Paris-Berlin – La survie de l’Europe
In this work, Edouard Husson, historian and Germanist, Professor at the University of Cergy-Pontoise, where he heads up the Franco-German Institute of European Studies, attempts to explain Germany to senior French policymakers who struggle to understand it. This is undoubtedly in part because the political history of the two countries is fundamentally different, leading to the hyper-centralisation and ‘presidentialisation’ of the regime of one, whilst the other comes from a tradition of segmentation and the logic of federal integration. But even more, due to a form of romanticism that devotes disproportionate admiration to the German model, when fear the German giant does not override it. With a sharp and lucid eye, backed up by a deep knowledge of Germany, its culture and its politics, but also his own experience and encounters, the author unpicks the reality of Germany and depicts its senior politicians, chiefly the inevitable Angela Merkel, but also the emeritus Pope, Benedict XVI, whom he likens to the Chancellor in his inability to assume political leadership.
“For the sake of Europe’s prosperity, it is vital for the French to relearn how to look at Germany. The hope of relaunching the Franco-German partnership and consolidating European cooperation is a valid one, as long as this does not lead to the continuation of what has become a dialogue of the deaf”, says Husson, lamenting the fact that President Macron has failed to understand that whilst indispensable, the relaunch of economic union which he proposes did not come at an opportune moment, with a German backdrop of ordoliberalism and a weakened Chancellor. Even worse, “by refusing to get behind the principle of Spitzenkandidaten (in the recent European elections: Ed), which was decided upon before he was elected to the Presidency of the Republic, the French President lost a great deal of respect on the part of the German general public, which saw the system as a dawning light of democratisation in European integration”.
As human and generous as it was, “removing the restrictions in 2015 and 2016 and welcoming a million refugees and migrants [has put Germany in a position of] seeing all its strength accounted for over the next two or three decades”. “It is as if it had a new ‘reunification’ to deal with”, writes Husson, who comes out as being highly critical of this cavalier decision made too hastily and in isolation by the Chancellor, not only because it produced internal tension, for instance giving a shot in the arm to AfD, but also because it would, over the next few years, force Germany to mothball the European integration process to concentrate instead on its own national interests.
The author calls upon his readers to look upon Germany as it is, quite separately from the example of the financial and budgetary management it claims to set all its neighbours. For instance, “Angela Merkel, who grew up in the general lack of transparency of the East German communist system, found herself very much at home, in the years of crisis and thereafter, in bringing all her authority as Chancellor to bear to keep the reality of the rescue of German banks hidden from the country’s French partners and the rest of the European Union”, when the recapitalisation of the German banks cost 250 billion euros, Husson points out. Worse still, “in summer 2019, Deutsche Bank had a market capitalisation of 12 billion euros, but its off-balance-sheet commitments are 60,000 billion, in other words more than 30 times the German public debt. A share worth 105 euros at its peak in 2007 is now worth just a few euros. This means that this major German brand is a timebomb planted in the heart of the global financial system. There are more than 1000 different enquiries underway worldwide into suspected fraudulent dealings. In 2015 alone, Deutsche Bank had to pay 2.5 billion euros in fines to the British and American states for actively contributing to the triggering of the crisis of 2008”, explains Husson. He adds that “the example of Deutsche Bank alone ought to put senior German politicians off lecturing, as they are wont to do, to other countries and governments. They should persuade the French officials who regularly work and negotiate with Germany to benefit from the hindsight of the German argument on good and bad conduct within the European Union. Not that the French are above reproach when it comes to their own banking and financial sector. But it is not just German virtue on one side and ‘debts’ (Schulden) on the other, a word that in German also means ‘faults’, significantly”.
To put to bed, once and for all, the notion of the “German model”, Husson also highlights the rise of inequality and poverty in Germany, pointing out that between 1995 and 2009, the proportion of low-paid workers rose from 15% of the entire workforce to 36%. Since German reunification, the proportion of people living in poverty has almost doubled. The increase has been particularly significant for families with children, nearly a fifth of whom are living below the poverty line.
“France and Germany do the wrong thing when they tend to deny European diversity, wanting to take uniformity of rules and practices further than is practical; on the other hand, periods of Franco-German convergence occur when Berlin does not try to impose its standards on Europe and when Paris distances itself from the focal point of its history”, the author argues. He takes the view that it is time for Paris to stop complaining about a Germany that France itself, in the 1990s, put into the position of running the shop, by calling for the creation of a European currency and accepting standards imposed by Germany to make this happen, without securing the constitution of a proper economic union. He further states that “lecturing to others is a bad idea when one does not oneself respect the jointly defined budgetary criteria; France should stop thinking that it is the only one fighting for European integration in an increasingly self-centred environment. Finally, France should stop calling for ever more integration and focus instead on oiling the mechanism already in place, because it is jammed. And there is no point in taking a ‘punitive’ stance towards London and Brexit, when what is needed is broader European cooperation”. Although the author is right in saying that the Franco-German partnership is difficult and that there cannot be this kind of duopoly at the head of Europe, as the proper functioning of the EU requires a broader partnership between several states, he seems to pay too much attention to the nations and, in particular, to reduce the EU to a cooperation organisation, which it has most regrettably become in the view of many.
The work goes on to make a series of recommendations to the French leaders in their relations with Germany, namely: (1) the French Prime Minister should become the most frequent interlocutor of the German chancellors, Husson argues, on the basis of the principle that the President of the Republic is elected by universal suffrage, whereas the Chancellor is first and foremost the head of the parliamentary majority; (2) it is time to move away from a top-down vision of bilateral relations, which corresponds to the French model, to develop bilateral parliamentary dialogue, reinforce the involvement of French members of Parliament in the work of the European Parliament, where their absenteeism is as noteworthy as is the assiduity of their German opposite numbers, and encourage the French regions to work systematically with the German Länder; (3) in bilateral negotiations, Husson urges the French politicians to work out their demands carefully and not budge from them.
Olivier Jehin
Edouard Husson. Paris-Berlin – La survie de l’Europe. Gallimard. ISBN: 978-2-07-285530-6. 404 pages. €23.00
Per salvare la democrazia in Italia
In his latest book, Fausto Capelli, a lawyer specialising in Community law and former director of the European College of Parma, analyses the state of democracy in Italy and offers solutions to allow the country to resume its role as a driving force behind the development of European unity.
The first part of the work discusses the development of the general concepts of ethics and legality, with reference to the principal authors of history and philosophy, politics and law over the centuries. The application of these concepts to politics and economics, in the experience of democratic states such as the United States of America in the work by Alexis de Tocqueville, is compared to developments in Italy since its unification in the 19th century. In enormously clear language, the author stresses the historic and cultural obstacles that have stood in the way of a fully democratic order, in view of the influence of the Catholic Church and the abuses of political parties and Italian economic actors from the 1970s and 1980s.
The chief added value of this book lies in the fact that its author’s in-depth knowledge is not used to develop one more in a very long line of theory-based treatises, but to allow the reader fully to understand the foundation on which Prof Capelli is proposing his well thought-out and specific solutions to the challenges that Italian society needs to face up to, from over-bureaucracy to the links between politics and organised crime, from budgetary difficulties to immigration, via the evolution of the public healthcare system and the protection of cultural heritage. These proposals include the election of the President of the Republic by universal suffrage, the introduction of a conflict between a parliamentary mandate and government participation and the full application of the reform of the voluntary sector and associations, which are vital tools to organise the defence of the citizens’ interests. These are just a few examples and many of the solutions proposed are worthy of further examination and could be applicable in countries other than Italy, in a context in which democracy is constantly under threat, or even being sold down the river. This is a fascinating book offering Italian and European citizens solid points of reference. (FM)
Fausto Capelli. Per salvare la democrazia in Italia. Editions Rubbettino. ISBN: 978-8849-85890-7. 406 pages. €16.50 (Available in Italian only)
L’Europe au Kaléidoscope
This volume, published by the ULB in honour of Marianne Dony, Jean Monnet Chair of European Union law since 2009, offers a broad multi-disciplinary compilation of articles on European law. In the same way as a kaleidoscope reflects an infinite number of images, this work reflects the great diversity of European law and its fundamental place in the lives of all citizens.
In it, Jean-Paul Jacqué, Honorary General Director at the Council of the European Union, proposes moving away from debates on the Community method versus the inter-governmental method, stressing that both methods were not only present from the very beginning, but that they coexist, overlap and broadly complement each other. “The Community method in practice gives the States a much larger place than the treaties and the inter-governmental method has often been an interim path towards total integration”, the author explains, while acknowledging that the Community method has changed over the years and that the power of initiative, which is legally recognised to belong to the Commission, has become little more than a myth as the Commission is often in a position of having to respond to “commands” issued to it by the Council, the European Council or the European Parliament. “If we talk of the Commission, it must be acknowledged that the central position apparently conferred upon it by the Treaties exists only in the mind of Eurosceptics determined to challenge the ‘dictatorship of Brussels’”, Jacqué argues.
In an article on the defence of the rule of law and the European Union, Ramona Coman, President of the Institute for European Studies of the ULB, points out that the rule of law is based on a pillar of values and principles enshrined in article 2 TEU, but that the article 7 mechanism making it possible to sanction a State over a serious breach of these principles and values has so far been unusable. Given the actions of countries such as Hungary and Poland, she concludes that its results have been mixed, despite the best efforts of the European Commission. However, she considers that “in a context of political uncertainty, marked not only by the erosion of the rule of law but also by open challenges on the part of the Polish and Hungarian governments to the legitimacy of the European Parliament and of the Commission, the Court of Justice has, in its decisions, reaffirmed the importance of the rule of law as a ‘cornerstone’ of the functioning of the EU, as well as the importance of the independence of the judiciary and common values”.
Under the title “Les noces de porcelaine de l’euro” (the euro’s porcelain anniversary), Philippe Vigneron, honorary inspector general of the national bank of Belgium, takes a look back at the history of the euro and its resilience, which has consistently proven the regular announcements of its imminent death wrong. The author stresses the absolute need to improve governance, so as to better predict and organise the coordination of budgetary and monetary interventions in crisis management, explaining that this reform has come up against the opposition of Germany and the northern countries of the Eurozone. He adds: “better governance of the Eurozone is possible only by deepening banking union, reinforcing the EMS and making institutional improvements such as the possibility of the Eurozone one day having its own budget, with a view to reinforcing the convergence of the member states’ economies and their competitiveness, and within which there may eventually be added a stabilisation function and a sort of Eurozone parliament, so that solutions can be found by the zone’s own democratic organs. But it would have to have real powers, rather than just be a chamber to rubber-stamp decisions already made by the Eurogroup and the ECB”. (OJ)
Emmanuelle Bribosia, Nicolas Joncheray, Areg Navasartian, Anne Weyembergh (under the direction of). L’Europe au Kaléidoscope. Editions de l’Université de Bruxelles. ISBN: 978-2-8004-1707-3. 515 pages. €56
Erdogans “Neue Türkei” am Scheideweg
The bimonthly review “Südosteuropa Mitteilungen” has published an article by Gülistan Gürbey, analysing the results of the recent local elections in Turkey, the defeat of the AKP candidate in Istanbul and their potential consequences for the evolution of the “democratic deficit” that Turkey has always experienced, but which is consistently growing worse, with increasingly autocratic tendencies in evidence.
The author relates that an initial election in which the CHP opposition candidate, Ekrem Imamoglu, was victorious, albeit by a narrow margin, was cancelled and that Imamoglu, with the support of the Kurdish HDP party, won a landslide victory in the second election held in Istanbul on 23 June 2019, winning 54% of the votes to 45% for the former AKP Prime Minister, Binali Yildirim. This defeat is highly symbolic due to the economic importance of the metropolis, an AKP stronghold for more than 20 years, but also due to be considerable personal engagement of President Erdogan in the campaign. AKP certainly remains the largest party in the country, with 44.32% of votes cast in the local elections of June 2018, but as well as Istanbul, the party lost major cities in the south and east of the country, such as Ankara, Izmir, Antalya, Adana and Mersin.
Could these results indicate a sea-change in Turkish politics? Gülistan Gürbey, who is careful to reiterate that Turkish history and political culture are profoundly influenced by nationalism and a tradition authoritarianism, considers that whatever else they could mean, they show that President Erdogan, his AKP government and his alliance with the MHP ultra-nationalists “have peaked”. “Their monopoly on power has been broken. Ultra-nationalism, repression and polarisation as a strategy (…) have reached their limit”, she adds, stressing that the regime is now at a crossroads (the Scheideweg of the title) between more repression or a balanced democratic evolution. Only the future, which will remain marked by turbulence, will tell which direction the regime will end up going in.
It is worth noting that the review also contains a series of articles on gender issues and LGBT rights in south-east Europe. (OJ)
Gülistan Gürbey. Erdogans “Neue Türkei” am Scheideweg – Die Türkei nach den Kommunalwahlen 2019. Südosteuropa Mitteilungen. 03-04/2019. Südosteuropa Gesellschaft (http://www.sogde.org ). 191 pages. €15.00