*** MICHAL BOBEK (Ed.): Central European Judges Under the European Influence. The Transformative Power of the EU Revisited. Hart Publishing (16C Worcester Place, Oxford, OX1 42JW, UK. Tel: (44-1865) 517530 - Fax: 510710 - Email: mail@hartpub.co.uk - Internet: http://www.hartpub.co.uk ). "EU Law in the Member States" series, No. 2. 2015, 449 pp, £60. ISBN 978-1-84946-774-2.
Have the judges and judicial authorities of countries that joined the European Union during and after the Big Bang of 2004 been able to cope with European law? And is European law being correctly applied in these countries? Have the judges of Central and Eastern Europe properly incorporated it in their reasonings? Have they been able to get involved with and effectively contribute to the debate aiming to build an ever greater and better European legal space or, on the contrary, have they revealed themselves to be 'black passengers,' 'a poor relative, who just sits silently in the corner and does not dare to engage?' Or, to put it more bluntly, has the 'Westernisation of the new Member States' been properly carried out, leading to the emergence of new democracies and free markets? It is to these questions that the twenty-two legal experts brought together in these dense pages, most of them from the 'new Europe,' provide enlightening answers. The battle did not have a guaranteed outcome for, as Prof. Hans-W. Micklitz explains in the prologue, apart from in Germany, where judges active during the former German Democratic Republic had to resign and very few were taken on again, explains this German who lectures in economic law at the European University Institute of Florence, the situation prevailing in the other countries did not augur at all well in terms of the ability of players in the legal world to operate correctly in a society that has become democratic and, therefore, to properly apply European law. He explains that back then, the European Commission did not pay any attention to this, but experience has since taught it that it should require Western Balkans states to provide themselves with competent institutions 'to enforce the (EU) law.' Which means that it wasn't necessarily always the case during the enlargement at the start of the millennium…
This book piloted by Michal Bobek (Professor of European Law at the College of Europe in Bruges and researcher at Oxford University's European and Comparative Law Institute) in the wake of a conference held at the European University Institute of Florence two years ago, is divided into three parts. The first deals with judicial reasoning and judicial ideology, with seven authors seeking to verify claims that judges in Central and Eastern Europe are formalistic and operate on a different wavelength from their peers in Western Europe. The consideration of the prevailing situation in Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia reveals a mixed picture, to say the least. The second part comprises six contributions on more direct interaction between the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the European level, along with the various changes that the European Union brought them to make in their institutions, structures and procedures. Michal Bobek and David Kosar (Masaryk University in Brno) point out that the Latin-style judicial council that was promoted in the pre-accession phase generated résistance, while two contributions are devoted to the preliminary rulings procedure, with Alexander Kornezov (legal secretary at the European Court of Justice and professor at the Institute of Law of the Bulgarian Academy of Science) explaining that young judges in Bulgaria use it as a tool for gaining autonomy from their hierarchy.
The final part of the book is devoted to the Courts and constitutional justice. The latter were a factor of societal and legal change before 2004. Since then, their contribution has been more conservative and more sombre. Which leads us, of course, to the heated current events, notably in Poland …
Michel Theys
*** ANITA POLLACK: New Labour in Europe. Leadership and lost opportunities. John Harper Publishing (27 Palace Gates Road, London N22 7BW, UK. Tel: (44-1767) 604951 - Email: custserv@turpin-distribution.com - Internet: http://www.johnharperpublishing.co.uk ). 2016, 280 pp, €25, £17.50. ISBN 978-0-9934549-0-5.
Anita Pollack has great experience of the European Parliament: after being political assistant to Barbara Castle, the head of the British Labour group in the first assembly elected by direct universal suffrage, she became an MEP in 1989 and remained there for ten years. So far, she is the only Australian national to have been a Member of the European Parliament among representatives of European citizens. Elected by the citizens of South-West London, she experienced first hand how Labour operates and its implication in the European Union framework when, from 1997 to 2010, the United Kingdom was ruled by a Labour government. She has written this book to recount the decisions and action taken in the European domain under the governments of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown and she does it with an independence of spirit and freedom of tone that render her analysis credible. Former vice-president of the Commission - and former head of Labour - Neil Kinnock admits this in the preface: 'Without flinching from some inconvenient truths, Anita illuminates the failure to inform and educate the British public about the merits and challenges of EU membership and relates that deficiency to the way in which the EU - after 42 years of UK participation - is still a misrepresented mystery to many.' Tony Blair, who wanted his country to be 'at the heart of Europe,' does not escape criticism, the author stating that his European penchant was expressed more on the Continent than back home, not to mention the fact that his relationship with many of his socialist 'comrades' at the European Council was far from warm. Hence this crushing comment describing the Blair period: 'There was never any major pro-European campaign at home and no attempt to mobilise the civil service machine to promote Britain's membership of the EU. Indeed the education job that needed to be done on civil servants themselves was largely left undone. It was an opportunity lost. No effort had been made to talk to the British public about Europe'… At the time of a possible Brexit, these grievances cannot be ignored, even though Anita Pollack would clearly formulate far more ferocious accusations against those who, in David Cameron's circle, have allowed this referendum to be held, thus conceding to pressure from Eurosceptics.
(PBo)
*** GEORGIOS KONTOGEORGIS: La gauche Syriza comme la nouvelle droite. Éditions 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.
Professor of political science and also rector of the Pantheon University in Athens, Georgios Kontogeorgis looks in this book at the main stages that have characterised the path of the left from its origins in the modern world to the governance of Syriza. He says the left's activities have from the start revealed that 'socialism' was another way out of despotism rather than a breeding ground for moving beyond 'capitalism.' Blood was shed in the streets in the twentieth century to find out whether ownership of the economy would belong to the State or the private sector, and certainly not for society to be able to participate in the system. Also director of research at CNRS in France, the author feels that the collapse of socialism has revealed the left's universal leaning towards the right: the political and economic system is designed, by both left and right, with the aim of ring-fencing society and favouring the interests of the private sector and the possession of goods in general. After displaying their 'left-right' disagreements to obtain power, their rivalry then focused on how to appear at the most effective servants of the market. The conservative mutation of the left then, quite naturally, led civil society to demand its political autonomy. Georgios Kontogeorgis has no doubts that the left will exit from the pages of history at the turn of the century. Worse, he hints that in this climate, Syriza's left will one day give in to the temptation to take refuge in the reactionary semantics of the centuries of Enlightenment.
(AKa)
*** Actes de la seconde Convention des fédéralistes européens. L'année 2015 de l'UEF-France. Union des fédéralistes européens-France (c/o Maison de l'Europe et des Européens, 242 rue Duguesclin, F-69003 Lyon. Email: contact@uef.fr - Internet: http://www.uef.fr ). 2016, No. 195.
The second Convention of European Federalists held in Lyon just over a year ago on the theme 'Convergences Fédérales' was a first because this time, the microphone wasn't given to external figureheads and experts, but rather to activists who were thus able for once to talk about the Europe they aspire to and, above all, to denounce the Europe that is destined for us through intergovernmental agreements. Thus Rémy Volpi can't find words hard enough to denounce 'national-sovereignism,' an 'opium of the people' which is fuelling populist drives and 'hindering the federalisation of Europe.' This chemist will not resign himself to this and proposes that on 28 June 2019 - the date of the hundredth anniversary of the 'disastrous Versailles Treaty' which, based on national-sovereignism, amounted to 'treating alcoholism with alcohol' - and which he says should be selected as the deadline for signing an agreement in principle for a federal Europe starting with the eurozone. Not without reason, he says that 'the 'distortions of democracy' are irritating citizens and push for action in this direction, which would involve implementing a communications strategy based on a combination of the rational and educational with charisma. Pierre Jouvenat calls for a 'Europeanising of European relations,' which is clearly also a recommendation in this direction, particularly in a country like France where, he charges, Jean-Claude Juncker, as the European People's Party candidate for the post of president of the Commission, was unable to attend an electoral meeting following objections by a local party… Other equally interesting themes (moving beyond constitutional patriotism, immigration, the social question and more besides) are addressed, but sometimes only in the form of a summary that sends readers to an online video, which is a little frustrating. The second part of the book is devoted to texts, communiqués or 'columns' published by the French section of the Union of European Federalists or some of its members, which revisit various issues and strong points of the year 2015.
(MT)
*** GEORGE PROVOPOULOS, JEAN QUATREMER, CHRISTOS CHOMENIDIS: Existe-t-il une solution au problème grec? Une discussion ouverte. Editions Poikili Stoa (10 rue Vardousion, GR-11526 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 6920890 - Fax: 6920890 - Email: info@poikilistoa.gr - Internet: http://www.poikilistoa.gr ). 2016, 216 pp, €10. ISBN 978-618-82167-8-5.
The 'Greek problem' is not the cumulative recession that is affecting the country, unemployment at its peak and the new forms of poverty that are emerging. It is not the government abdication of the past fourteen months, the submission of the third memorandum, the lack of investment and the prevailing uncertainty about a possible upturn in the real economy. No, the 'Greek problem' is something far more profound, something that goes beyond economic and social pessimism: it is the loss of national landmarks and reference points! It is society becoming aware of the weakness of the political and social regime, the shortcomings that are undermining the national community. These are the foundations of the Greek disaster that were the subject of a debate of which this book is the outcome. The debate involved four figures: firstly, Prof. George Provopoulos, governor of the Bank of Greece during the most critical period, from 2008 to 2014; next, journalist Jean Quatremer, (correspondent for 'Libération' newspaper in Brussels, who has made four documentaries about the Greek crisis broadcast on Franco-German channel Arte) who in this book examines the situation in Greece from the perspective of the European institutions; and finally, famous writer Christos Chomenidis, acting as a spokesman for civil society; and the final speaker is the debate's moderator, namely Evangelos Venizelos, ex-deputy prime minister, who constantly strives to ensure that at the end of the exchanges, answers are given to the question that has been tormenting Greek society for so many years - will there one day be a solution to the Greek problem? This major question has been addressed through exchanges on national myths, the special place that Greece occupies between East and West, the question of whether the traditional 'left-right' axis can survive the 'anti-memorandum' consensus, how Greek public opinion is situated in Europe and the wider world, and how it is seen these days by 'others,' the pertinence of the remedies prescribed for the country at the risk of making it experience a new adventure of Sisyphus, and the country's remaining resources…
(AKa)