*** SIMON DUKE (Edited by): Between Vision and Reality. CFSP's Progress on the Path to Maturity. European Institute for Public Administration (22 O. L. Vrouweplein, P. O. Box 1229, 6201 BE Maastricht, Netherlands. Tel: (31-43)3296274 - Fax: 3296296 - E-mail: m.simons@eipa-nl.com - Internet: http: //http://www.eipa.nl ). "Current European Issues" collection. 2000, 319 pages, NGL 70, EUR 31.76. ISBN 90-6779-145-8.
Javier Solana does not lack kind words to present, in his foreword, this work, which follows on from a colloquium organised by the Maastricht Institute in the autumn of 1999. The authors do not content themselves with analysing all the elements that lead to think that Common Foreign and Security Policy is now at the cross roads and the consequences which result from it for the Union. They also concentrate on what the establishment of a Common European Defence and Security policy would imply for European industries active in this field. An important angle for thought, as underlined by the High Representative, a capability for action will not see the light of day without cooperation at the level of R&D and acquisition of material.
Associate Professor at the EIPA, Simon Duke opens the first part of the book by setting the scene. For him, CFSP hit the bottom during the Kosovo crisis, which saw the Europeans incapable of supporting their diplomatic efforts in the framework of the Rambiouillet process with a credible threat to use force. Decisive turning point? Possibly. Since then, the Member States have given the impression of wanting to make CFSP more of a reality than a vision, the emergence of the Security and Defence policy brings manifest proof of this. Though beyond the effects of the channel, unknown elements remain. Prof. Duke thus underlines that much will depend on the way in which the Europeans - French and British in particular - manage to agree over the autonomous character of the capabilities to be acquired. If their interpretations of "autonomy" diverge, Common Defence and Security policy definitely risks giving concrete life to the myth of Sisyphus…
The large Member States that are France, Germany and the United Kingdom will they be able to share a common vision of the goals to be achieved? This is the object of the contributions signed by professors Jolyon Howorth (University of Bath) and Peter van Ham (Geoge C. Marshalll European Centre for Security Studies). Prof. Heinz Gärtner (Austrian Institute for International Affairs) underlines, for his part, that the contribution by the "small" States in the debate relating to crisis management will be all the more neglected as many of them are neutral or non-aligned. Finally Maartje Rutten (researcher at the WEU Institute for Security studies) examines the question of the development of multinational armed forces in the European context. She considers it crucial that the Member States not only share the aims of common security, but that they are also resolute to provide trained and equipped armed forced to lead varied missions.
The second part of the work is dedicated to the prospects to come - and at the desirable nature - of seeing the creation of a European defence industry. To overcome the failings identified by the WEU in its 1999 audit, industrial collaboration should be intensified, feels Simon Duke. Researcher at the WEU Institute, Burkard Schmitt paints a picture of the European armaments industry by paying close attention to the mergers that have arisen in the aerospace industry. Gordon Adams (George Washington University) considers the issue in a transatlantic perspective, General Fotios Kikiras from the point of view of the Western European Armaments Group, which he chairs and, finally, Graham Woodcock from that of the European Defence Industrial Group for which he is the Secretary General. As for Fernando Davara, he pleads the cause of the WEU satellite centre in Torrejon. In the last section of the book, the former WEU Secretary General Wim van Eekelen reviews certain possible traps, the conclusions being drawn by Simon Duke.
Michel Theys
*** HENRI BURGELIN (Edited by): L'Europe et la sécurité collective: dépasser les Mythes. Editions Publisud.(15 rue des Cinq-Diamants F-75013 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 45807850 - Fax: 45899415 - E-mail: publisud@compuserve.com). "Prospective Stratégique" collection. 2000, 136 pages. ISBN: 2-86600395-0.
"One is hit by vertigo when one considers what the European Union would have been today, if the EDC had not failed before the Parliament of the country that developed it…", asserts the President of the Belgian Senate, Armand de Decker (who for a long time was the President of the Defence Committee in the WEU Assembly) in the preface of this collective work, when recalling that the "visionary project" of René Pleven to create a European Defence Community "welcomed at the time, as an interesting thing, the support of the United States and NATO, which had just be born," before failing in the French national Assembly… Mr de Decker says he is "persuaded" that the Union will know how to form its rapid reaction force, which it decided to give itself, but he wonders how it will act "to resolve the delicate issue of institutional structures" required. According to him, to achieve the "Headline Goal", the EU will have to, in the immediate, provide itself with a Council of Defence Ministers and entrust the European Commission with the industrial, technological and scientific aspects, including spatial, in the armaments sector. In the conclusion, Bénédicte Renaud, Head of studies at the CEPS (Centre d'Etude et de Prospective Stratégique), feels that "most of the European companies" have not "taken the measures for the radical conversion that implies the establishment of a true European defence" and underlined both that, in this context, Euro-American relations should be "redefined much more deeply than they were in 1999, in the framework of NATO" and that the accession of countries such as Poland and Hungary will have heavy consequences for the external identity of the European Union, notably with regards to relations with Russia. In a chapter of the book, Alexandre Orlov, Director of the "Europe" Department in the Russian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, notably points out a "bitter realisation" in the state of the NATO/Russia partnership by decreeing that it "has been until now a failure" and that "the warming process" of these relations "will be complicated and, according to appearances, relatively long" (according to him, it will require "a certain readjustment of the mechanism for interaction between Russia and NATO considered by the Founding Act, for this interaction to be real and not virtual). As for Omür Orhun, Director General for Strategic affairs at the Turkish Ministry for Foreign Affairs, reasserted that Ankara is not pleased with the arrangements for consultations on operation of the Petersberg kind that the EU foresaw in the Feira European Council in June 2000. He asserts in particular that it must not be forgotten that a Union operation, whatever the capabilities used, "could affect the legitimate security interests of allies such as Turkey", that "any possible operation by the EU would use the same series of forces and capabilities assigned for the whole range of the alliance" and that a Petersberg operation outside Article 5 (collective defence) could finally transform itself into a Article 5 type, thus having direct implications for the security of all the allies. For his part, Andrew J. Pierre, Professor at the University of Georgetown, in Washington, poses the other topical problem, that of the plan to establish a National Missile Defence (NMD), which will be pushed forward by the Bush Administration, by asserting that this plan should be discussed by the EU both in the context of ESDP and with the United States. According to him, the threat that could be faced in this field by a "Europe without defence" compared to a partially protected America is a truly "critical issue, far more important for security in Europe than that of a 60,000 men force", the "Headline Goal" that the Union set itself.
(MG)
*** BURKARD SCHMITT: De la coopération à l'intégration: les industries aéronautique et de défense en Europe. WEU Institute for Security Studies (43 av. du Président Wilson, F-75775 Paris cedex 16. Tel: (33-1) 53672200 - Fax: 47208178 - E-mail: ies-ueo@iss-weu.com - Internet: http://www.weu.int/institute/ ). "Cahiers de Chaillot" collection, N° 40. 2000, 98 pages.
During the last decade, the environment of the armament industries has radically changed. The contraction in the national markets and exports, the explosion of fixed costs, the growing flow of commercial technologies and the withdrawal of the shareholder State have lead to these companies increasingly integrating into the market economy, thus throwing themselves in a huge merger and rationalisation process which, in Europe, has progressively transformed traditional cooperation into a true transnational integration. In this work, Burkhard Schmitt, responsible for research at the Western European Union Institute for Security Studies, explains why this internationalisation is particularly developed in aeronautics. He examines in particular the new industrial system set up around the two giants that are BAE Systems and EADS. (LD)
*** BURKARD SCHMITT (Edited by): Entre coopération et concurrence: le marché transatlantique de défense. WEU Institute for security Studies (see details above). "Cahiers de Chaillot" collection, N° 44. 2001, 152 pages.
In this new book - which included contribution from Gordon Adams from George Washington University, Christophe Cornu who is presently an expert for the WEU Secretary General responsible for relations with NATO and Andrew D. James from Manchester University in the United Kingdom -, Burkand Schmitt examines the prospects and constraints of transatlantic cooperation in terms of armaments. He underlines in particular that the American fear of seeing the emergence of a "fortress" Europe is "not completely unjustified, but largely exaggerated." To the question of a "European preference" in terms of the defence industry is all the more complex as the European market remains fragmented, notes Mr Schmitt for whom the idea of a "common market, or even single market, for defence in Europe" remains a "utopia": in the foreseeable future, it seems more realistic to seek a doubling up of joint programmes and a better coordination of defence policies not to be included in the ESDP and that, at least for "some economic, regulatory and technological aspects, it would no doubt be more rational and efficient to involve the European Commission" (without going as far as the "straight forward bring into the Community sphere of armament" which seems "out of the question"). On the side of the United States, "the obstacles that slow cooperation are all the more difficult to overcome as they take root in a wide spread "insular culture", only granting a little attention to the concerns of their allies," explains Burkard Schmitt, while Gordon Adams notes that the Pentagon has a true desire to facilitate transatlantic cooperation, while the State Department and Congress remain reticent.
(MG)
*** RACHEL ANNE LUTZ: Military Capabilities for a European Defence Danish Institute for International Affairs (Nytorv 5, DK-1450 Copenhagen. Tel: (45-33) 366565 - Fax: 366566 - E-mail: dupi@dupi.dk - Internet: http://www.dupi.dk ). 2001, 97 pages. ISBN 87-90681-31-2.
This very detailed and up to date report is the first product of a three year project on European defence launched in 2000 by the Danish Institute with, as Research Director, Prof. Bertel Heurlin. Without complacency, the author underlines the failing to which the EU must remedy if it wants for its future operation to the truly effective, while noting that Europe could start to overcome certain failings through a better coordination of the Member States existing resources. Thus, she cites as a "realistic option" the sharing of resources, such as the Joint Nordic logistical battalion, while in the longer-term, she feels that the Member States could choose a certain specialisation (example: the Swedish experience in mine sweeping). The use of NATO capabilities and resources should rely upon this exclusively, limiting its "political and operational autonomy", she notes, while feeling that on the Alliance side, this risks making is own capabilities less effective. Thus according to Mrs Lutz in the fields where it is necessary to strengthen both the capabilities of the EU and NATO and where the Union wants to assert its political autonomy, "it will require practising a necessary duplication" (the author has the courage to admit what few others dare, the tone being given by the American formula put forward by Madeline Albright of the three "Ds" - no doubling up, no discrimination, no duplication). The EU can also develop is own capabilities in certain fields, she adds, in citing the examples of the Eurofighter, the A400M transport plane and the NH90 transport helicopter, while noting that, if it wants to undertaken to develop its own capabilities, the EU must first reach a consensus over what are the "precise limits of ESDP. (MG)
*** SAIDA BEDAR (Edited by): La globalisation: "nouvelle frontière" du leadership américain ? Centre interdisciplinaire de recherches sur la paix et d'études stratégiques (54 bld. Raspail, F-75006 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 49542623 - Fax: 49542169 - Internet: http://www.ehess.fr/cirpes/ ). "Cahiers d'Etudes Stratégiques" collection, N° 28. 2000, 125 pages. ISBN 2-905758-20-1.
This book analyses in a detailed manner the American strategic debate in 1999-2000. Firstly, Saïda Bédar (Defence sociology group from the Ecole des hautes études en sciences sociales et Cirpes) shows that globalisation is becoming a crucial paradigm of the American strategy. Michel Rogalski (CNRS and Ehess) then analyses globalisation as a field for strategic action. For his part Alexis Bautzmann (Centre for the processing of geographic information from the University of Provence) explores the theme "globalisation and American cyberspace leadership", while Laurence Nardon (Cirpes) gives an account of the fight to control satellite information, discerning an "American reaction" and "European advances". Finally, Sami Makki (Cirpes) examines the management of Complex emergencies and the Complex Contingency Operations and Saïda Bédar the model of the jointness in the American strategic system. (MT)
*** EURYDICE: Vingt années de réformes dans l'enseignement supérieur en Europe: de 1980 à nos jours. Eurydice European unit ( 15 rue d'Arlon, B-1050 Brussels - Tel: (32) 022383011 - Fax: 0223006562 - E-mail: info@eurydice.org - Internet: http: //http://www.eurydice.org ). "Études Eurydice" series. 2000, 181 pages. IBSN: 2-87116-293-X.
This study compared the reforms undertaken at the higher education level in the Union's fifteen Member States and the three EFTA/EEA countries, this in order to ascertain the main significant trends by looking at them in the specific contexts that have seen them appear. Several aspects are broached: the first is of the legislative kind: characteristics of the legislation and the official policies, relations between political legislation and reforms, systems with few reforms. Some significant traits: a tendency to promulgate huge framework laws that set out to fields of decision-making responsibility of the higher education establishments, the laws adopted especially concerning the management and financing of these establishments. Second aspect: management, financing and monitoring. In all the countries examined, with the exception of the United Kingdom, the reforms carried out tend to give greater autonomy to the higher education establishments. Furthermore, the granting of State power to these establishments has been in most cases attached to formal financing systems and quality controls. Third aspect: access and drop out rates. Access to higher education is improved in most of the countries studied. The progress have been in relation to the ability of the national high education systems to adapt to the growing demand in the 1980s and 1990s. For example in Portugal the number of places has increased 34% in 4 years. Other angles covered: financial aid to students, curriculum and teaching, internationalisation and conclusion and prospects for the future.
*** Two publication by the EUROPEAN COMMISSION. DG Employment and Social Affairs. (Office for the Official publications of the European Communities, L-2985, Luxembourg):
*** The Social situation in the European Union 2000. 2000, 119 pages.
This is the first annual report on the social situation that gives an integrated overview of the demography and the social conditions. It is broken into two parts. The first draws a few statistical portraits in the field of social policy. Some significant facts: in 1998, the people of 65 represent 24% of the working population in the EU, percentage which should rise to 27 in 2010. These last two decades, the work rate of people between 60 and 64 has fallen in a consistent manner. In 1998, 36.3% of the population aged between 55 and 64 worked. In 1998, the number of unemployed counted in the Union fell under the 17 million mark. The same year, 4.8% of the working population is affected by long-term unemployment. In other words, 47% of unemployed have been working for one year or less. Still in 1998, 51.2% of women from 15 to 64 work, 70.8% of men. And in 1996, the gross salary of a woman was 26% below that of a man. The second part of this review shows the main developments in the social sector: demographic trends and related issues, living conditions, social participation, allocation of revenues and relations between generations, ageing population and changes in behaviour.
*** Equality between men and women in the European Union. Example of good practices. (1996-2000). 2000, 53 pages.
This publication completes the 1999 annual report on equal opportunities. Five years after the fourth world conference on women in Beijing, the EU and the Member States are leading figures in equality in the working world, but also in decision-making, public or private. A very large number of Community programmes and initiatives in wide ranging fields such as health, education and the development of companies have integrated this equality. This review distinguishes three sectors. Firstly, the integration of the dimension of equality. Firstly, the integration of the dimension of equality at all levels in political decision-making, for example in the management of structural means at the national level, the prevention of the transmission of the AIDS virus from mother to child in LDC, equality in wages and women change agents in small coastal fisheries. Finally, the network of non governmental organisations as a vector to this equality. Example: mobilisation in view of fighting against the trafficking of women, insertion of homeless women in the workplace, improving and participation of elderly women in the field of work, NGO collaboration for an integration of single parent families and better opportunities offered to families with children with special needs.