*** JOËL RIDEAU (edited by ): La transparence dans l'Union européenne. Mythe ou principe juridique? LGDJ (31 rue Falguière, F-75741 Paris Cedex 15). 1999, 276 pages, FF 230, EUR 35.1. ISBN 2-275-01866-2.
Transparency is now omnipresent in legal and political vocabulary, especially at a European Union level. Though what does this vague term mean? Where does it come from and what is its precise scope in terms of legal and political developments? It is to bring elements of an answer to these question that legal and political experts gathered on the initiative of the Centre for studies on European organisational law (University of Nice - Sophia Antipolis). This book is a brilliant witness that their search for meaning and detail has not been in vain. An enlightening paper introduces it. It is entitled "Game of shadows and light in Europe" and is signed by Professor Joël Rideau (University of Nice and member of the University Institute of France) who, immediately, notes that transparency in now "the mythical value carrying transformations because it answers the deep hopes of the people, groups and individuals." Though it is not only that, as long as it is true that "transparency, instrument of power, pre-exists transparency subordinate to power." It is to rule in an effective manner that power needs transparency and is permanently seeking information. If the totalitarian State represents the paroxysm of this research, even democratic regimes are not safe from loosing track on this level ("The spectre of the best of worlds is never far and the hell of States is always paved with good intentions"). Due to it limited and shared competence with other Member States, the European Union is much more… but its institutions collide, in their quest for information, to a "state screen" that "expresses the ambiguity generated by a system unifying States who would conserve their sovereignty despite the transfers of competence and powers given to institutions whose effectiveness is largely conditioned by the game of State transfer." The Community institutions would be, all in all, the first victims of the absence of transparency by the …Member States. Here is an intellectual thought that is not suspicious, which deserves to place the Church, Mosques, temple(s), institutions and … capitals in the middle of the European village.
But transparency is also "constrained to power." On this level, it must be seen as a contribution, even limited, to democracy, even when, explains Professor Rideau pertinently, no systematic amalgam is allowed. "Formal democracy can only ensure an appearance of transparency. The simple establishment of elected assemblies, holding public debates, is a necessary condition, but not sufficient, transparency also implies a transparency of political life, which will have to contribute to assuming electoral legislation and rules applicable to political parties." These two phrases, beyond all pointed thoughts flowing from this book, go to the root. For our countries and, even more so for the EU they have value: if transparency poses more of a problem (apparently?) than elsewhere, it is not also (especially?) because democracy, as with the citizenship that comes with it, is not always superficial, rather conceded by national power and to its agents - the political parties - that transcend at a European level? Because transparency, in the legislative field, is confined to a few public ministerial debates, where is it hidden? Because European elections remain so, against all the eminently more important national elections, due to the will of the parties? Does understanding transparency consist of hiding the real aims of the election? The EU and its citizens are, in summary, the victims of the shadow brought by the States. The Community institutions and the Commission, in particular, would be the victims of an unfair trial, as long as it is true, believes Prof. Rideau, that the degree of administrative transparency is not, in the eyes of some, "superior to national standards." Also if it is true that the "illegible nature" of the Treaties and other Community Texts is "also one of the causes of the lack of transparency," still it is needed for the right to transparency not to be the sole responsibility of the institutions and States: "it is up to (…) politicians, the media and economic operators to integrate the European dimension into their actions, by trying to not limit themselves to teaching the demagogic process of European opacity."
Only for this remark, this book merits to be read! Though it also contains other elements that are an unavoidable reference. After a general discussion by Prof. Lequesne ("Transparency: vice or virtue of democracies?"), the book is organised into three parts: "The uncertain transparency of the European Union" (with, among others "a detailed study of the Eurobarometer phenomenon), "A normative and institutional system seeking transparency" (notably with transparency in the jurisdictional procedures and terms of competition) and "External; contributions and references to the European Union." Noëlle Lenoir, member of the Constitutional Council, punctuates this very high standard study with his conclusions.
Michel Theys
*** PAUL VAN BUITENEN: Fraudes à la Commission européenne. Labor publications (29 quai du Commerce, B-1000 Brussels. Tel.: (32) 022500670 - Fax: 022177197 - E-mail: labor@labor.be - Internet: http: //http://www.labor.be ) and Castells Editions (20 bis rue La Boétie, F-75008 Paris). "La Noria" collection. 2000, 285 pages, BEF 899, FF 139, EUR 21.16. ISBN 2-8040-1472-X and 2-912587-34-4.
There are dissapointing books. This one of them, independently from the interest it raises. Several reasons come together to lead to this conclusion. Firstly there is the style. The editors talk of a books that reads like a crime novel. Without a doubt. Though a bad novel, heavy, without respite, repetitive! European civil servant and trained as an expert accountant, Paul van Buitenen has a sad style. We cannot reproach him, but it is those who have translated this book into French from Dutch. Far more saddening is the personal story that is told. The personal integrity of Paul van Buitenen is not in question. The opinion of the "wise" that lead to his resignation from the Santer Commission and the support he found in the Court of Auditors clearly shows: his denunciations were not calamitous, the integrity of the man is above suspicion. On the other hand, other doubts arise when reading. They concern his weakness once outside the world of figures and accounts. For example he writes that the Commission brought evidence of his aptitude to damage the career of stubborn civil servants in 1995, "when a civil servant in economic affairs was fired for having written down his remarks on the ways in which Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) was created" … A male civil servant in his condition, may thus - and this honours him - scrutinise the figures to the decimal point while defending one of his colleagues who spits in his soup and incriminate the institution that they are (being the head of one) meant to serve. Strange sense of duty and an allegiance that, so as to never have to be blind, still requires to share the same battle, unless he is only a mercenary. Either way, when Paul van Buitenen naively confesses, with a form of honesty that honours him, that he applied to the Commission when his "knowledge of the European institutions" was nearly "none existent," it is absurd to ask whether it is not, there's the rub? There was a time when people entered into European public service by conviction, faith, by apostate. Now days, we apply because it is well paid and we will have a villa in Overijse… Where is European passion? This is no doubt what has made the reading through Paul van Buitenen was right in denouncing. They are patent, the Commission is an institution that is administratively ill. It still is, why? (MT)
*** TORB JÖRN LARSSON, KOEN NOMDEN, FRANCK PETITEVILLE (edited by): Le niveau intermédiaire d'administration dans les pays européens. La démocratie au défi de la complexité ? European Instiute for Public Administration (B.P. 1229, NL-6201 BE Maastricht. Tel: (43) 3296274 - Fax: 3296296 - E-mail: m.simons@eipa-nl.com - Internet: http: //http://www.eipa.nl ). 1999, 444 pages, NGL 65. ISBN 90-6779-134-2.
No less than twenty specialists contribute to this publication by the EIPA which analyses in a very detailed manner the organisation and transformation of the intermediary level of government and administration in the European Union Member States as well as in Norway. Reviewing, country by country, the links between the regions, territorial administrations of the State and the inter-communal structures as well as the relations between the intermediary levels and the central and local levels, the authors sets aside a significant section for the question of knowing if European integration has lead to fundamental changes in the organisation and the functions of the intermediary level. They also outline, in several countries, an increasingly complex structure at this level that, from now on, raise all over an intense debate on how to organise it. A debate, they note, that European integration influences to the extent that the "large" cities and regions are presently favoured due to their increased visibility vis-à-vis the Community institutions. (MT)
*** PASCAL GOERGEN: Vous avez dit Europe ? Artel publications (2 ple Baudouin Ier, B-5004 Namur). 2000, 240 pages. ISBN 2-87374-048-5.
Professor at the Ecole pratique des Hautes Etudes commerciales in Brussels and parliamentary attaché for the Brussels capital region, the author works towards explaining the reasons, aims and goals of European integration. A successful didactic work, this is also a good source of reference for information on the EU. (MT)
*** LOUIS CARTOU, JEAN-LOUIS CLERGERIE, ANNIE GRUBER, PATRICK RAMBAUD: The European Union. Dalloz (31-35 rue Froidevaux. Internet: http: http://www.dalloz.fr - Distribution Benelux: Patrimoine, 168 rue du Noyer, B-1030 Brussels. Tel/Fax: 027366847). 2000, 688 pages, FF 230, BEF 1,564. ISBN 2-247-03327-X.
This handbook - that is in its third edition, the first having been published in 1965 - gives a general overview of the European Community building process. At the end of a stimulating introduction, which depicts Europe from the antiquities until the Europe of the Communities, a first section of the publication develops the institutional context, reviewing, in a researched manner, each of the EU institutions and bodies. The second part looks at the economic union, a special chapter being set aside for EMU. The third part looks at political union as it progressively formed from the Coal and Steel Community in 1951 until the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties. As first, the authors discuss EU external relations. This is a complete and clear publication. (LD)
*** PHILIPPE LÉGER (Edited by): European Union - European Community. Article by article commentary on EU and EC Treaties. Helbing & Lichtenhahn (Bale), Dalloz (see above) and Bruylant (Brussels). 2000, 2,060 pages, BEF 4,012. ISBN 3-7190-1815-6, 2-24-703749-6 or 2-8027-1317-5.
Written by thirty-one European authors (lawyers, national and community civil servants, magistrates and academics), this colossal, but practical and malleable work, comments, Article by Article, on the European Union Treaty and the Treaties that shaped the European Community, as a whole, until the Amsterdam Treaty. Under the new numbering of the Articles, which entered into force on 1 May 1999, covering all the fields of Community law are explored by specialists who, as pertinently explained by Philippe Leger in his foreword, have shaped their contributions "with the strength of their competence, the strength of their convictions and their faith in the future." Each of the commentaries is accompanied by a technical bibliography. The publication is further enriched with practical information and a thematic index. A remarkable book that is not only aimed at specialists in European law, but also to all Europeans who are interested in their times and environment. (LD)
*** JEAN-MARC FAVRET: L'essentiel de l'Union européenne et du droit communautaire. Gualino éditeur (31 rue Falguière, F-75741 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 56541600 - Fax: 56541649). Collection "Les Carrés". 2000, 79 pages1, FF 46, EUR 7.01. ISBN 2-84200-286-5.
Prefaced by Robert Toulemon, President of the French Association for the European Union, the new edition of this newssheet presents in a concise and rigorous manner, in twenty perfectly clear fact sheets, what the EU is and the laws that governs it. Senior lecturer in public law and the Institute of Political Studies in Bordeaux, the author shows a clear ability to be concise, offering a succinct, but pertinent overview of European realities. A blessing for students... (LD)
*** JEAN-LUC SAURON: L'application du droit de l'Union européenne en France. La Documentation française (29-31 quai Voltaire, F-75344 Paris Cedex 07. Tel: (33-1) 40157000 - Fax: 40157230 - Internet: http://www.ladocfrancaise.gouv.fr ). Réflexe Europe" collection. 2000, 134 pages, FF 65.60, EUR 10. ISBN 2-11-004336-9.
Community law is now at the origin of more than half the laws enforced in France (as in other Member States…), in particular in the economic and financial fields. This work - that is in its second edition, the first having been published in 1995 - thus answers the real need for clarification and information, for understanding of the rules of transposition, parliamentary control and jurisdictional control is indispensable both for civil servants in the framework of their work as well as for citizens interested in ensuring respect for their right. Master of applications at the State Council and associated professor at the Robert Schuman University in Strasbourg, Jean-Luc Sauron analyses in an informative and meticulous manner the mechanisms for the implementation of EU law into national Law. (LD)
*** L'ASSEMBLEE NATIONALE FRANCAISE: Vers une démocratie planétaire ? Les leçons de la conférence de Seattle. National Assembly Degelation to the EU (Kiosque de l'Assemblée nationale, 4, rue Aristide Briand, F-75007 Paris. Internet: http//http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr ). N° 2477, 2000, 451 pages, FF 70, EUR 10.67. ISBN: 2-11-109395-5.
Since the failure of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial Conference in December 1999 in Seattle, public opinion has continued from Davos to Washington, its mobilisation against globalisation. In a first report, the French parliamentary Béatrice Marre called on the EU to use all its weight to make the WTO a trade regulation body. In a second report, she invites the French Council Presidency to act so as to accelerate the concretising of international organisations
*** EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK: Monthly Bulletin June 2000. European Central Bank (Kaiserstrasse, 29 D-60066 Frankfurt. Tel: (49) 6913440 - Fax: 6913446000). June 2000, 73 pages.
During it 8 June meeting, the ECB decided to increase its main interest rate by 50 base points, from 3.75% to 4.25%. Increases that have respectively entered into force last 15 and 21 June. These decisions notably explains this publication, are inspired by the desire to continue juggling inflation and favouring expansion.
*** LA LETTRE DU TRESORIER: Cyber-COMM, un premier bilan. French association of company treasurers (20 rue d'Athènes, F-75442 Paris - Tel: (33-1) 42815398 - Fax: 42801890 - Internet: http://www.afte.com ). Annual subscription: EUR 99,09. N° 160, June 2000, 29 page.
The Internet, windfall for company treasurers? This is the question asked by this monthly publication in its dossier. Also the issue of factoring as a management tool.
*** COMUNI D'EUROPA: Mensile dell'associazione unuitaria di comuni province e regioni. Comuni d'Europa (86, Pizza di Trevi, I-00187 Roma - Tel: (33-06) 69940461 - Fax: 6793275 - Internet: http://www.aiccre.it ). Annual subscription: ITL 30,000. June 2000, 17 pages.
In the summary of this monthly on regional development: Europe of the new millennium, new technologies and the Internet. The theme of competition and communications with regard to democratic principals is initially broached, as well as that of independence of information in an increasingly diversified and concentrated media system. Then, with regard to European institutions, an article on the functioning of the Court of Auditors.
*** SLOVENIA WEEKLY. Weekly published by Vitrum (Hradeckega, 38. 1000, Ljublana, Slovénie - Tel: (386-1) 4261412 - Fax: 540 20 27 - Internet: http://www.vitrum.si/sw ). June 2000, 23 pages.
This week, Slovenia Weekly presents an interview with the Slovenian Prime Minister, Andrej Bajuk, an economist whose main aim is integration into the EU. This weekly also explains that Slovenia is presently in the black and that it is updating its legislative tools.
*** COUNCIL OF EUROPE: Bulletin of constitutional jurisprudence 1999/3. This quarterly is published in English and French by the Venice Committee - Council of Europe (F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex - Tel: (33-03) 88412581- Fax: 88413910 - Internet: http: //bok.coe.fr. Annual subscription: FF 500. N°3/99, 510 pages.
This bulletin details the jurisprudence from the Constitutional Courts in Europe, including the European Court of Human Rights and not forgetting Court of Justice of the European Communities. In the summary, among others, the Belgian Court of Arbitration with the Suykerbuyk decree and advertising for tobacco.
*** LIAISON NEWS: Newsletter of the liaison committee of NGDOs to the EU Bimonthly published in French and English by the Liaison Committee (Square Ambiorix, 10 B-1000 Brussels - Tel. (32) 027438760 - Fax: 027321934. Internet: http: //oneworld.org/liaison. N°6, 2000, 15 pages.
In the summary on this advice and training network, there is an assessment of the development of the co-operation for development programmes in the EU between 1990 and 1999, but also the summer school and development of education programmes.