*** RENAUD DENUIT: Capitales européennes de la culture : un rêve de Melina. Académie royale de Belgique (1 rue Ducale, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5502212 – fax: 5502205 – Email: info@academieroyale.be– Internet: http://www.academieroyale.be ). « L’Académie en poche » series, No. 106. 2018, 105 pp. €7. ISBN 978-2-8031-0630-1.
This book is a letter, a long a letter Jack Lang addressed to Melina Mercouri. To be perfectly honest, the former Minister for Culture in the administration of François Mitterrand does not actually write it himself and only gave his permission for it to be written in his name by Renaud Denuit. It is a love letter to Melina Mercouri whom a young lecturer in legal studies and theatre lover had not dared to approach at Epidaurus, shortly after the collapse of the Colonels' regime. “You made me think of a lioness radiating beauty, kindness and convictions”, he explains, in an excuse himself while remembering that “everyone” at the time rushed forward to greet the actress, touch or embrace her…
Other opportunities for meeting occurred during their respective political trajectories. The meeting that underpins this book took place in the evening of 27 November 1983 in a taverna in the centre of Athens. A meeting of ministers for culture from the 10 member countries of the European Community at the time was going to take place the following day, which Melina had been daring enough to organise – “The majority of governments were extremely reticent about seeing the Community getting involved in culture”, remembers, Jack Lang, and the guests quickly deem the agenda organised by a few “brave civil servants” as “rather bland”. Suddenly, perhaps it was the retsina or the raki that helped their “imaginations to unleash themselves” and just as Lang was dreaming of, “a major European fund to help cinema”, Melina arrived with her, “idea of allowing a European city to become a key cultural flagship every year”.
The former administrator at the European Commission, Renaud Denuit, worked on cultural dossiers at the institution is well equipped for presenting them in the irreproachable style of the technician, which he has indeed done in the book, “European Cultural Policy” published by Bruylant in 2016 (European Library No. 11672/1160 of 22 November 2016). On this occasion, it is the former journalist and philosopher who is responsible for the writing and in this message he speaks of the possibility of speaking to people’s hearts as much as their minds, while remaining true to the authenticity of the information he conveys.
What ‘Lang-Denuit’ narrates here is the way in which two art and culture lovers originally experienced, according to the historian, Michel Dumoulin, who wrote the preface, “a leap into the dark”. On 28 November 1983, Mercouri’s proposal, backed by Lang, was only actually supported by the Belgians and Italians, while, “the misgivings came, unsurprisingly, from the British and Germans” and the other ministers appeared “rather out of their depth” by the incongruous surprise of it all. It was also necessary to wait until 13 June 1985 for the Council to finally organise the "European City of Culture"event on an annual basis. Fortunately, 1984 was not really a year that was lost because, thankfully, mainly due to action by the European Parliament, the Culture Council took place on 18 June in Luxembourg. The French minister had managed to provide assurances to the reticent member states by emphasising that this, “involved a project that is being put forward by the governments and not by the Community institutions”. Athens was the first city chosen, soon followed by Florence in 1986, then Amsterdam, West Berlin, without actually realising that this would take place a year before the fall of the Berlin Wall. This is in fact the history of the gradual and complicated assertion of the European Cities of Culture events, which subsequently became the European Capitals of Culture and about which a first person account is provided in this publication. In it we discover, for example, the emotion provoked by the choice of Glasgow, by Margaret Thatcher, with Jack Lang exclaiming, “What did Glasgow have that was ‘cultural’ compared with the beautiful cities that had received the title up till then?” Nonetheless, elegance is an art as well and the former French minister subsequently recognised that, “Thatcher had brazenly won her wager" by using culture for economic ends.
Today, 56 cities have benefited from the title of European Capital of Culture since 1999. The essay by Melina has therefore been transformed, despite certain tricks resorted to and misgivings. At the end of his letter, Lang-Denuit, happily points out that, “The European capitals of culture consist of bridges at a time when walls are being built. Let us try to be these bridge builders together”. The letter could have possibly finished there but, ultimately, it certainly did not. In the country of the Eleusinian Mysteries, one should not be surprised that Melina answered her friend by recalling that Renaud Denuit is also a poet in his spare time, “And Europe, our Europe, so small and so fragile, floundering where it stands…A stammering tragedy. Not Greek enough, not mythical enough, too little…high…Difficult childbirth, infinite…I offer it my song, my smile, I bless it…From city to city…” And the poet is always right!
Michel Theys
*** PROKOPIS PAVLOPOULOS: Au berceau de la culture européenne. Les symboles de l’« Athéna réfléchie ». Editions Gutemberg (37 rue Didotou, GR-10680 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3642003 – fax: 3642030 – Email: info@dardanosnet.gr). 2017, 166 pp.€11. ISBN 978-960-01-1895-7.
Ancient Greece “created education in its highest expression”. It also shaped the three pillars of western culture’s different symbols. It embodies one of the most beautiful sculptures of the Acropolis Museum. This is all pointed out in the book that the President of the Greek Republic, Prokopis Pavlopoulos, offered to Mr Macron and his wife during their official visit to Greece last September. He therefore provided a “spiritual compass" for all those who desire “a spiritual upgrade”.
Since 2014, Prokopis Pavlopoulos has been the President of Greece, after having been a Minister on many different occasions, as well as a lecturer in constitutional law at Panteion University in Athens. He also points out that he reminded the French President and his wife of an idea expressed by André Malraux in a memorable speech he made during the first occasion the Acropolis was lit up in 1958: “A hidden Greece exists and the heart of all Westerners”. His new book also provides an outline to his speech during the opening of the Athens Democracy Forum and it is indeed an invitation to return to the birthplace of European culture. The protagonist of this trilingual book (Greek, English and French) is sacred Athena or Athena from the Column of the Acropolis Museum in whom the author sees as “a sort of symbol of the roots of European culture”. This beautiful sculpture provides an opportunity for him to analyse the three pillars of the western world, namely Ancient Greece, Rome and Christian teaching. By explaining the different symbols of Athena, the President demonstrates how ancient Rome was a sort of “bridge above which the spirit of ancient Greece passed through Byzantium up to the Renaissance” and how this ancient spirit found its “culminating endoscopic point in Christian teaching”. This contemporary sage believes it useful to remember in “this troubled world” of ours that “the symbols are irreplaceable” because they can still inspire modern mankind and provide it with a guide. In this essay he asserts that “Athenian thought” (-460 BC) is still there to defend European culture against the dangers that currently threaten it. (AKa)
*** GILLES GRIN, FRANCOISE NICOUD, BERNHARD ALTERMATT(Editors): Formes d’Europe – Forms of Europe. Union européenne et autres organisations – European Union and other organisations. Fondation Jean Monnet pour l’Europe (Ferme de Dorigny, CH-1015 Lausanne. Tel: (41-21) 6922090 – fax: 6922095 – email: secr@fjme.unil.ch– Internet: http://www.jean-monnet.ch ) et Editions Economica (49 rue Héricart, F-75015 Paris). « Les Cahiers rouges » series, No. 218. 2018, 457 pp. €75. ISBN 978-2-7178-7008-4.
The objective pursued during an international colloquy organised by the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe in Lausanne in October 2016 was to recall the foundations of European construction in an effort to better understand the current climate and, if need be, tackle the destructive urges being expressed within the continent. This is the 218th edition of the Cahier rouge, which tackles the major political, economic and cultural challenges of the time by analysing the multiple and deep crises affecting the European Union. It does not stop there, however, and thanks to a partnership with the History of European Integration Research Society and the International Network of Young Researchers in the History of European Integration, it also scrutinises the Council of Europe, the Organisation of Economic Co-Operation and Development, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the European Free Trade Association and the Organisation for Security and Co-Operation in Europe.
In his introduction, Pat Cox, the president of the foundation recalls the ideas expressed by Jean Monnet, who wanted Europe to provide the appropriate responses to the crises affecting it and also points out that “the number, depth and diversity of the crises” confronting the Union and the most difficult prevailing political climate require a much more circumspect analysis. The former president of the European Parliament considers that “forging the common interest of the peoples of Europe is not simply maintaining a balance in these interests”, which should be the conduct pursued by European leaders if they are going to save the European project. In this regard, the contribution made by Professor Gérard Bossuat is particularly edifying in that it results from an analysis made by this historian into the archives of the Commission in Lausanne and Florence, which helps to provide an understanding of the European project set out by its founders and to identify the future of the unity they sought, wished and constructed in light off, in particular, the action and thoughts of Emile Noël, the emblematic general of the institution. This multidisciplinary book incorporates history, law, political science and economy and also provides useful clarification with regard to the past and future construction, particularly with regard to the political and economic motivations that lie at the basis of creating the euro, the differentiated evolution of certain policies, the question of values and solidarity, the state of democracy and the European Union, the referendum problem in Switzerland and in Europe since 1972… This is a valuable book for all those who want to understand European integration, as well as the difficulties involved and the possible future that lies ahead. (PBo)
*** THIERRY CORNILLET: Guide des aides de l'Union européenne, édition 2018. LGO Éditions (63 rue André Bollier, F-69307 Lyon cedex 07. Tel: (33-6) 45497537 – email: editionslgo@orange.fr– Internet: http://www.editionslgo.com& http://www.leguidedesaideseurop éennes.eu). 2018, 575 pp, € 26. ISBN 978-2-36996-055-3.
Thierry Cornillet became an MEP again in 2017 by replacing Sylvie Goulard (ALDE France). Since 2006 he has edited a guide to European aid for the regional authorities and French government.
The publication of 3000 different examples in this guide is an act of militancy, according to the words of the lawyer and co-founder of this consultancy. It is militant because it attempts to provide greater visibility with what the European Union can do in practice for the regions. It is also militant because Mr Cornillet does not receive copyright royalties and freely distribute the guides from the funds collected from the sales of these guides. It is based on the observation that the €9 billion in structural funds are not consumed in France. The MEP appeals to the regional authorities and social partners to structure them and create services that respond most efficiently to the questions directed to them by those heading the projects. The former deputy mayor of Montélimar says the obstacle that needs to be tackled involves the cost of the first question posed by those heading the projects, namely, what doors should they be knocking on.
In the form of summary files, the guides provide an inventory of Community programmes (LIFE, LEADER, Asylum and Migration Fund, etc.) and regional operational programmes (ERDF-ESF). Each file contains a list of eligible measures, potential beneficiaries and contact points at national and local level. (MB)
*** THEODOROS PAPATHEODOROU: Le pays que nous avons blessé. Crise dans la crise. Editions Poikili Stoa (10 rue Vardousion, GR-11526 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 6920890 – fax: 6920990 – Email: info@poikilistoa.gr– Internet: http://www.poikilistoa.gr ). 2017, 168 pp. €10. ISBN 978-618-83407-6-3.
The national reconciliation of political forces in the main axes of policies to undertake in an effort to find a solution to the current crisis, is becoming an existential dilemma in Greece. First and foremost it requires an end to the political adventures and obsessions of yesteryear. It also requires a government that is aware of the political role it should play and which is prepared to reach the programmed reforms approved by society as a means of launching the major progressive reforms that can help pave the way to normality again. This book by Theodoros Papatheodorou, a professor of comparative politics at the University of the Peloponnese where he was the Rector between 2009 and 2012, is a detailed study of the main causes of the crisis in Greece and it also provides a number of proposals for getting out of this crisis. As part of this fundamental political project, the major democratic struggle of progressive forces still remains, according to the author, defending European horizons in Greece and pursuing the objectives of relaunching the economy, reconstructing the primacy of law and the welfare state and ultimately improving social cohesion in a radical way. (AKa)