*** MATTIAS DERLEN, JOHAN LINDHOLM (Editors): The Court of Justice of the European Union. Multidisciplinary Perspectives. Hart Publishing (Kemp House, Chawley Park, Cumnor Hill, Oxford OX2 9PH, UK. Tel: (44-1256) 302890 – fax: 842084 – Email: mail@hartpub.co.uk – Internet: http://www.hartpub.co.uk ). "Swedish Studies in European Law", No. 10. 2018, 233 pp. £60. ISBN 978-1-5099-1908-6.
On 4 December the European Court of Justice will be celebrating its 65th anniversary, which, in a lot of European countries, is still an age synonymous with the beginning of retirement. If it decided to retire, it could contemplate its extraordinary trajectory with pride and which, after modest beginnings during the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, it became, as explained in their preface by Professors Derlén Lanindholm, “one of the most important and exciting judicial institutions in Europe, perhaps in the entire world”. It is for this reason that at the end of 2016 the University of Stockholm organised a Swedish Network for European Legal Studies conference in an attempt to see what had been the keys to this success. This book provides an account of the work that brought together many legal experts and some political scientists, as well as a substantial number of academics and certain figures working at the European Court of Justice. It is obvious that they did not celebrate the latter’s retirement and, on the contrary, identified a number of challenges it had to meet in the past and a number of others it would still have to face, particularly with regard to its relationship with the member states. The book begins with a passionate contribution by Anthony Arnull entitled, “The Court of Justice Then, Now and Tomorrow”. This lecturer in case law at Birmingham University, after having worked as Registrar for a period at the Luxembourg Court, begins by highlighting the delicate management of the latter due to French concerns in this regard: “Wary of a 'gouvernement des juges', Jean Monnet, the chair of the conference, had to be persuaded that the new Community should have a permanent court with the power to review acts of the High Authority”. It finally manages to make a convincing case but not without the Luxembourg Court taking the shape of an administrative court inspired by the concept of the French Council of State. This was also pointed out in the European Law Review, which reveals another little nugget that, “the first European treaty did not require the Judges to be legally qualified” only “persons of recognised independence and competence”. Since then the requirements have been fine-tuned, which does not prevent this author from pointing out that the treaties still allow the member states some elbow room when they have to decide their appointments to the Luxembourg Court…
Anthony Arnull then examines how the remit granted by the member states to the Court has fluctuated over time. Therefore, in the Treaties of Rome the infringement procedure allowing for sanctions to be imposed on defaulting member states is curiously forgotten and that this omission had to wait until the treaties of Maastricht and Lisbon to be partially repaired. Nonetheless, the Luxembourg judges celebrate a major victory on this same occasion when Nicola Catalano manages to get the preliminary rulings procedure to be extended to questions of interpreting the treaties, which would effectively allow the Court “to become a major international legal institution”. It would particularly play this role in the eighteen decisive months between 1963-64 when it provided the doctrines of direct effect and primacy, which would allow it to effectively present itself as “as both saviour and architect of the integration process, compensating for the failings of weak and ineffectual Member States who could not be trusted to stick to the commitments they had made”.
This was obviously not appreciated by all the member states. Certain constitutional and national supreme courts did not accept the primacy of European law without a certain resentment. Anthony Arnull recalls come of the confrontations and analyses the reasons for them and in this connection he highlights the “clash of cultures” when it involves implementing directives whose interpretations vary between that of the Court of Justice or member state. He also considers that for reasons on which their decisions are founded, the Luxembourg judges are too inclined to close themselves off in their ivory towers in their imperious proclamations, which does not help matters in their relationships with the national courts. In this connection he points out that in the United Kingdom, some people see them as a “political court”, which also goes to show that Brexit also involved a desire to escape from this kind of jurisdiction. Is it true, as suggested by Anthony Arnull that, “this view is not confined to the United Kingdom”? Perhaps. All the other contributions, of the same level, explore in a more precise and targeted way, the strengths and weaknesses of the Court of Justice and the strengths and weaknesses it creates. All the authors seek, however, to evaluate how the Court could be reformed, such as Anthony Arnull, who includes the following sentence in his contribution, “How does 'Supreme Court of the European Union' sound?”
Michel Theys
*** GRET HALLER: L’Europe – Un espace de liberté. Le rôle politique de l’individu en des temps de nationalisme. 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. 217. 2018, 110 pp. €22. ISBN 978-2-7178-7007-7.
The European Union is currently holding a debate on values, similar to the one held at the end of 19th century, which led to the creation of the democratic nationstate. The rising power of nationalism is the starting point of this reflection by Swiss human rights specialist. Great Haller was the Swiss ambassador to the Council of Europe before being appointed human rights mediator in Sarajevo, by the OSCE, between 1996 and 2000. In this publication Haller explains how the emergence of a “new State figure” has emerged in the Union which is, “transcending the concept of the nation state while respecting the parameters of political individualisation and opening up towards the future”. Haller now concentrates on political writing, after having been an associate researcher in the philosophy of law at the Goethe University in Frankfurt. She considers that they now need to reinvent the notion of the state at a European level given that nationalism is experiencing a rebirth by feasting on the political and democratic incompleteness of the Union. In her introduction she points out that, “there are many who consider that the current lack of confidence in the European Union began to arise when they began to develop democratically”. In an effort to convince the reader of the solid foundations of her analysis and appeal, she returns to the history of Switzerland, which she argues helps to clarify certain of the problems currently arising in the Union and the prospects for evolution that could take shape within it. She argues her case in the 217th Cahier rouge of the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe and republishes and comments on texts by Swiss authors, Denis de Rougemont and Alfred Kölz, which present developments and accomplishments in Switzerland as, “interesting reference points for the next stages of European integration”. These intellectuals focus on this issue in the perspective of the growth of shared sovereignty, a subject that Rougemont used to tackle in an historical perspective. The most recent text by the constitutionalist Alfred Kölz pursues the theme of the state order and its development in Switzerland, which allowed him to specifically define the field of research to possible loyalties towards the European order in this perspective. (PBo)
*** MARIANNE DONY: Droit de l'Union européenne. Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles (26 av. Paul Héger, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 6503789 - fax: 6503794 – Email: editions@admin.ulb.ac.be – Internet: http://www.editions-universite-bruxelles.be/ ). "UBlire / Références” series. 2018, 800 pp. €14.50. ISBN 978-2-8004-1631-1.
The fact that a book is in its seventh edition is obvious testimony to its intrinsic quality. This is the case of this book, which provides a pedagogic, clear and concise presentation of the main tenets of European law. Marianne Dony begins by recalling the major stages of European construction and then devotes the first part of the book to institutional law and the gradual constitutionalisation of the Union. She also analyses the institutional system, the sources and characteristics of European law and the judicial system. In the second part, it is the main political principles that are scientifically decoded, as well as the prevailing freedoms of movement within the internal market, in addition to Union action and resources in the justice and home affairs domains, as well as Economic and Monetary Union and external relations. It goes without saying that the former president of the Institute of European Studies at the ULB, as well as the latest developments, such as Brexit, were allowed by the withdrawal clause introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon. (PBo)
*** PANAYIOTIS LIARGOVAS, CHRISTOS PAPAGEORGIOU: Le phénomène européen. La consolidation de l’idée et les efforts pour la mettre en œuvre. Editions Tziola (91 rue Philippou, GR-54635 Salonika. Tel: (30-231) 0247887 – fax: 0210712 – Email: info@tziola.gr – Internet: http://www.tziola.gr ). 2017, 356 pp. €30. ISBN 978-960-418-678-5
The experience of two bloody and devastating European wars (essentially civil wars) helped consolidate the European idea as a driving force for the emergence of a new Europe through the process of unification and the construction of single area of peace, democracy and development, which would prevent the outbreak of any further wars. Nonetheless, those behind this concrete European project knew that this unification process would not be easy: national obsessions and interests, the lack of trust between states, social conflicts, nationalist sentiment, the democratic deficit, all prevailed in the beginning, etc. A lot of progress has been achieved since then but much still remains to be done. Although these difficulties were very many and previously appeared insurmountable, the last six decades have demonstrated that they can indeed be overcome and problems that arise can be resolved! The continued momentum in the integration process, the increasing number of policies that are elaborated common, the adoption of common rules and introduction of a single currency are all proof of this project’s success. In this book, Panayiotis Liargovas, Director of the National School of Public Administration and a Professor of economic analysis at the University of the Peloponnese and Professor Christos Papageorgiou (University of Economics Athens) seek to retrace the entire trajectory accomplished in the European project and explain the foundations of this unique construction. They also provide a methodological review of all the major phases involved in European construction as well as the origins of the European idea, the Lisbon Treaty, the “the big bang” phase of enlargement and which was and remains by far the most perilous part of this journey. The book contains an extremely useful bibliography and a chronological and detailed index pertaining to the history of Europe and the individuals that have shaped it over the last 60 years. (AKa)
*** CHRISTOS CHATZIIOSSIF: L'intégration européenne, l'Allemagne et le retour des nationalismes. Editions Bibliorama (51 rue Stournari, GR-10432 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 5221112 – fax: 5221466 – Email: info@bibliorama.gr – Internet : http://www.bibliorama.gr ). 2017, 128 pp. €12.72. ISBN 978-960-9548-31-1.
Christos Hadjiiossif has taught modern history at the department of history and archaeology at Creek University. From 2010-2016, he was also head of the Research and Technology Foundation’s Mediterranean Studies Institute. In this book he provides an original study combining historical knowledge and political reflection. He tackles the major questions at the heart of the European public debate, namely, the reasons for the unlimited and unbridled economic and political sovereignty of Germany and the dangers to it, as well as the return of nationalism in Europe, including this phenomenon in Germany and the “4th Industrial Revolution" linked to the technological process in which Europe is engaged at different speeds. He points out that, paradoxically, the European integration process that enjoyed supranational structures in an effort to overcome national rivalry has in effect sharpened contradictions between the member states of the European Union and revived nationalism within them. He also considers that the roots of this contradiction can be located in the particular shape taken by the integration process after 1989 when the introduction of the euro accelerated the tendency to prioritise the members of the economic union and of which, the strongest of all, was Germany. Christos Chatziiossif argues that these policies were implemented in an ideological environment that tolerated inequalities between the member states of the Union, as well as between the citizens within it. The massive arrival of refugees in Europe exacerbated the social and political instability provoked by the persisting aggravation of these inequalities in a way that “the European perspective” promoted by certain quarters appears to no longer provide a solution to swathes of the population. (AKa)