Opinions on the likely candidate Commissioners and even on the unlikely ones: the third volume of the series ‘History of the European Commission’ came out barely a month ago; the timing was perfect, coinciding as it did with this period of renewal of the College, marked by a few memorable incidents – of which we have no doubt not seen the last.
The initiative came from some of the old guard, such as Jacqueline Lastenouse and Jacques-René Rabier (who sadly passed away recently), who had the ear of President Prodi: to set in train a history of the institution that would be precise, academically rigorous, thoroughly documented, based on official archives and first-hand accounts from those who were there, all put into words by eminent historians of various nationalities.
The first volume, ‘The European Commission 1958-1972 – History and Memories of an Institution’, came out in 2007 and was hailed as a great event in our ‘European Library’ series by Michel Theys (see EUROPE 9551/36 of 27 November 2007). The second, which covers the years 1973-1986, was published in 2013. Both editions were coordinated by Prof. Michel Dumoulin.
This latest volume, which was overseen by Prof. Vincent Dujardin, covers the period 1986-2000 and runs to 830 pages, some 150 more than either of the first two. This period of time, from the early days of the Delors Commission to Prodi, included so many events and achievements that it unquestionably justifies a volume of this size. It is an enormous job of collective work: 52 lecturers and researchers from more than 30 universities or research centres made their contributions; some 250 political actors and European civil servants were interviewed; thousands of archives, documents and press articles were trawled through.
Following a preface by Jean-Claude Juncker and an introduction, the reader has four (sizeable) parts to deal with: the internal functioning of the Commission and its relationships with the other institutions (nine chapters), economic policy and actions (six chapters), solidarity policy and actions (four chapters), external policy and actions (four chapters). It includes specific inserts, portraits of Presidents, numerous tables, graphics, images and photographs; on top of this comes a precise chronology, a reproduction of successive organigrammes, a list of sources (including our very own Agence Europe) and a bibliography, index of names referred to, etc.
The high quality of the analysis, which shows how much ground has been covered in the service of the Communities and then of the Union, in the service of the citizens, is therefore greatly to be welcomed, even though it is the besetting sin of any major institution to admire its own reflection in the fresco of its work.
It is no doubt to be regretted that many more pages, proportionately, have been given over to internal matters than to various areas of public interest, such as culture, which only gets an insert of less than three pages of text and major achievements such as the European Capitals of Culture warranting a mere mention in passing… Édith Cresson, moreover, is referred to ten times, but we are never told exactly what she was accused of (‘suspected of mismanagement’, ‘public scandal’, ‘mistakes, blunders…’ is that it?), even though her actions unleashed the fury of the press and the Parliament, bringing the very Commission down. It is also reported that at the time, the Secretaries General (Williamson, Trojan, O’Sullivan, the last of these having served just six months as the chef de cabinet of President Prodi), were appointed without any calls for application procedures being issued and without any drama, a very different situation from that which gave Martin Selmayr such a wealth of very public troubles (see other article).
Be that as it may, the three volumes, all published in three languages (DE, EN and FR) and put on sale by the Office of Publications of the European Union (http://publications.europa.eu/en/publications ), are all worth reading by anybody interested in the history of the Union and should be required reading for anybody holding senior office within it.
In an amusing coincidence, the memoirs of Etienne Davignon (Souvenirs de trois vies, Racine, Brussels) have just been published. The author served in the Jenkins and Thorn Commissions, as he does not fail to remind us. In one of the book’s many anecdotes, Davignon had to get the Council to agree to the ESPRIT programme. The then French Minister for Industry, Laurent Fabius, was represented by his secretary of state. Davignon tells the story: “And he said ‘good news, France fully supports a programme of… 600 million!’ First I wondered if I had heard right. Then I said: ‘Sir, the programme is withdrawn!’ Him: ‘Don’t take it like that!’ Me: ‘I will take it how I like, and this has all been looked into: at €600 million, it is a waste of money!’ Then there was another ministerial meeting and we got past the billion mark… It was all very sporting!” (p. 130; our translation). And that is how the ESPRIT programme was born.
From the two publications I have briefly presented here, there is one lesson to be learned: a new Commission with a bit of chutzpah would be a very fine thing right now!
So, a bit of holiday reading? Under the summer sun, how many of them do we think will meet the challenge?
Renaud Denuit.