*** Fédéchoses... for federalism. Federalist press (Maison de l'Europe et des Européens, 242 rue Duguesclin, F-69003 Lyon. Internet: http://www.pressefederaliste.eu ). December 2018, n° 180, 64 pp., 6 €. Annual subscription: 30 €.
This issue of a French federalist journal that has become a quarterly magazine contains a pearl, namely the groundbreaking analysis that economist Guido Montani devotes to “a European democracy at the crossroads between barbarism and civilisation”. Will it be possible to stop “Europe's return to the 1930s”, when “nationalist hatred made people fantasise about enemy races to be marginalised and exterminated”? could a renewed “European Union” reverse our continent's race towards anarchy and the victory of the new barbarity? for this professor of international economics at the University of Pavia, the answer to these questions will depend primarily on the results of next May's European elections, which will pave the way either for a “constituent” or for “erosion” of the European project.
While he is careful not to make any predictions, the former Vice-President of the Union of European Federalists argues that it is the way in which three paradoxes will be managed that will decide: i) “the oxymoron of national sovereignty - national sovereignty” which is today the result “of a partial Union, where a federal constitution is lacking” and where, as a result, the will of each Member State to assert its own interests means its destruction. To avoid this, pro-European parties must demonstrate this by agreeing to consolidate the euro area and accepting transfers of sovereignty in the management of migration flows, defence or the environment; (ii) the “right-left contradiction” which, absent in the Union, “is the most striking symptom of the existence of a European democratic deficit”; (iii) the “dichotomy between civilisation and barbarism” which today sees the Union under attack by the national-populist forces from the inside as well as the outside. In the name of their quest for world supremacy, “Trump and Putin” express the same desire to divide the European Union and find allies within it, “from the Visegrád countries to the French, Italian, German and Austrian nationalist sovereignists”. Hence this scathing accusation: “Nationalist sovereignists show their vileness, looking for a new master even before they can break the EU's chains.”
How could the political parties committed to democracy and Europe break the sovereignists' hope of having a majority next May that would enable them to “transform the European Parliament, in its internationalist stage, into a kind of assembly of the divided nations of Europe”? Mr Montani suggests that they seize the opportunity provided by Jean-Claude Juncker when he proposed, in his State of the Union speech of 13 September 2017, to merge the posts of President of the Commission and President of the European Council. “It would be a decisive reform”, he observes, refuting his illusory side: “if one or more spitzenkandidates openly declare themselves in favour of Juncker's proposal, and affirm that once elected, they will ask for this merger of presidencies to take place, not only will they have a strong chance of winning the elections”, but also the guarantee that no one, not even the European Council, will be able “to question the fact that the proposed reform is not the result of the popular will of the European citizens”. However, “today, there is no European leader who is not a national leader above all”; even European parliamentarians are not the exception that confirms the rule since they need their respective political parties for their re-elections... Which, in passing, tends to show that it would probably be a good idea to add to Jean-Claude Juncker's good idea that of giving life to political parties worthy of the name.
In this regard, this very rich issue of Fédéchoses also contains, among other things, an interview with Sandro Gozi who, elected President of the Union of European Federalists on 23 November last, usefully gives his point of view on these two subjects: “Those who want to defend the 'Spitzenkandidaten' system must help us to introduce transnational lists because this is the only way to link citizens' democratic choice to the investiture of the President of the Commission. It is also a necessary step towards the creation of genuine European political parties”, says the former Italian State Secretary for European Affairs. Other contributions focus on the problem of yellow jackets, the “lights of hope for Europe” represented by President Macron and the German philosopher Habermas, the “challenge for Europe” which will consist in exceeding national contributions to the budget with own resources, the crisis of the left in Europe and in the world, etc.
Michel Theys
*** PHILIPPAS CHATZISTAVROU: Who leads Europe? Power structures after the financial crisis. Editions Tziola (91 rue Philippou, GR-54635 Thessaloniki. Tel.: (30-231) 0247887 – fax: 0210712 – Email: info@tziola.gr – Internet: http://www.tziola.gr ). 2018, 376 pp., 11,66 €. ISBN 978-960-418-800-0.
Philippas Chatzistavrou, Professor of European Economics at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, examines in this book the various problems that Europe has faced in recent years. The economic crisis is obviously very prominent in this context, in the light of the conflicts it has generated and the ‘cooperation’ between Member States, but also of the new art of governing and the institutionalisation of the asymmetrical interdependence of the States that have emerged on this occasion. In particular, the author raises the question of whether there is now economic hegemony or cultural sovereignty in Europe. He also examines the legal construction of fiscal convergence and the political development of technobureaucracy, providing an in-depth analysis of active technocratic policy structures for states subject to political conditionality. He is also interested in what the post-social construction of domestic consensus might look like and what the centralisation of executive power at the national level will bring, the latter leading him to compare emerging trends and the ideological convergence that is emerging across political divisions. An entire chapter is devoted to the European art of governance, with the author reinterpreting it in the light of the economic crisis. An extensive bibliography, both Greek and international, an explanatory index for economic terms and a reminder of the main actors in European economic affairs punctuate the book. (AKa)
*** CHRISTIAN N. K. FRANKLIN(under the direction of): The Effectiveness and Application of EU and EEA Law in National Courts. Principles of Consistent Interpretation. Editions Intersentia (Sheraton House, Castle Park, Cambridge, CB3 0AX, UK. Tel.: (44-1223) 370170 – fax: 370169 – Email: mail@intersentia.co.uk – Internet: http://www.intersentia.com ). Intersentia Studies on Courts and Judges Series. 2018, 531 pp., 139 €, 132 £, 167 $. ISBN 978-1-78068-655-4.
In the decentralised system that today ensures the application and effectiveness of law in the European Union and the European Economic Area, national courts play a crucial role. To ensure that this is the case, the European Court of Justice and the Court of the Free Trade Association have established a number of safeguards under the guise of the “principle of consistent interpretation”. Is this safety net working? Because he has taught for many years at the Norwegian University of Bergen, the English lawyer Christian Franklin was ideally placed to see how British and Norwegian courts applied this principle with very different sensitivities when European law came into conflict with each of these two national laws. At the same time, he realised that the way other national courts behaved in this respect had never really been studied from a scientific point of view. Hence the research project he initiated from Bergen, which this book reports on. It brings together contributions from representatives of the academic or judicial world who, on the basis of a questionnaire drawn up on the basis of a preparatory seminar organised at the University of Bergen, review the situation in twelve European countries, namely the Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Slovenia, Poland and Cyprus. In his preface, Prof. Franklin admits that he regrets the absence of some countries in this study, explaining it by a lack of financial resources as well as by the concern to be able to manage this project; he announces however that these partially voluntary “omissions” will be repaired in the next edition. Above all, he stressed that the questionnaire was conceived by its authors as “a source of inspiration”, leaving experts in the field free to dismiss questions that are not relevant to the country they are addressing and to include specific questions in their reports. (PBo)
*** NIKOLAOS NIKOLOUDIS: The modern history of Greece and Europe. The final aspects, facts and people. Editions A. Stamoulis (2 I. Michail, GR-54622 Thessaloniki. Tel.: (30-2310) 900777 – fax: 264748 – Email: anstamoulis@hotmail.com). 2018, 360 pp., 21,20 €. ISBN 978-618-5306-19-9.
The studies in this book can be classified into four distinct thematic groups, but they overlap, dealing with historical biographies, Anglo-Greek relations in recent centuries, specific aspects of Greek history, as well as significant political and military events that have affected Greek and/or modern European history, particularly in relation to the two world wars. More precisely, the studies of Nikolaos Nikoloudis, doctor of history from King's College (University of London), professor of history at the International Centre for Mediterranean Studies and editor of the monthly magazine Historical Issues, analyse the evolution of history (Greek and European) over the centuries. The interactions of historical events, the parallel development of states, important historical moments for the old continent or for Greece are the strong points of this book. These studies begin with facts that go back to the depths of time and end today. Most of these studies have been published in various historical publications from the 1990s to the present, but most of them have undergone a radical revision and have been enriched to respond to the findings of the latest historical research. The author devotes a major chapter to the birth of what is now the European Union, analysing events after the Second World War, how the idea of a united Europe finally took shape, its evolution, its growth, the never-ending crisis, all this being accompanied by a chronology of historical events and a reminder of the main actors. Rich annexes punctuate the work. (AKa)