiating strategy adopted by the Greek government and provides keys that enable the reader to draw their own conclusions. He subsequently reveals the clumsy manipulation the Greek side was guilty of and the terrible failure that resulted from it for the country and its citizens. This book helps understand and judge, without any fanaticism or dogmatism, the way in which the Greek government led these negotiations. The author is also an authority on the laws of the market and he provides a short survival guide for the negotiations to be carried out when the seas are rough, by taking into account the challenges that Greece will have to meet in the future. In conclusion, he highlights the need to create a negotiating culture for the people that will in the future be called on to take action at this level and without attempting to manipulate the country's future ever again.
(AKa)
*** ALBERTO ALEMANO, ANNE-LISE SIBONY (editors): Nudge and the Law. A European Perspective. Hart Publishing (16C Worcester Place, Oxford, OX1 2JW, UK. Tel: (44-1865) 517530 - fax: 510710 - Courriel: mail@hartpub.co.uk - Internet: http://www.hartpub.co.uk ). Collection "Modern Studies in European Law". 2015, 372 p. £50. ISBN 978-1-84946-732-2.
This collectively written book contains a forward by Cass Sunstein, who spent some time at the White House as an administrator in the Obama administration's information and regulatory affairs office. The book invites the reader to look at how behavioural science can now fine-tune our understanding of human decision-making. These behavioural sciences are appropriate for elaborating policies because public intervention works much better when it involves real people rather than imaginary ones who are supposed to be perfectly rational. Governments throughout the world are becoming increasingly prepared to support these ideas for remodelling public intervention in a wide range of political areas such as energy, health, financial services and data protection. When policy-making is based on behavioural science, efficient and cheaper regulation can emerge in the shape of standard rules, smart disclosure and rules that are easier to understand. The authors contributing to this book provide a European perspective to this emerging situation and explore its legal implications by focusing on the challenges and opportunities that can result from this phenomenon in the European Union and beyond in areas such as data protection, privacy on the Internet, consumer protection, health and financial services.
(PBo)
*** Revue de droit monégasque. Direction des services judiciaires (Palais de justice de Monaco, B. P. 513, MC 98015 Monaco cedex. Tel: (377) 98988811 - fax: 98988589 - Email: dsj@justice.mc). 2016, No. 13, 500 pp. €30.
This journal provides a presentation of the doctrine, legislation and case law registered in Monaco from 2013 to 2015. The part on "doctrine" contains a study on Monaco's codification, an examination of locating the right balance between national specificities and European values in the context of the Council of Europe, as well as two articles on children's rights law.
(MT)