*** OLIVIER LLUANSI: Du projet européen. Contribution pour une nouvelle génération de bâtisseurs de l'Europe. L'Harmattan (5-7 rue de l'Ecole-Polytechnique, F-75005 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40467920 - Fax: 43258203 - E-mail: harmat@worldnet.fr). "Questions contemporaines" collection. 2000, 254 pages, FF 140. ISBN 2-7384-9079-4.
This book is a pamphlet. Positive. Constructive. Disturbing, no doubt, for all those who are satisfied by half measures, half attempts in which wallows the European building process. For the author, point of doubt: it is time to wipe the dust off the image of Europe, "that of forced harmonisation from the colour of headlights to the size of apples", is to the "strategy of cogs" that built, well managed or badly managed, the economic Europe to reach the assertion of a Europe policy.
The free and rebellious sprit, Olivier Lluansi - who at a time was a member of Edith Cressons' cabinet - draws in this dense work, where Cartesianism ceded the ways to the rustling of ideas and the storm of judgments, a picture without the complacency of the pitfalls and excesses of the EU as we live it today. That we do not misuse it: for him, the European building process is the only tool available to the European States and peoples "to conserve the mastering of their own future, by providing itself with sufficient economic power in the new context of globalisation", also the only "that offers a prospect of viable and influential political organisation". But in order to move in this direction, the plans must be clarified, in order for the European project not to appear to the citizens as "to normalising", without an end, without known or selected decision makers… without a face or heart". Revisions and advances are thus necessary. In ten chapters, the authors runs a iconoclast eye over the three main aspects of the European political project. First, its essence: its legislative power (and its limitation by the principal or subsidiarity which it is no longer a question of fulfilling, a Charter crucially needed it establish a clear demarcation - but politically feasible, through a "institution representative of the European peoples" - between national and European competence) and its blue collar workers ("even in the light of the dilution in the scope of the European machine, we will not escape the debate on the links between the national administrations and the European administrations", he writes when considering that "the comitology casts light on the ambiguity of the Council's role in the European building process"). Following the great ideas - still attached to concrete proposals - relating to the preparation of a policy of an economic power and a foreign policy worthy of the name. To finish, the author outlines an reflection on the institutions in a federal view ("It is not a vocation", but already a "fact"). As a conclusion, Olivier Lluansi establishes a parallel between the present European building process and the architectural concept of "Brusselsisation", feeling that "if the first generation was that of the founders of Europe, the second is the builders, the third should be that of the planners" who will have to "propose a vision" so the citizens understand and finally join the European plan.
Michel Theys
*** JEAN-DOMINIQUE NUTTENS, FRANCOIS SICARD: Assemblées parlementaires et organisations européennes. La documentation Française (29 quai Voltaire, F-75007 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40157000 - Fax: 40157230 - Internet: http: //http://www.ladocfrancaise.gouv.fr ). "Les études de La documentation Française" collection. 2000, 134 pages, EUR 12.50, FF 81.99. ISBN 2-11-004500-0.
Both working for the French Senate, the authors of this booklet invite the reader to delve into the still vague world of the "new parliamentary democracy" gestating at the European level. Due to the high degree of integration that it has reached, the EU asserts itself, according to them, as the "main laboratory of the parliamentary renewal in relation to the organisation of Europe". Though parliamentary democracy none the less remains confronted to significant challenges in Europe". Why? Firstly because the EU is not everything: it cohabits with other organisations - the Western European Union, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe or even the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development - which, each in its own way, call for parliamentary democracy, while contributing towards the blurring of the image.
On the one hand as "the inclusion of parliamentarism in all the institutions whose links and contours are both difficult to perceive and moving, pose (…) largely new problems". Then and especially because "the increasingly great transfer of competence from the State towards the supranational or intergovernmental organisations brings into question the balance of parliamentary democracies" as it automatically leads to the weakening the national legislative power and is thus the source of the "democratic deficit". To keep in check and try to maintain the Parliament at the heart of the European village, the EU significantly reinforced the powers of "its" Parliament. Jean-Dominique Nuttens and François Sicard examin how and to what extent to EP thus brings life to a parliamentary democracy at the European level". Their answer is mitigated, all the more that the increase in the EP's power "leaves untouched the issue of the control of the actions of each government within the Council". A judgement that we could apply from the adaptation of parliamentary democracy to the European building process". One of the conclusions of their study is that the national parliamentarism and European parliamentarism are not substitutable: "the control ensured by one of the two would not replace the control ensured by the other and its is no doubt from a combination of the two that one can reach the pursuit of the reduction of a European "democratic deficit" in reality with many shapes, not boiling down to the problem of the role of the European Parliament within the EU institutions". It is from the organisation of their complementarity that a solution will arise, state the authors when arguing that parliamentary democracy in its various forms is, as Europe, in the future.
(MT)
*** JEAN-LOUIS ARNAUD: Les Français et l'Europe. L'état du débat européen en France à l'ouverture de la présidence française. Notre Europe (44 rue Notre Dame des Victoires, F-75002 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 53009440/41 - Fax: 53009444 - E-mail: notreeurope@notre-europe.asso.fr - Internet: http: //http://www.notre-europe.asso.fr ). "Etudes et recherches" collection, N° 10. 2000, 29 pages.
Notre Europe, the study and research group created by Jacques Delors, has taken the habit of publishing for the opening of each EU Presidency, a presentation on the state of progress in the European debate, - this "unidentified political object that unites us", as was so nicely put by the former Commission President - in the country that accedes to this responsibility. For France, in control since last 1 July, Jean-Louis Arnaud tackles, in this publication, the development of political themes rather than debates between intellectuals. As is explained by Jacques Delors in his foreword, "recent years have (…) less see the enrichment of the intellectual debate as the eruption of the subject of Europe in the national political life" the last campaign for the Europeans and the open debate by the statements from the German Minister for Foreign Affairs Joschka Fischer having dedicated, in France, "the division of the federalist taboo and the affirmation of the thesis of sovereignty". This new political drive, Jean-Louis Arnaud subjects it to a "jubilant dynamiting" which sees the everyone getting their fair share. But even if he had "shown greater restraint and less equanimity in the distribution of the yellow cartoons", Jacques Delors recognises the offer of a political Europe remains in France (only France?) "sufficiently distant from the calls as revealed by all the indicators for which there are only good reasons to be so, when looking at the conformity of the product with its label". An idea that is thoroughly un-French!
(MT)
*** STEFAAN THIJS: Het Belgische Europabelied in de kering ? Departement of Political Science University of Gent, Belgium. Tel: (32-9) 2646870 - Fax: 2646991. Internet: http: //http://www.psw.rug.ac.be ). 2000, 28 pages, BEF 275.
"Belgium's European policy on a turning point?" Thus is the title of this monograph that concentrates on an apparent change (and since then denied…) in the Belgian position in terms of the European building process. Belgium is still openly in favour of a Federal Europe. The Verhoftstadt government also subscribes to this idea, but calls at the same time for greater flexibility in the EU through "reinforced cooperation" mechanisms. Is this an sufficient tactic to achieve a federal Europe? In this case, others paths should probably be explored. Unless Belgium has changed course and moved away from the federal option… in this Publication Stefaan Thijs, member of the department of Political Sciences at the University of Gent, explains the importance of decisions taken during the Lisbon summit last March, the meaning of the intergovernmental conference, reinforced cooperation as foreseen in the Amsterdam Treaty, the potential consequences of EU enlargement, all this while providing the opinion of the Belgian government on various themes of European current affairs.
(GVH)
*** HUBERT HAENEL, ROBERT BADINTER, PIERRE FAUCHON, LUCIEN LANIER, AYMERI DE MONTESQUIOU, XAVIER DE VILLEPIN: Quelle réforme des institutions européennes pour l'an 2000? L'Espace Librairie du Sénat (20 rue Vaugirard, F-75006 Paris. Tel.: (33-1) 42342121 - Internet: http: //http://www.senat.fr ). "Les rapports du Sénat", No 148, 1999-2000, 89 pages, 25 FF, 3.81 euros. ISBN 2-11-103174-7.
This report presents the proposals tabled by the French Senate's European Union Delegation with a view to guaranteeing better functioning of the institutions in preparation for the coming enlargement. For the rapporteurs, there is no need to engage in a drastic shake-up of institutions that "have proved their worth". Since, "in institutional affairs, more than anywhere else, it's best to leave well enough alone", the Delegation notes that "rather than an institutional overhaul, the Union needs to adapt its decision-making methods, which on the whole work well, to the new context of a broader Europe". Concretely, it deems acceptable for the Commission in future to be made up of a single national from every Member State, but that this will only be acceptable to the big States if the Commission President has greater authority and if there is a substantial reweighting of votes in the Council (their votes should be multiplied by three, and those of smaller countries by two, or even one and a half in the case of Luxembourg).
(MT)
*** JEAN-CLAUDE ZARKA: L'essentiel des institutions de l'Union européenne. Gualino éditeur (31 rue Falguière, F-7574Paris. Tel. (33-1) 56541600 - fax: 56541649). "Les Carrés". 2000, 142 pages, 62 FF, 9.45 euros. ISBN 2-84200-291-1.
Lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences in Toulouse, Jean-Claude Zarka is a top-level teacher, as seen in the fact that his book is now in its third edition. Designed particularly with students in mind (and life-long learners...), it presents in nine-chapters everything the average citizen should know about the Union's institutions and bodies, including those linked to the rise in power of economic and monetary union. A classification of the principal sources of Community law, a bibliography and a list of Internet sites make this brief work a valuable -thorough and concise- guide.
(LD)
*** JEAN-CLAUDE ZARKA: QCM Institutions de l'Union européenne. Gualino éditeur (see above). 2000, 134 pages, 69 FF, 10.52 euros. ISBN 2-84200-274-1.
Another work by Zarka now in its third edition, and written with the same educational objectives in mind, this booklet goes hand-in-hand with the above. It is made up of a number of tests consisting of multiple-choice questions enabling readers to check their knowledge of the Community (always useful before an exam or competition...). An intelligent exercise that would be well worthwhile in (contemporary) history or civics courses in all the Member States.
(LD)
*** LUIGI FERRARI BRAVO, VINCENZO RIZZO (Eds).: Codice dell'Unione Europea. Annotato con la giurisprudenza della Corte di Giustizia. A.Giuffrè Editore (40 via Busto Arsizio, I-20151 Milano). Internet: http://www.giuffre.it ). 2000, 1,381 pages, 160,000 lira, 82.63 euros. ISBN 88-14-08006-2.
A first edition of this work, released in 1994, presented a "consolidated text" of the rules that make up the European Union's legal framework as ratification of the Treaty of Maastricht was still under way. This text was completed by the essential documents that must be known to understand these rules, the authors noted at the time. Because in more than 35 years of existence, the Community has not developed solely through changes to its basic rules, which have given rise to so much secondary legislation that no code can reproduce it, but also through case law of the Court of Justice and, more recently, of the Court of First Instance. For this reason, the authors matched the Treaty text with a broad selection of case law, thus creating a valuable tool for judges, lawyers, business consultants, national civil servants and university students and professors.
The doubling of volume of this case law, which has expanded to new sectors, in addition to the new numbering of the articles of the Treaty of Amsterdam, inspired the authors to publish a second edition, six years later, of this Code of the European Union, which is still based, according to the typically Italian tradition, on a "commentary", i.e. the rules of Community law are presented with the related case law.
(CB)
*** Bibliotca della liberta. July-August 2000. Publication of the Einaudi Centre (4 Via Ponza, I-10121 Turin. Tel: (39-11) 559 16 11 - Fax: 559 16 91 - Internet: http://www.centroeinaudi.it ). N°1555, 105 pages. Annual subscription: ITL 90,000 (Italy) or ITL 100,000 (abroad).
Rethinking the health systems in the light of justice and equity, it one of the themes broached by this review. For Doctor Tristram Englehardt, it is health policy as a whole that must be rethought. Helath assistance without consideration for moral or religious conviction, such as for example it terms of abortions, euthanasia and invtiro fertilisation. Though the hospital system cannot cure on its own, the development of alternative systems for health insurance is necessary. The publication also broaches the relationship between the citizens and political power within the European Union. For Richards Munch, economist, the European Union has economic origins, but its survival as a political entity depends upon something deeper. Cultural identity is part of it.
*** Internationale Politik. Verlaf fur Internationale Politik (barchstrasse 32, D-53115 Bonn - Tel: (49-288) 729 00 10 - Fax: 695734 - E-mail: euv-vip@t-online.de. N°10. October 2000, 118 pages. Annual subscription: DM 190.
In summary: The internal crisis in Russia, the economic prospects in light of the liberal reforms undertaken by the new President, Mr Putin, the new Russian international policy. Privatisations and transparency, the third way in terms of new technologies, etc.
*** EU-ACP partnership agreement. Special edition on Cotonou agreement. Special edition of the "ACP-EU courier" edited by the European Commission DG Development (200 rue de la Loi, B-1049 Brussels - Tel: (32 2_ 296 83 30 - Fax: 299 30 02). September 2000, 176 pages.
Aims of the Cotonou agreement: reduce poverty in accordance with the aims of sustainable development and the progressive integration of ACP countries into the world economy. The means: the cooperation strategy on which the parties have agreed that associates aid with the development and creation of a political framework favourable towards investments. This through economic and tax incentives. The inclusion of the ACP-EU partnership of civil society and economic and social actors constitutes another new development. The Cotonou agreement does not foresee more than two financial instruments under the European development fund: one subsidy instrument based on long-term development and a new programming system.
Economic reviews in short
*** Ons Erfdeel. Rekkem, October 2000, N° 4. In summary: The foreigners and us in terms of political culture, the Flemish culture in Europe, theology of our time, Caribbean literature, etc. *** Giorni nella cheisa e nel mondo. Rome, October 2000, N° 8. In summary: This review deals with the devolution of Jean XXIII for Pius IX. Giulio Andreotti provides us some of his observations on Europe: the European Union as an instrument of peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflicts, in the field of new relations between the EU and Russia and NATO. Sensitive subject: satanic sects, in particular the assassination last June of a nun in Sonodrio, in the north of Italy by three young girls. No forgetting the Americans faith Christian martyrs, the 2025 jubilee and the work of Mother Teresa. *** RDT Info. European research magazine, Brussels, September 2000, N° 27. In summary: what could be the results of global warming in Europe? The sustainable keys of the city of tomorrow, against AIDS, the map of women in developing countries, electronic security, informative study at international level in order to ascertain the real or supposed effects of GSM use.
*** Louvain. Louvain-la-Neuve. September 2000. In summary: Programme for the celebrations for the 575th anniversary of the UCL, study programme: the Bible in pieces, the "languages" plan is on track, the Olympic Games: two UCL students swam for Belgium, the difference in genetic matters, stem cells (hopes and concerns), the exiting prospects of transgenics, must we be scared of genetic plants?, predictive genetics (a challenge for humanity?) and the timetable of activities. *** Kibis. Cyprus, August 2000, Vol. 8 N° 8. In summary: the embargo inflicted on Turks in Cypriot people, solutions given to water problems, rural life in Northern Cyprus, celebrations of victory day.