*** EDWARD BEST, MARK GRAY, ALEXANDER STUBB (Edited by): Rethinking the European Union. ICG 2000 and Beyond. European Institute of Public Administration (22 O.L. Vrouweplein, P.O. Box 1229 NL-6201 BE Maastricht - Tel: (31-43) 3296274 - Fax: 3296296 - E-mail: m.simons@eipa-nl.com - Internet: http://www.eipa.nl ). 2000, 372 pages, NGL 80, EUR 36.30. ISBN 90-6779-147-4.
It is assuredly with interest that I look, today, at this collective work published in view of last December's Nice European Council of which we now know the results, but the treaty which stems from it must still be the object of national ratification procedures. Fruit of an ambitious international colloquium organised in Maastricht in November 1999 by the European Institutive for Public Administration (EIPA) in collaboration with the European Commission and the Finnish Presidency of the Union Council, this book looks at all the institutional adaptations made necessary by the future enlargements of the EU and officially negotiated by the EU 15 in February 2000 in the framework of the last Intergovernmental Conference (IGC). The organisers gathered together, to do this, a wide range of academic specialists, Community actors and political actors. Fully aware of the difficulties and barriers of the forward looking exercise to which they engaged themselves, the three lecturers from the colloquium try to specify the limits and political and intellectual legitimacy in a developed introduction.
This first part of the book alternates with exposes that allow for the detailing of certain national positions and points of view adopted by the Commission and Parliament in view of the IGC. They notably point towards the contribution by Dick Benshop - Dutch Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs - who insists on the role of enhanced cooperation allowing countries that want to move forward together while avoiding that such cooperation takes place outside the Union structures. Javier Elorza - Spanish Permanent Representative to the Union - insists, for his part, over the need to stick to points of discussion that appear to be absolutely necessary in order to prepare for enlargement according to a realistic timetable, while Francis Jacobs - EP administrator - questions the ways in which to improve the efficiency and democratic transparency of the Parliament if the ceiling of 700 MEPs is exceeded.
The second part of this work examines the institutional stakes of the IGC, notably with regards to the size and shape of the Commission, the weighting of votes and the extension of qualified majority voting in the Council, enhanced cooperation and the legal scope of the EU Charter of fundamental rights. The last part of the work, which tries to be more theoretical and forward looking, reviews a series of conceptual instruments susceptible of answering the future challenge of the enlarged Union in terms of governance and democratic strategies. The arguments developed are rich and varied and do not close any doors to ideas. As one of the book's aims resides in ensuring a diversity of points of view being expressed. The forewarned reader will draw his own conclusions. The work invites the reader to continue the critical reflection. This work provides arguments that allow for the development of an often-lopsided debate. The conclusions of the last European summits, an EP resolution on the IGC, the report by the three Wise Persons on the institutional implications of enlargement and an extract of the Commission report usefully add themselves to this work
Etienne Deschamps
*** Progressive Governance for the XXI Century. Institut universitaire européen (Badia Fiesolana, I-50016 San Domenico di Fiesole (FI), Itay) and New York University School of Law. 2000, 213 pages.
This publication gathers together the acts of an unusual conference that took place in Florence in November 1999. Out of the ordinary, less so for the theme broached on this occasion, as important as it may be since it is a case of considering governance in the 21st Century, as by the quality of the figures presented. It is no mean feat, in fact to gather a panel including… Tony Blair, the Brazilian President Fernando H. Cardoso, Bill Clinton, the President of the Italian Council (at the time) Massimo D'Alema, Lionel Jospin, Gerhard Schröder and Romano Prodi. Forgive for little! And this is not all as among the speakers are also, beside the academic figures, the High Representative Javier Solana. The account of the exchanges is usefully complemented with Background Papers prepared both by the European University Institute and by the University of New York, which allows to measure the convergence and differences in sensibilities. (MT)
*** GIULIANO AMATO, MIREILLE DELMAS-MARTY, DAVID MARQUAND, SERGIO ROMANO: What Future for Europe ? Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies from the European Institute (see details above). 2000, 59 pages.
Published last September, this work includes the texts of the oldest conference. Thus the first contribution is by Giuliano Amato before he becomes the President of the Council in Italy. In it he proposes three scenarios for Europe by stating his preferences: "we excessively question how to decide. And do we not thus mask a lack of vision over what to decide? " A vision of the future would have, naturally, an influence over the institutional reform, he concludes. Mireille Delmas-Marty, she, sees in the European legal area a laboratory for globalisation. The emergence of a law that transgresses the border of States and a freely consented harmonisation of this same law, there giving Europe the chance to make an example. David Marquand questions, for his part, the future of a Europe marked by post-socialism. According to him, the notions of solidarity, the common good, cooperation carried by this ideology can still be of use. After all, he noted, the history of this century, terrible, is a sufficient warning. Finally Sergio Romano notes that the Mediterranean area is no longer a mare nostrum but that it attaches itself, through its ramifications, to the Middle East, Africa, the Atlantic, or even Central Asia. Since there exists this attraction effect for immigration, police and judicial integration could assert, according to him, the presence of the European Union on the Mediterranean scene. (DDF)
*** GERARD ROUSSELOT-PAILLEY: Guide de l'Europe. Panorama annuel de l'Union européenne 2000/2001. Editions Delagrave Flammarion (15 rue Soufflot, F-75254 Paris cedex 05. Tel: (33-1) 44418930 - Fax: 44418939 - E-mail: delagrave@delagrave-editrions.fr - Internet: http: //http://www.delagrave. net/europe). 2000, 383 pages, FF 99, EUR 15.09. ISBN 2-206-08300-0.
The title is explicit and clearly indicates the authors aim and that of the editor: it is a guide to the EU and its activity (in 1999 and 2000, with indications for 2001). No thesis to defend, no doctrine debates. We start with a succinct chronology of the European building process, as of 1954, we continue with a rapid description of the institutions (notably with biographies of the European Commissioners) to then move onto the core: common policies, drafts being discussed and issue of present concern for citizens such as: food safety, the first steps for common foreign policy and European defence, enlargement… Each chapter is followed - and this is one of the salient characteristics of the work - by an "info guide" which indicates the sources where the readers who want to deepen its knowledge of a dossier can find everything required: texts, published books, other sources of information.
We would have understood, this book mainly addresses itself to students, teachers, universities and those who used to be called "honest men". At the same time, it allows those who want to deepen their understanding to avoid difficult research. The description of the major dossiers is clear and lively and it is not free, on this occasion, from a few judgments or polemic traits (for example with regards to the "Dehaene report" which, according to Gérard Rousselot is full of clichés and completely unrealistic demagogic proposals). Even the simple chronic of events sometimes takes a position, for example with regards to the Austrian case. To be underlined, the chapters dedicated to the new fields where the lack of information for the public is evident: justice and the police (third pillar of the treaty), the "Lisbon programme" (little known and even less understood), the Defence Europe (for which the first step are analysed in detail).
The danger for a work of this kind is that some aspects risk being overtaken between the time of editing and the distribution. It is the case of passages dedicated to the Euro/Dollar relationship or American economic growth. Though in the intentions of the author and editor, this work presents an "annual panorama" of the Community activity and reality. If this aim is achieved, the objection disappears of its own fruition. (FR)
*** GABRIELE DONÀ, WILMA VISCARDINI: La tutela penale e amministrativa degli operatori economici e gli interessi finanziari dell'Unione europea. Aspetti sostanziali e procedurali in materia di: contrabbando, evasione i.v.a., truffa, frode comunitaria, malversazione, sgravi e rimborsi doganali, restituzioni all'esportazione. Cedam (5/6 Via Jappelli, I-35121 Padova - Tel: (39-49) 8239111 - Fax: 8752900 - E-mail: info@cedam.com - Internet: http://www.cedam.com ). "Diritto italiano" collection, N° 3. 2000, 540 pages, ITL 70,000, EUR 36.15. ISBN 88-13-22792-2.
In this voluminous work on European law, Gabriele Donà -lawyer and member of the Penal and Fiscal Law Centre in Turin- and Wilma Viscardini -lawyer and former member of the European Commission's Legal service- analyse in an extremely detailed manner the particularly complex moves of the penal and administrative protection of economic and financial actors in the EU after a brief reminder of the institutional structure of the Community edifice, the authors look in succession at the legal and financial relations between the Union and its fifteen Member States, the instruments and procedures used to repress frauds committed against Community financial interests drafted by the Italian legislature as well as for their defence and the paths for appeals for private or institutional operators suspected of damaging the financial interests of the European Community. Systematically confronting the doctoring enforced with the more recent case law, the study breaks down the mechanisms for frauds, deceptions and contraband, which affect the Community budget. A very current selected bibliography completes this legal work to be by actors and specialists. (ED)
*** PAUL DE GRAUWE: Economics of Monetary Union. Oxford University Press (Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP. Internet: http: //http://www.oup.com ). 2000, 243 pages. ISBN 0-19-877632-2.
Does a nation increase its well being by abolishing its currency to the benefit of the currency of a wider monetary area? Who far must the process of European monetary integration go? To a currency for the twelve present members of the Euro zone? For all of the Union Member States? For the whole planet? These are some of the questions which Paul De Grauwe, Economics professor at the Catholic University of Leuven, works to bring answers in the fourth editions of this book. A thought process that has evolved while the project of Monetary Union has become concrete, as bears witness the title which, from now on, is no longer "Economics of monetary integration", but of "monetary Union", and of the fact that the emphasis is no longer heavily placed on the problems of the transition phase. Sceptical observer, but honest in the assertion of monetary Europe, Prof. Paul De Grauwe analyses the costs and benefits of the operation as a specialist in the theory of the optimal monetary zone, before concentrating on the practical problems that confront the European Central Bank today. (MT)
*** SYLVESTER EIJFFINGER, JAKOB DE HAAN: European Monetary and Fiscal Policy. Oxford University Press (see details above). 2000, 199 pages, GBP 20.99. ISBN 0-19-877616-0.
This book is the work of two Dutch professors who hold a Jean Monnet chairs, Sylvester Eijffinger teacher of financial and monetary integration at the University of Tilburg and Jakob de Haan the teacher European economic integration at the University of Groningen. After having recalled the process that lead to the single currency, they present, in a detailed manner, the European Central Bank before dissecting the European monetary policy, namely the strategy adopted by the ECB, the instruments it has to implement it, the relations between the In and the Out as well as supervision. They then review the budgetary policies, which are applied in the Member States of the Euro zone (without getting stuck over tax competition) and the Community budgetary policy. The last sections cover the integration of the financial markets as well as the international role of the Euro and the coordination of exchange rate policies. (LD)
*** MARIO DEAGLIO, GIUSEPPE RUSSO (Edited by): Un risparmiatore deluso? XVII rapporto BNL/Centro Einaudi sul risparmio e sui risparmiatori in Italia. BNL Edizioni (67 via Barberini, I-00187 Rome - Tel: (39-06) 42012817 - Fax: 42012921 - E-mail: siampiconi@bnledizioni.com) - Ed. Guerini e Associati (28 viale Filipetti, I-20122 Milan - E-mail: guerini@iol.it). "Quaderni di ricerca" collection. 1999, 170 pages, ITL 38,000. ISBN 888335042-1.
The seventeenth delivery of this collective annual report on savings examines the way in which Italian families are preparing the management of their financial heritage for the progressive introduction of the Euro and the rapid development of the "new economy". The authors also analyse the recent changes brought by Italian legislations to the pensions systems, the tax system and banking activities. Various tables and graphs complete this work. (ED)
*** Documents. Review of German issues (50 rue Laborde, F-75008 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 43879040 - Fax: 42935094 - E-mail: bild.documnts@wanadoo.fr). September-October 2000, N°5, 128 pages, FF 60. Annual subscription: FF 230 (France), FF 250 (abroad).
This issue of Documents offers a significant dossier dedicated to the future of the German Federal army, the Bundeswehr, in the light of the fact that Germany is the only large Union country, which is considering maintaining a compulsory military service. For Hartmut Bühl, this solution seems less dangerous that the creation of a professional army, point of view that is shared by Berthold Meyer who underlines the positive fallout in terms of social integration: thanks to conscripts, the army is penetrated by all the social levels and forces; from then, it will not transform itself into a dangerous home for the extreme right. This theme is further explored by Alfred Frisch ("the desirable, achievable and necessary"), Christian Jakob ("the civil service: a necessary element of the social system?") and Christophe Pajon ("the future of the link army-society in federal Germany"). Other themes broached: the extreme right in today's Germany ("should we ban the NPD?", the observations on the acceptance of racist ideas, Deutsche Leitkultur "slogan, slip of the tongue or baud ruche?"), the three hundred years of Prussia, the experiences of French Catholics in Germany from 1940 to 1945, Germany as a country of migrations, "the Eastern Land: the decade of hope?", the Germans who leave to Alsace, German style management and globalisation, Prisma which renews the scene of the French press, a meeting over the reviews of the former RDA, the Potsdamerplatz film festival, the German Future 2000 prize, which celebrates music through the Internet and images of Germany in French literature.
*** Politica exterior. Comercial Atheneum (6 Padilla - 28006 Madrid. Tel: (34-91) 4312628 - Fax: 5777252 - E-mail: http://www.revista @politicaexterior.com). January/February 2001, N° 79, 188 pages, ESP 1,500, EUR 9. Annual subscription: ESP 7,200 (Spain), ESP 13,000 (abroad).
In summary of this review: the American Presidential elections or the spectacle-politics, NATO and the Balkans, the causes of the economic crisis in Argentina, the destitution of President Wahid in Indonesia. Among the studies included in this issue: the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs Fosep Pique presents the "new frontiers" the Spain's foreign policy, namely the main themes of is diplomatic reform and the transformations undertaken in the last decade, Javier Solana draws an assessment of the progress and needs in European defence, the Spanish Permanent Representatives Javier Elorza presents the European Union after Nice.
*** THE EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY (Office for the Official Publications of the EC, L-2985 Luxembourg) has published the following documents in its "Environmental issues series":
*** Environmental taxes: recent developments in tools for integration. 2000, N° 18, 81 pages, EUR 10. ISBN 92-9167-261-0.
For the second time, the Agency looks at the developments in the use of environmental taxes and their impact. It notes that, in a general manner, taxes instituted in the Member countries are insufficient to ensure the full internationalisation of external costs and to establish a fairer tax system. According to the statistics, the use of environmental taxes is on the increase: from 5.84% in 1980, it rose to 6.75% of totals revenue in 1997. New sectors for applications are noted, in particular in energy, transport and agriculture. However economic, social, fiscal and political barriers continue to block these initiatives.
*** The dissemination of the results of environment research. 2000, N° 15, 37 pages, EUR 7. ISBN 92-9167-262-9.
This report analyses the literature relating to the interactions of scientific policy before presenting the way in which research is carried out in the framework of the UK Global Environmental Change programme have been disseminated and to address recommendations to the European Agency.
*** Cloudy crystal balls. 2000, N° 17, 111 pages, EUR 10. ISBN 92-9167-263-7.
This report consists of an inventory and an assessment of the studies and models relating to European and global scenarios recently built (since 1997) or in the process of being carried out in view of achieving sustainable development.