*** DIETRICH ROMETSCH: Die Rolle und Funktionsweise der Europäischen Kommission in der Ära Delors. Peter Lang AG (Jupiterstrasse 15, Postfach 277, CH-3000 Berne 15. Tel.: (49-31) 9402121, fax 9402131). Collection "Europaïsche Hochschulschriften", n° 400. 1999, 414 p., 79 FS. ISBN 3-631-35514-9.
Never has any public institution been simultaneously praised so highly and held up to public obloquy as has the European Commission. Dieter Rometsch wrote a doctoral dissertation on this subject, defending it in 1998 at the University of Tübingen. The period he chose to study was one of the institution's peaks, the years 1985 to 1992, when it was led by Jacques Delors. According to Rometsch, this period offers a particularly fascinating example of the contradictory perceptions of the roles and actions of the European Commission. And his work is an especially important contribution because, until now, there has been nothing written in German on the Delors Commission.
Based on the idea that the Commission must be considered a political player in its own write, Dietrich Rometsch seeks to determine the internal and external factors that influenced the Commission's participation in the EC/EU decision-making process. Under the Delors presidency, the Commission played a role of regulation and guidance. Moreover, the Commission was the instigator of different "guidelines" during the Delors period. Dieter Rometsch observes that, from the mid-1980s, thanks to a favourable macroeconomic and "macropolitical" context, the Commission was able to become a driving force for integration. It would not have succeeded, however, without the energetic leadership of Jacques Delors: through Mr Delors, the Commission developed a "presidentialisation" linked directly to his personality and the system that evolved as a result was made to measure for him. Further, the author endeavours to demonstrate that, contrary to a widely accepted idea, the Commission did not become a "bureaucratic technocracy", but a political structure operating along the lines of a "think-tank".
Be that as it may, observes Rometsch in a very refined analysis, the changes that took place in the political context starting in 1989 led to a loss of power for the Commission. It was from that point onward that the Commission started losing its influence. Has its role necessarily been limited to that of a mere secretariat, however? Dieter Rometsch prefers to avoid such radical judgements: it is not true that the Delors period was the "golden age" of European integration, nor was it the peak of Europe's "sabotaging by Brussels". The Commission under the leadership of Jacques Delors was more than a secretariat, as its President was convinced of the central role the institution had to play and considered it a form of "memory" of European integration. But the Member States themselves set the limits. They certainly favoured the relaunch of Europe begun in the mid-1980s but were not prepared to see the Commission, via the Maastricht Treaty, raise itself to the level of a governmental structure. For Dieter Rometsch, it is because Jacques Delors was misunderstood by both an uninformed public opinion and by the United Kingdom, which rejected anything vaguely "federal", that the Commission's role started to decline in 1989. Colette Beck
*** ANNETTE SCHRAUWEN, Ed.: Flexibility in Constitutions. Forms of Closer Cooperation in Federal and Non-federal Settings. Hogendorp Centre for European Constitutional Studies (Europa Instituut, Universiteit van Amsterdam, PO Box 19123, NL-1000 GC Amsterdam. Tel: (31-20) 5252951, fax: 5252900, E-mail: europa@jur.uva.nl). 1999, 140 pages, 8 euros, NGL 17.60.
In 1814, Gijsbert Karel van Hogendorp inspired the first Constitution of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which only included present-day Belgium from 1815 to 1830. The Centre that bears his name at the University of Amsterdam has specialised in the study of European constitutions. In this work, the result of a high-level academic conference, specialists examine -by the yardstick of European constitutions- the concept of flexibility introduced in the Treaty of Amsterdam with a view to clarifying its applicability and the possible practical consequences in the Union. In Part One, the authors compare different forms of co-operation based on flexibility, from what was used in the 16th century in the Dutch Republic of the United Provinces to forms now in existence in Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Switzerland and the United States. Part Two focuses more specifically on the potential consequences, both positive and negative, of the use of flexibility in the Union. While observing that flexibility could lead to an alteration of transparency and democratic control, the authors come to the general conclusion that "flexibility is not a leap in the dark, but a necessary evil"... Highly topical! (LD)
*** CHRISTIAN PHILIP, PANAYOTIS SOLDATOS, Ed.: La citoyenneté européenne. Chaire Jean Monnet de l'Université de Montréal (C. P. 6128, succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, H3C 3J7. Tel: (514) 3436586, fax: 3437525). "Etudes européennes" series. 2000, 269 pages. ISBN 2-921770-25-3.
Published under the auspices of the European Studies Centre of University Jean Moulin-Lyon 3 and the Jean Monnet Chair of the University of Montreal, this work reproduces the contributions to a conference sponsored by the two universities. The meeting examined European citizenship from a policy-oriented and comparative approach -especially in relation to North American forms of federalism- identifying the "practical shortcomings" of the system of European citizenship, explain Professors Philip and Soldatos, Jean Monnet Professors at University Jean Moulin-Lyon 3 and University of Montreal. In the introduction, MEP Jean-Louis Bourlanges, noting that creation of a citizens' Europe is "in vogue", recognises the gap between discourse on citizens' Europe and the reality, which is a citizenship "of very meagre content". At the same time, however, Mr Bourlanges observes the important and positive emergence of an "international citizens' order", with a European Union which, while appearing ill prepared to date for the demands of crisis management, has nonetheless proven "if not exemplary, then at least a pioneer, in implementation of societal, preventive and economic diplomacy", in short, a "citizen's diplomacy, leading to Europeans' re-appropriation of Wilsonian idealism, all the more paradoxical in that it is coinciding with American conversion to Europeans' traditional 'Realpolitik'".
José Woehrling, Professor at the University of Montreal, describes citizenship policy in Canada (one of the world's leading countries of immigration) and Quebec (which, given its "socio-linguistic" situation, was the first Canadian province to endeavour to play an active role in immigration), and Herman Moyse, Professor at the LSU Law Centre in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, analyses the legal foundations and "ideology" of American nationality. In his comparison of European citizenship and citizenship of federal-type Unions, Jacques-Yves Morin, Professor Emeritus at the University of Montreal, observes that "European citizenship is founded precisely on the fifteen nationalities, which remain legally intact", going on to note that if EU members "consider one day that the time has come to form a real federation, they will have to give up their respective nationalities". In detailed and often quite critical essays, several European academics discuss the advantages and limits of European citizenship in its present state. Claude Blumann, Professor at University of Paris II-Panthéon-Assas, observing that "a great deal of work needs to be done to establish a genuine European political system", notes that the "materials" needed to build such a system already exist (the institution, the powers, the legal system) and that European citizenship "gives meaning to these materials". Anticipating the debate -which has grown more intense in recent weeks- on the purpose of European integration, he states that this citizenship "calls for a more elaborate constitutional architecture, close to -whether we like it or not- that of a federal entity and, why not, a federation of nation-states, to use Jacques Delors' well-chosen term". (MG)
***Europa in Beweging. Europese Beweging Nederland (Tel: +3177/3541144, fax: 3587606).
In No 3/2000 (16 pages): an initial assessment of the changes introduced by the Prodi Commission, European citizens' rights, and the opinion of Bram Scholten, consultant at the Nederlandsche Bank, on the euro.
*** CAROLINE VERMEULEN: Le Collège d'Europe à l'ère des pionniers (1950-1960). Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes / Peter Lang (Bruxelles, pie@skynet.be). Euroclio collection, "Etudes et documents" series, No 17. 2000, 216 pages. ISBN 90-5201-906-1.
On 12 October next, the College of Europe in Bruges (a second College opened its doors in the Polish city of Natolin shortly after the collapse of the Berlin Wall) will celebrate its 50th anniversary. So this work is being published just in time to celebrate the event. With a history degree from Université catholique de Louvain, College of Europe alumna Caroline Vermeulen -a member of Belgium's Permanent Representation to the EU- works from the hard-to-refute observation that the College of Europe now occupies a leading spot on the European university scene. Her merit is to demonstrate clearly and scientifically that the origins of this success reside in the first phase of the College's existence, "the time when the pioneers considered anything possible and when European unification kept excessive nationalism -which still threatens peace on this continent- under control". After tracing the "prehistory" of the College (the European Movement carried it to the baptismal fonts and acted as its guardian), the author highlights, on the basis of previously unpublished archives and interviews, the impassioned vitality and devotion of the team, led by Rector Brugmans, set in place to provide "managers for the nascent Europe" and its "determination to succeed in the face of all difficulties, often with limited resources but with overwhelming enthusiasm". Caroline Vermeulen goes on to explain how the legal structure of the College -a state-approved institution- was decided upon and to describe its financial situation during its first decade and the development of its relations with the European bodies (the Council of Europe, reined in by its Council of Ministers, rapidly losing its influence in relation to the rising ECSC). In this context, she mentions the doubts experienced in Bruges over plans for a European University launched in Messina (it was not until 1976, however, that the doors of the European University Institute opened in Florence; meanwhile, this institution has become a complement to rather than competitor of the College of Europe). Vermeulen then presents the philosophy of the College ("to train young university graduates to lead a united Europe, leaving national interests behind them"), the organisation of its teaching during this period and its teaching staff. In a third section, Vermeulen discusses the College in Bruges as the "centre of dissemination of the European idea". She praises the revolutionary nature of the cartography section launched by Istvan Kormoss and points out that the College of Europe worked indirectly to offer educational radio broadcasts for listeners in Eastern Europe via Radio Free Europe. In the final section, Caroline Vermeulen explains the specific nature of the community life of the College and the intense network of European relations that has sprung up as a result and is growing ever stronger. (MT)
*** ALAN J. DAY: Directory of European Union Political Parties. John Harper Publishing (27 Palace Gates Road, London N22 7BW, UK. Tel: (44-20) 88814774, E-mail: jhpublish@aol.com). 2000, 267 pages. ISBN 0-9536278-5-3.
A very useful work, offering a wealth of information on all political parties in EU Member States (no fewer than 140 have seats in the national parliaments) and at European Union level, including federations of parties. The author presents them country by country, after describing the constitutional situation, parliamentary structures and election procedures in each state. Every party with a national or European representation is then described in detail (e-mail address, web site, history, political orientation, leaders, etc.). The regional and less visible parties are summarised succinctly and the EP groups are also described. (MT)
*** PETER BARBERIS, JOHN MCHUGH, MIKE TYLDESLEY: Encyclopedia of British and Irish Political Organizations. Parties, Groups and Movements of the Twentieth Century. Pinter/The Continuum International Publishing Group (Wellington House, 125 Strand, London WC2R 0BB. Tel: (44-20) 74205555, fax: 72407261). 2000, 562 pages, GBP 90, USD 150. ISBN 1-85567-264-2.
This encyclopædia offers a comprehensive presentation of all organisations on the public scene in Ireland and the United Kingdom. From agricultural and environmental groups to feminist associations and bodies working for the survival of the Commonwealth, no British or Irish organisation goes unnoticed. This remarkable work, a model of conciseness and accuracy, also includes an index and bibliography, as well as an overview of the leading events of the century. (LD)
*** ECTAA Report on European Union Policies Affecting the Tourism Industry. Groupement des Unions nationales des agences et organisateurs de voyages de l'UE (36, rue Dautzenberg, bte 6, B-1050 Bruxelles, Tel: (32) 026443450, fax: 026442421, E-mail: ectaa@skynet.be, web: http://www.ectaa.org ). 2000, 302 pages, EUR 125.
Now in its ninth edition, this annual report is meant for tourism professionals and travel industry decision-makers.. It provides an overview of European legislation and Community initiatives in the travel sector. The report enumerates some 150 regulations, directives, decisions, recommendations and proposals for legislation in more than 15 areas. These include the European Commission report on implementation of Directive 90/314 on package travel, the Commission's consultation paper on the rights of passengers and the directive on electronic commerce.
*** EUROPEAN COMMISSION: Structural Policies and European Territories: Mountainous Regions. Office for Official Publications (L-2985 Luxembourg). 2000, 36 pages. ISBN 92-828-8977-7. Also available in English and Italian.
Europe's mountainous regions have to deal with considerable difficulties stemming not only from their isolation, but also from their climate and geography, writes in the Preface to this report Mr Barnier, European Commissioner for regional policy. While some are managing to show promising economic development, others are still grappling with difficult economic situations. Suggesting different development possibilities, in particular the exploitation of their tremendous tourism potential, this study explains how such regions can take advantage of various European aid schemes for the period 2000-2006.
*** EUROPEAN COMMISSION: Une coopération essentielle. Gros plan sur le programme Tacis 1999 de l'Union européenne. Centre d'information Phare et Tacis (rue Montoyer 19, B-1000 Bruxelles, Tel: (32) 025459010, fax: 025459011, E-mail: phare-tacis@cec.eu.int). 2000, 36 pages.
Offering technical and financial assistance for the transition to the market economy in the Central and Eastern European countries, the Tacis programme has become an essential element of political cooperation between the EU and these nations. This brochure describes the close political and economic partnerships being developed between the EU and the beneficiaries, Tacis action to help the institutions in these countries develop a more democratic society and the technical assistance being provided by this programme and other fund donors.
*** Guide mondial du Pnud à l'intention des journalistes - UNDP Global Guide for Journalists - Guía mundial del Pnud para periodistas. United Nations Development Programme (Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Genève, Tel: (41-22) 9178542, fax: 917800, E-mail: fo.che@undp.org). 2000, 94 pages.
This brochure provides valuable information for journalists on a number of subjects they are likely to have to address, with statistics on UNDP projects and contact information for the officials who can provide more detailed information. It also describes recent studies and briefly introduces the key players in certain areas.
*** INTERAMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK: 1999 Annual Report. Inter-American Development Bank (1300 New York Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20577, USA, Tel: (1-202) 6231000, fax: 6233096, web: http://www.iadb.org ). 2000, 216 pages, ISSN 0253-603x.
This report describes in detail the annual activity of the Inter-American Development Bank, the oldest and largest regional development institution, created in 1959 to assist and accelerate economic and social development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
*** ACP-EU Courier. European Commission (200 rue de la Loi, B-1049 Bruxelles). No 180, April/May 2000, 92 pages.
In this issue: an interview with Mr Goulongana, the new ACP Secretary General, the regional office in the Caribbean, the EU-Africa Summit in Cairo, EU humanitarian aid to assist flood victims in South East Africa, a report on Ghana and a special feature on tropical forests.