*** Foreign policy. Institut français des relations internationales (Revues Armand Colin, Service clients, 11 rue Paul Bert, CS30024, 92247 Malakoff Cedex. Tel.: (33-1) 41236718 – fax: 41236730 - E-mail: david@ifri.org- Internet: http://www.revues.armand-colin.com ). 2018, 232 pp., 23 €. Subscription: 80 € for paper + digital versions or 65 € for digital (France), 100 € for paper + digital versions, 80 € for digital (foreign).
This French review of debates and analyses on major international issues has, in this issue, a particularly European flavour, which is justified by the current events which, in the coming weeks, will undoubtedly influence the fate of the European Union and its Member States. On the cover, the emphasis is thus placed on the report on "Brexit in all its forms", an event that is still hypothetical to this day and raises doubts and fears throughout the Union. Even if it is only indicated as a subtitle, the second theme addressed, "European democracy beyond elections", will attract the attention of European citizens who are keen to understand some of the reasons why the democratic legitimacy of the Union is still and always flawed.
As for Brexit, the editorialist of the magazine directed by Thierry de Montbrial sets as a backdrop that "what has been sold to a disoriented opinion, that which is still claimed by some of the British political elites", is a "feeling of exceptionality suggested by a great story (...) that blurs the clarity of the present". Having been opportunely reminded that a number of French people sometimes feel this way, the contributions devoted to four key dossiers for future relations between London and the Union aim to verify that this feeling of exceptionality is not an illusion. They do not reassure on this point.
Thus, Pauline Schnapper (Professor of Contemporary British Civilization at the Sorbonne-Nouvelle University in Paris) shows that Brexit, "presented by the most ardent Europeans as an opportunity for the United Kingdom to become (once more) a global actor, risks negatively affecting the country's role and influence" on the international scene. While the Commonwealth represents less than 9% of British trade, as much as Germany alone, to imagine that it could validly replace the Union seems, she subtly describes it "to be more of a fantasy than a reality". In assessing the economic and financial impact of a Brexit, Emmanuel Mourlon-Druol (including senior lecturer at the University of Glasgow) is no more optimistic, judging that, in a world where "multilateral debate is inevitable", British sovereignty will - regardless of those in favour of the Leave who claim otherwise - be "diminished" when the country leaves a Union that it has influenced with certain effectiveness. The view that Prof. Marie-Claire Considers Charon brings to the Irish question by usefully recalling its historical foundations, confirming the impasse in which London is engaged, the "ambiguous deal" that Prof. Jolyon Howorth (Harvard University) may be seeing in the emergence of a European defence that is not likely to contradict the impression that no one will win anything in this divorce.
The theme of European democracy is addressed in the form of a confrontation between the supporters of "two 'Europeanist' rationales". The most instructive is the one that sees Marie-Françoise Bechtel providing answers to the question of whether there can be a European democracy, her subject leading to a better understanding of the reasoning of those who, in France since De Gaulle, have Chimène's eyes for confederalism, even if it means formulating arguments that will leave more than a few people in doubt. Thus, the Vice-President of the Res Publica Foundation (who also sits on the Board of Directors of the Institut français des relations internationales...) asserts from the outset that "very early on, the European Economic Community (EEC) turned its back on the essential principles of democracy" when, in 1963, the Court of Justice, with the Van Gend en Loos judgment, established European law as a "sovereign legal order". Since then, the resulting democratic deficit has continued to grow and "the founding trilogy of any parliament/government/justice democracy is (...) absent from the Union's institutions", with only the Council of the EU escaping this criticism. How, then, can this "fundamental democratic deficit" be filled? This could be achieved by giving more space to the Council of Ministers, but also - hang on! - by placing the "Commission's regulatory powers" under its control, and by making the European Parliament not the representative of a "non-existent European people", but rather... "the emanation of national parliaments". For this close relative of Jean-Pierre Chevènement, the model of a confederal Europe would therefore be "the most sensible from the point of view of realism and ambition". To this plea, which shows that some French people have remained in General de Gaulle's time and continue to resist developments in the Union, diplomat Maxime Lefebvre offers an analysis of a greater openness of mind, reminding us that, since the Schuman Declaration, it is indeed a question of building a European federation, the current Union being unsatisfactory, to be understood as a "federation in the making". As a professor at ESCP Europe, he reviewed what would make it possible to make progress in this direction, but without showing excessive ambitions in this regard. It is true that the "feeling of exceptionality that a great story suggests" still inhabits many minds in France too...
Michel Theys
*** BERNARD SPITZ: Thank you Europe! Response to the seven populist lies. Editions Grasset (61 rue des Saints-Pères, 75006 Paris, Tel: 01 44 39 22 00, Internet: http://www.grasset.fr ). 2019, 208 pp.. ISBN: 978-2-246-82063-5)
"The Europe House burns", especially under the fire of the populists, while "the firemen discuss the diameter of the pipes". This is the assessment of Bernard Spitz, President of the French Insurance Federation and of the Europe and International Commission of Medef, the French employers' association. Published at a time when the Union is supposed to get a grip on its future at Twenty-seven after having gone through a multitude of crises, the book "Thank You Europe" aims to respond to populists and their imaginations, without sweeping away the realities on the ground, the fears and the challenges facing Europeans that have allowed this threat to emerge. "No, Europe is not a sieve; no, Brussels is not a bureaucratic hell; no, Europe does not ignore people's daily lives; no, the euro has not hurt us; no, the free movement of workers is not a tragedy...", says Bernard Spitz, president of the think-tank Les Gracques. But "yes, Europe is imperfect and could be improved". Thus, if the European Union has not experienced a migration tsunami, as populists argue, it must prove that it would be ready to face one in the future, by making "migration policy truly European", with common control and management of borders. Moreover, the so-called "Polish plumber's" jobs - at the heart of the causes of Brexit - actually represent only 0.9% of all jobs in the Union and are concentrated mainly in sectors where it is difficult to recruit, which does not, however, prevent "the social, poor relative of the European construction", from being its "main point of vulnerability". There is an urgent need to respond to populists with a better Europe, the author believes. While some of his analyses may come as a surprise - such as the one that the original sin of the Union was enlargement, which should have been submitted to the vote of the people and which would on the contrary have created a Europe in which citizens no longer recognise themselves - remains a question to which the author, like the European Union, has difficulty answering: how to succeed in instilling in the minds of European leaders the political will that Bernard Spitz calls for? (MU)
*** Dokumente / Documents. Zeitschrift für den deutsch-französischen Dialog / Review of the Franco-German Dialogue. Verlag Dokumente (1 day Birker Strasse, D-53797 Lohmar. Tel.: (49-2246) 9499220 – fax: 9499222 - E-mail: aboservice@dokumente-documents.info- Internet: http://www.dokumente-documents.info ). 2018, n° 3, 12 €. Subscription: 18,90 €.
The bilingual magazine launched at the end of the Second World War by the Jesuit Jean du Riveau so that Germans and French people can get to know each other better and engage in dialogue with a view to forging a partnership that is useful for both sides. In this issue, it contains an enlightening dossier devoted to the meaning to be given to the German term "Heimat" - or, according to the author Nora Krug, "a feeling that is shaped by place, experience and memory". However, it must be handled with infinite caution, for example when asking questions about how much a country can accommodate immigrants and how to integrate them properly. This is particularly the case at a time when, according to Pascal Brice, Director General of the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons, it is regrettable that the once uncontested "European values" are being discredited by right-wing populists throughout Europe ahead of the European elections next May and that these will, according to sociologist Claus Leggewie in an interview, be used for a "progression of the right in the European Parliament". It should also be noted, among other things, a contribution on the question of whether Islam has its place in Eastern Europe. (PBo)
*** PANAYIOTIS LIARGOVAS, CHRISTOS PAPAGEORGIOU: The European phenomenon: history, institutions, politics. Editions Tziola (91 rue Philippou, GR-54635 Thessaloniki. Tel.: (30-231) 0247887 – fax: 0210712 – Email: info@tziola.gr – Internet: http://www.tziola.gr ). 2018, 696 pp., 64.87 €. ISBN 978-960-418-776-8.
This study focuses on the history of European integration from its inception to the present day. The economists Panayiotis Liargovas and Christos Papageorgiou, both professors at the University of Peloponnese, analyse in depth - the 696 pages of the book attest to this - the steps that led to the implementation of the "European idea", from the ruins of the Second World War as the genesis of the New Europe (1945-1950) to the seventh enlargement of the European Union, including the Schuman Declaration and the creation of the European Communities (1950-1958), the first European crisis punctuated by the so-called "Luxembourg compromise", the period of stagnation between 1958 and 1969, the Hague Conference, the crises of the 1970s with the first enlargement, then the enlargements to the south and the Single Act (1979-1986), the objective of the single market and the Maastricht Treaty (1986-1993), the Treaty of Amsterdam (1993-1999), then those of Nice and Lisbon... On this basis, the authors develop theoretical approaches to European integration, analysing in turn the Union's institutions and legislative procedures, the feeling of a "democratic deficit" that continues to flourish in the Union, agricultural policy, economic and monetary policy, regional and social policy, foreign and defence policy, environmental policy... The book is punctuated by a complete bibliography (Greek and foreign), an index of terms and an index of enriched content. (AKa)
*** NAPOLEON MARAVEYIAS, THEODOROS SAKELLAROPOULOS (under the direction of): Greece and European integration. The story of a turbulent relationship (1962-2018). Editions Dionikos (9-13 rue Gravias, GR-10678 Athens. Tel.: (30-210) 3801777 – fax: 3801777 - E-mail: info@dionicos.gr- Internet: http://www.dionicos.gr ). 2018, 384 pp., 33.92 €. ISBN 978-960-6619-82-3.
As Napoleon Maraveyias, Professor of Macroeconomic Analysis and European Economic Integration at the Faculty of Political Science of the University of Athens, and Theodoros Sakellaropoulos, Professor of Sociology at the Panteion University of Athens, point out, Greece's relationship with Europe - the Community, then the Union - for more than half a century, from the Athens Agreements of 1962 to the economic crisis and the time of the memoranda, raises many research questions. What kind of impact has the Union had on the country's institutions and public policies? Through what mechanisms has European influence been manifested and concretised at national level? Which European policies have most influenced Greece and why? Have Greek officials adapted effectively to these European political inputs or only superficially? What has been the final result, positive or negative, of the European influence exercised in Greece since the country's accession? It is to these and many other questions that the fourteen scientists gathered in these pages provide answers. A selective bibliography, an index of names and historical events and a glossary of terms punctuate the book. (AKa)