*** ANTTI KUOSMANEN: Finland's Journey to the European Union. European Institute for Public Administration (22 O.L.Vrouweplein, P.0.Box 1229, NL-6201 BE Maastricht, Netherlands. Tel: (31-43) 3296274 - Fax: 3296296 - Internet: http: //http://www.eipa.nl ). 2001, 319 pages. ISBN 90-6779-154-7.
When he began to write this book, a sort of very precise and personal diary of his experience as Finnish accession negotiator to the European Union, Antti Kuosmanen did not yet know that he would later be one of the Union negotiators facing the new countries that aspire to enter (see EUROPE of 5/6 March, p.7). Having been an actor in the enlargement negotiations of his own country and being so once more today, but on the other side of the table, he abstains from drawing conclusions from his own experiences with the negotiators from the new candidate countries - which is done, in this book, by Phedon Nicolaides and Frank Bollen, members of the Maastricht institute. According to them, "possibly the most precious lesson " which emerges from the text by Mr Kuosmanen is that the negotiators must be able, from time to time, to detach themselves from the daily problems of the process in which they are so deeply immersed, to try and see enlargement in a sufficiently long-term perspective. A perspective that Antti Kuosmanen has never forgotten, even when he negotiated the most sensitive chapters and the hardest of his country's accession, since he always held hope, through the progress and frustrations, the hopes and disappointments, the awareness of what membership to the Union meant for Finland. Antti Kuosmanen says so on several occasions throughout the book, always with force. For Finland, a country that has certainly spilled its share of blood, sweat and tears to survive, this membership opened perspectives that could only have been dreamt of when I began my career as civil servant, nearly 25 years ago, he says.
As for Frank Bollen and Phedon Nicolaides, they recognise several merits in the Finnish negotiators of the time, in noting in particular that Finland had adopted a "pragmatic approach" that no doubt had simplified the negotiations in Brussels but that, they admit, had sometimes complicated the task consisting of defending to Helsinki the results obtained (a difficulty that Mr Kuosmanen readily admits). In these negotiations, Finland was generally "creative", note Mr Bollen and Mr Nicolaides when using the example that, over issues that where dear to him and that where not reflected in the EU acquis (such as measures to support agriculture in the northern regions of the country), they had not tried to gain exceptions, but rather tried to explain, from the outset, the specificities of its policy by trying to widen the corresponding policies of the EU in order to accommodate their own. An example would be by introducing the new "Objective 6" in regional policy.
As for Antti Kuosmanen, he describes the whole process from a lucid and remarkable perspective, without sparing the criticism against his fellow nationals, there where it seems justified to him. His extremely serious and precise book, which helps to understand the presently not so new Member State that is Finland, peppered at the same time with anecdotes that help the readers develop in the curves of a complex and detailed negotiation. He will certainly attract great interest from the present candidates.
Marina Gazzo
*** PHEDON NICOLAIDES: Enlargement of the European Union and Effective Implementation of its Rules (with a Case Study on Telecommunications). European Institute for Public Administration (see details above). "Current European Issues" series. 2000, 86 pages, NGL 40, EUR 18.15. ISBN 90-6779-148-2.
As is revealed by Prof. Gérard Druesne, Director General of the Maastricht Institute, in his foreword, the concept of the effective and efficient implementation of the Community acquis by the candidate countries plays a determining role in the present enlargement process, but there is no consensus over the meaning of this concept. This work was thought of to remedy this situation, it aims for the Member States and the candidate countries to better understand the growing importance of this issue and to be guided in their efforts aiming to ensure an effective implementation of the Community rules. Professor at the EIPA, Phedon Nicolaides begins by wondering why the need to provide oneself with this ability has risen to such a power, which leads him to note that the question clearly exceeds the framework of the present enlargement process, touching the very heart of the integration process. In a second chapter, the author reviews the various definitions linked to the implementation of the Community acquis, before developing concepts of a nature to help the candidate States assess their weaknesses and to correct them. In the third chapter, he looks at the case of telecommunications so as to illustrate the difficulties faced by the present Member States trying to satisfy the European requirements. On the basis of this group of elements, he develops the argument, in the fourth chapter, that the effective implementation of the acquis is a problem for the candidate countries, as the Union itself has not developed the instruments this requires, and its legal rulings have greater influence on the results obtained than the processed followed to create them. From where the importance, according to Phedon Nicolaides, to establish procedures in the Member States, present and future, in order to manage and assess the effects of the implementation of various political measures. (MT)
*** The Enlarged European Union: a Wider Role ? - L'Union Européenne élargie: un rôle plus large ? Ligue européenne de coopération économique (11 rue de Ligne, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2198250 - Fax: 2190663 - E-mail: elec@honet.be). "Cahier Comte Boël" series, N° 9. January 2001, 43 pages.
This "Cahier Comte Boël" from the European league for economic cooperation is entirely dedicated to the potential consequences of the enlargements to come. In his contribution that, without question, inspired the title of the publication, Charles Jenkins, Regional Director of the Economist Intelligence Unit, examines what are the values of Europe (notably in comparison to American values, what are its interests and how can it enhance its foreign policy and common security in order to better defend them. The relations of an enlarged Union with its new neighbours are also analysed. This essay is completed by articles by Roland Tavitian ("the political acquis of the European Union and the challenges of the great enlargement") and from Dietrich Hammer (The Stakes of Enlargement), who underlines the need for the EU to have effective institutions or, failing this, shatter the dream of the "founding fathers", that of an "ever closer union"… (MT)
*** DANIEL FELDER, CHRISTINE KADDOUS (sous la dir. de): Accords bilatéraux Suisse-UE (Commentaires) - Bilaterale Abkommen Schweiz-EU (Erste Analysen). Helbing & Lichtenhahn (8 Elisabethenstrasse, CH-4051 Basel. Tél.: (41-061) 2289070 - fax: 2289071) et Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Bruxelles. Tél. (32-2) 5129845).Collection "Dossiers de droit européen", n° 8. 2001, 783 p., 74 FS. ISBN 3-7190-1906-3.
Little by little, Community law is materially developing, from the ground up, in the Swiss legal system… Thus is the realisation that is formulated in the foreword by Olivier Jacot-Guillarmod, head of the Collection in which this work sits and which is aimed at familiarising Swiss lawyers with European realities. Also adding that the Swiss lawyer who travels it "will not miss being hit by what a great English lawyers (Lord Denning) qualified as, a little after the United Kingdom's accession to the Community in 1973, a rising tide of Community law. With the entry into force of seven agreements concluded on 21 June 1999, Swiss relations with the European Union are developing, in fact, in a decisive manner. From where the precious nature of this work that sees the sector-based agreement concluded commented upon, through thirty-eight contributions drafted in French and German, by the negotiators of the Federal administration, judges, professors and lawyers specialised in European law. Put together under the leadership of Daniel Felder, head of the law and agreements sector in the Integration Bureau of the Federal department for Foreign Affairs and the Federal Department for the Economy, and by Christine Kaddous, associate professor at the Faculty of Law in the University of Fribourg, the work plants, firstly, the political, legal and economic framework of the agreements (Ambassador P. Lautenberg, Head of the Swiss Mission to the EU throughout the negotiation, presents the "views of Brussels"…). The second part is dedicated to the general legal problems such as the agreement ion relation to WTO law, Swiss democracy and the Cantons… Then come the diverse commentaries on each of the sector-based agreements: agreement on the free movement of persons, air transport, transportation of goods and rail and road travellers, over mutual recognition in terms of assessment of conformity, over certain aspects relating to public procurement and scientific and technological cooperation, as well as the agreement
relating to trade in agricultural goods and the 1989 agreement concerning direct insurance other than life insurance. (MT)
*** ALAIN BARRAU: Conférence des présidents de parlement des pays participant au Pacte de stabilité pour l'Europe du Sud-Est. Délégation pour l'Union européenne de l'Assemblée nationale (4 rue Aristide Briand, F-75007 Paris - Internet: http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr ). "Les documents d'information de l'Assemblée nationale" series, N° 2615. 2000, 30 pages, FF 20, EUR 3.05. ISBN 2-11-110089-7.
This information report presents the results of the Conference held in Zagreb last September as well as the contacts forged on this occasion by the French MP Alain Barrau. (MT)
*** Eurasian Studies. Turkish International Cooperation Agency (6 Akay Road, 06640 Küçükesat, Ankara, Turkey. Tel: (90-312) 4122790 - Fax: 4172799). 2000, N° 17, 142 pages.
This issue of the quarterly review published by the Turkish Agency for International Cooperation see Turkish students work towards casting light on the concepts and areas - "Turkic" against "Turkim", the Caucuses and its countries, the planned Turkish monument in Mongolia… - look at areas of tensions (Kosovo "from where to where?") and sensitive issues such as cooperation between Turkey and the Republics of Central Asia and the "integration movements". The great international issues that affect the countries hosting Turkish groups are also broached: "new threats and new strategy for NATO, security of the pipelines in the Caspian… (GC)
*** ALAIN JOXE, ELIE KHEIR (Edited by): Processus de paix et états de guerre. Colombie, Balkans, Moyen-Orient. CIRPES (Groupe de sociologie de la défense de l'Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris - Internet: www//ehess.fr/cirpes/). "Cahier d'Etudes Stratégiques" series, N° 29. 2000, 168 pages FF 115. ISBN 2-905758-21-X.
This journal of 1999-2000 on the strategic Euro-American debate covers the broken-down peace process and the remaining state of war in three areas where, according to Alain Joxe, "European and the United States deploy different representations of peace and security". At the heart of the problem lies Turkey that is the object of two chapters signed by Elie Kheir. Researcher at the CRIPES, he begins by understanding this country "between American alliance and European identity". He then casts light on the "Turkish-Israeli alliance" in the light of the Kurdish and Palestinian problems, which leads Alain Joxe to talk of an alliance between two uncertainties. Lights are then focused on Israel, which, writes Alain Joxe last September, appears "provisionally incapable of putting an end to the conflict with the Palestinians through a peace that is not a dictate, a point of view that present events only support. Elie Kheir analyses, for his part, the Euro-American convergences and divergences before presenting an "American chronology of the peace process and the Union's attitude compared to the latter. The same author then looks, in the third part, at Iraq in the American strategy, this permanent confrontation no longer suits, feels Pierre Joxe, the well understood interests of Europe neither on the ethical level, nor on the oil level. Then come two accounts dedicated, on the one hand, to the end of the Israeli occupation of Lebanon (Elie Kheir) and, on the other hand, to the end of the war in Kosovo (Etienne de Durand). Finally, Alain Joxe tackles an account of the "broken-down peace" under the title "Great Columbia: anti-drug war and peace process". (MT)
*** ISMAIL A. SIRAGELDIN: Sustainable Human Development in the 21st Century in the Middle East and North Africa: an Evolutionary Perspective. IInd Mediterranean Programme Lecture. European University Institute (Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, Badia Fiesolana, 9 via dei Roccettini, I-50016 San Domenico di Fiesole (Fi), Italy. Fax: (39-055) 4685770 - Internet: http: //http://www.iue.it/RCS/MED/ ). 2000, 30 pages.
Celebrated professor at the University of Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Ismail A. Sirageldin was invited to the Mediterranean programme of the Robert Schuman Centre of the prestigious Florence European Institute. This publication reproduces the conference that he gave, in March of last year. It outlines an evolutionary perspective for an alternative and sustainable human development in the 21st Century in the Middle East and North Africa. On the basis of a multidimensional and multidisciplinary approach, he grasps the human development as a maximisation of probabilities followed, which link human development with the accumulation of knowledge. For him, if development is forged during the centuries through symbolic cultural developments, the destiny of the person is today to "know". The author notes and works to demonstrate that one of the key factors for human development in the whole of the Mediterranean region lies in the dynamic of the peoples. He also envisages what regionalism and globalisation entail for human development, before concentrating on the role of governments and governance. (GC)
*** Politica exterior. Commercial Atheneum (6 Padilla, E-28006 Madrid. Tel: (34-91) 4312628 - Fax: 5777252). Sept./Oct. 2000, N° 77, 185 pages, ESP 1,500, EUR 9. Annual subscription: ESP 7,200 (Spain), ESP 13,000 (abroad).
In this issue, the former American Secretary of State, Zbigniew Brzezinski, draws attention to the military protectorate that the United States continues to exercise over the Europe deepened by its political and economic integration. A situation that, he explains, provokes tensions and resentments. A situation that risks also leading to an economic and technological embargo during the first quarter of the 21st century. Other issues dealt with in this issue: European defence from a French point of view, the defence necessary to Spain, European and its architects at a time when the great debate on the future of integration opens, capitalism against democracy, the political economy of "dollarisation"…
*** Liaisons sociales Europe. Groupe Liaisons (BP 52, F-92502 Rueil-Malmaison Cedex. Tel: (33-1) 41299991). March 2001, N° 28, 8 pages. Annual subscription: FF 3,000, EUR 457.35.
This issue present the European Commission programme to achieve a market that is "open and accessible to all" by 2005, programme that was discussed during the Stockholm Summit. It also tackles that transposition of Directive by ordnance in France, the European social dialogue (temping and teleworking) and the difficulty in measuring poverty in Europe.
*** Bulletin européen. Edizioni Nagard (9 via Larga, I-20122 Milan. Tel: (39-02) 58371400 - Fax: 58304790.) June-July 2000, N° 601-602, 25 pages.
Guido Ravasi explains that the Europe has only weakened since its emergence, which is explained by political weaknesses, in particular, the lack of cohesion in the Union. For his part, Fausto Capelli, analyses the protection of Italian and European agricultural food products…
*** Comunidad Europea. Aranzadi Editorial (34 CarlosIII, E-31486 Elcano, Navarre, Spain. Tel: (34-948) 297297 - Fax: 330845. March 2001, N° 3, 97 pages.
In summary: the month of February in Brussels, the signing of the Treaty of Nice, the annual accounts of the European Central Bank and the guidelines relating to the legal regulations in terms of accounting, the maximum rate of alcohol in the blood for drivers, aid to Spanish fishermen, the right to competence and rapid intervention mechanisms…
Reviews in short
*** Louvain. March 2001, Brussels. In summary of this review by the Université catholique de Louvain (la-Neuve), in particular a dossier dedicated to cancer. *** Euroistituzioni. 28 Feb./12 March 2001, Rome. For a political process and a world of democratic governance that reflects the needs of citizens, consumers and the company. *** Courrier économique et financier. 23 March 2001, Brussels. This sheet from the KBC bank notably looks at the long-lasting investment products that today represent a little more than one billion Euros in Belgium, collective ecological awareness having significantly developed. *** European economics perspectives. March 2001, London. In summary: The Euro and investments, the question of knowing if economic integration must lead to a harmonisation of taxes, Creative Accounting… *** La lettre du CEPII. February 2001, Paris. The dismantling of the Multifibre agreement by 2005 and the imminent Chinese accession to the WTO, world's largest exporter of clothing, will change the conditions of international competition in textiles and clothing. *** Finnfacts. Finnish companies develop their foreign activities. The half the staff in the most important groups work abroad and more than two thirds of the turnover comes from offices abroad. Concerning energy, wood occupies the most important position. Last year it served to cover a fifth of the energy consumption and around 10 percent of the electricity production. *** 30 Giorni. Rome, 2001, N° 1, EUR 5.16. This review published in various languages (including Italian, French, English, German, Spanish and Portuguese) is lead buy Giulio Andreotti who signs an editorial dedicated to "united Africa" contains, among others, an article on Muslim Algeria that celebrates Saint Augustin this spring in Algiers and a researched investigation in the College of Cardinals. *** One Country. New York, 2001. This issue of the review by Bahá'i notably contains an article entitled "Science, religion and development".