*** PAUL MAGNETTE: Citizenship. A History of the Idea of Civic Participation. Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5129845 - fax: 5117202 - E-mail: lib.bruylant@pophost.eunet.be - Internet: http: //http://www.bruylant.be ). 2001, 283 pp, EUR 55 euros. ISBN 2-8027-1478-3.
At the time "European citizenship" is unfolding under the revealing guise of the hard cash of the single currency, this book comes at the right time. It will undoubtedly be at the heart of the tasks ahead
of the Convention, of which Valéry Giscard d'Estaing will be President. What is citizenship? At first glance the question may appear ridiculous. This is far from the case, as Professor John Dunn (King's College, Cambridge University) points out in the preface: although obviously central to modern politics, it would be mistaken to believe that the idea of citizenship has at all been agreed and unequivocal through time and space. The concept, in fact, provides more questions than answers. What does being a citizen actually mean? Where and when did the term citizen appear for the first time in the political discourse of human societies and how has the notion been interpreted in the process since then? Does citizenship constitute a clear and unequivocal concept, with its own accessible history? Is it the key component of one or many dynamic and powerful political theories or the lexical shadow of an obscure and unabating struggle for the conquest of power? Professor Dunn also asks whether it is a fundamental phenomenon of direct urban expression and free and participatory government, that only found its real home long ago in a small region, and that today with deliberate metaphorical arrogance reaches out to mould very bureaucratic countries of the twenty-first century and is indeed politically incoherent in a globalised capitalist economy? Senior Lecturer in Political Science at the Université libre de Bruxelles, Paul Magnette brings together a wide range of factors that have, by way of shaping the concept of citizenship as perceived in ancient Athens, to the idea of citizenship in the age of mass societies, traced the intellectual an ideological history of modern citizenship. A "lucid and rigorous" book that according to Professor Dunn, should be read attentively and reflect upon with great care. Never has a truer word been spoken!
Michel Theys
*** SATURNIN GOMEZ: Europe belongs to its citizens. Seize it! Labor Publishing (29 quai du Commerce, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2500670 - fax: 2177197 - Internet: http: //http://www.labor.be ). "Quartier libre" series. 2001, 95 pp, EUR 9. ISBN 2-8040-1622-6.
This small but dynamic book has arisen out of an observation that the connection between Europe and its citizens is missing. Certainly the enthusiasm which accompanied the arrival of the Euro will moderate this or at least no longer allow simplistic analytical explanations of the phenomenon often trotted out by demagogic politicians. Nonetheless, the gulf between citizens and the European institutions remains far too wide. How can this "apparent desertion by its citizens" be explained? In his introduction the author goes some way to providing the answer. Firstly, the far too general impression that Europe is exclusively concerned by economic affairs and not enough by issues that concern people's everyday lives. Ignorance, made worse by the complexity of the Community's institutional scaffolding, that creates fertile ground for every kind of manipulation and demagogy. Finally, the absence of a public European arena, that according to Saturnin Gomez, necessitates the emergence of a European agora, a true area of information, expression, exchange and articulation of politics. This book, clearly written by a European civil servant at the Commission who has not forgotten that he was previously a journalist, is dedicated to helping this European agora emerge. With this in mind, he first of all poses a number of simple questions and provides answers that are within the grasp of everyone.
With this in mind, he first of all poses a number of simple questions and provides answers that are within everyone's grasp. What does Europe mean? What are its origins? How does it work? What is it for? How much does it cost? Saturnin Gomez turns out to be an effective scholar whose convictions are contagious. Europe is an "eminently political project " to which the citizen must contribute. Even more important, Saturnin believes that citizens are central, as the final arbiter, and Europe belongs to them in the most profound sense of the word. Food for thought given that the Convention begins its work in a few weeks' time. May it achieve its mission inspired by the idea that "Europe is not at a crossroads. It is the crossroads!"
(MT)
*** LOUIS LE HARDY DE BEAULIEU (Ed): Europe and its citizens. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes - Peter Lang (Brussels. Internet: info@peterlang.com). "La Cité européenne"series, No. 22. 2000, 238 pp. ISBN 90-5201-929-0.
The Catholic University Faculty of Mons and the European Political Study Group took the initiative in organising a debate on the twentieth anniversary of the first European Parliamentary elections by direct universal suffrage. This book covers the events and sees nine renowned Belgian legal and political experts trace the all too chequered history of the rise through this period to the Europe of Citizens. In his introduction, Louis le Hardÿ de Beaulieu begins by locating the notion of European citizenship (recalling very opportunely that the "founding fathers" project was "far from being based on an abstract and disembodied construction, (…)it aimed at placing the individual and his activities at the centre of the debate") by stressing - which is done only too rarely! - that citizenship "cannot (…) be founded on rights that have been agreed upon alone but also on responsabilities and duty ".
Entitled "The Citizen and the Institutions", the first part of this book opens with an illuminating contribution by Paul Magnette (Institut d'études européennes de l'Université libre de Bruxelles) who makes a calculated assessment of twenty years of parliamentary power within the Union. Characterised by record abstentionism, the European elections of June 1999 sounded the alarm as, "not voting is a political act" and is often enacted by the absentee voter in a calculated manner. Paul Magnette explains that since then the signal emanating from half the electorate in June 1999 begs the question whether the European Parliament wanted to embrace the citizen a little too ardently but almost ended up strangling him". The author expresses a certain doubt about this aspect. After having exposed the "paradox of the democratic deficit" (contrary to the wishes of the federalists, the Parliament managed to focus the attention of the public elsewhere while extending its own powers, without, nevertheless, being able to inject the intergovernmental forums with a central role or stimulating the spontaneous development of a European civic area). Paul Magnette diagnoses a huge amount of overrepresentation (with the Committee of the Regions, the Economic and Social Committee, the mediating and interfering roles of the national parliaments, "the representative channels for the citizen in the Community sphere are now so numerous that one gets lost within them"…) and more seriously, a "deficit of responsibility", with MEPs favouring decision-making to the detriment of political control, resulting in the indispensable "function of public deliberation" and subsequent enlightenment of the citizen. The author concludes that the Convention to draft the European Charter of Fundamental Rights will succeed in being structured so a multi-level parliamentarism to emerge. After Laeken, he ought to be satisfied on this level. On the democratic deficit and "co-decision sophism", Professor Christian Franck (Université catholique de Louvain) reaches the same conclusion, given citizen and sociological alienation. He states that "the master card of the European Parliament is not to create a sovereign assembly along the lines of national parliaments, but to supplement democratic dialogue in the exercise of competencies that people and states have transferred to the institutions of the Union. Senior Lecturer at the Facultés universitaires catholiques de Mons, Alain Guggenbühl, outlines a "criticism of pure transparency", which would lead up a blind alley if it does not aim to provide European citizens with information. The ultimate goal should be citizens identifying themselves with the Union rather than seeing it as a jar of murky water. Finally, Katlijn Malfliet (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) analyses "National Identities, Minorities and Citizenship in an Enlarged Europe".
The second part focuses on different policies (the origins of Community action, European law and the environment between "discourse and rules", legal and judicial co-operation, the social challenge of employment) ending in a general conclusion.
(MT)
*** Une vision écologiste pour une Europe intégrée. Green group at the European Parlimanet (Internet: http://www.greens-efa.org and http://www.ecolo.be ). This brochure outlines how ecologists (concentrating on Belgian ecologists) see the follow-up to Nice and following on from there, the follow up to the Laeken Summit.
*** De Europese Unie: Slagvaardig en legitiem. Rapport van een werkgroep van de Europese Beweging Nederland. Europese Beweging Nederland (137 Riouwstraat, 2585 HP The Hague. Tel: (31-070) 3541144 - Fax: 3587606 - Email: ebn@xs4all.nl - Internet: http: //http://www.europese-beweging.nl ). 2001, 55 pp.
The European Movement of the Netherlands has published its report on perspectives for the future of Union, entitled De Europese Unie: Slagvaardig en legitiem". The deadline has been fixed for 2010, when the effects of the Intergovernmental Conference of 2004 will have begun to have an impact. The working group, presided by the Dutch politician, Jurgens, and former MEP Jean Penders, will have as many political responsibilities as it has representatives from academia. Six areas will be covered in the study: agricultural policy, the environment, economic and monetary union, external policy, security and justice and immigration.
(FV)
*** GREGOIRE ELDIN, PIERRE FOURNIE, AGNES MOINET-LE MENN, GEORGES-HENRI SOUTOU: L'Europe de Robert Schuman. Presses de l'Université de Paris Sorbonne (1 rue Victor Cousin, F-75005 Paris - Tel: (33-1) 40462720 - Fax: 40463308). "Mondes contemporains" series. 2001, 101 pp, 13 euros. ISBN 2-84050-214-3.
This book provides its readers with a rich exploration of the archives at Quai d'Orsay in Paris. It provides information about the former French Foreign Minster who was at the very dynamic heart of the launch of the European project. The short book provides a useful introduction to the current state of historical debate of the contribution Robert Schuman has made over time, lby ooking at the current discussions from the introduction of the euro to the Convention.
(MT)
*** EU Information Handbook. The EU Committee of the American Chamber of Commerce in Belgium (50 av. des Arts, bte 5, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5136892 - Fax: 5137928 - E-mail: eucommittee@amcham.be - Internet: http://www.eurocommittee.be ). 2001, 374 pp, EUR 60. ISBN 2-930073-98-5.
This annual directory compiled by the American Chamber of Commerce in Belgium remains (more than ever before) a useful working guide, indispensable even for those who are occasionally or regularly obliged to feel their way through the jungle of the European institutions and through the nebulosity of the organisations within their orbit. Carefully and very clearly presented, it provides a tour of each of the institutions, the European agencies, financial and monetary institutions, Permanent Representations and Missions of the Union, the international organisations of "Greater Europe", as well as the NGOs active within the European framework. One chapter focuses on the American structures working in the European arena while another chapter focuses on the information sources available. Organigrammes and contact points are given throughout. The 2002 edition provides a map outlining the whereabouts of the institutions in Brussels, which, given that they greatly dispersed throughout the city, is most useful.
(MT)
*** Revue politique et parlementaire (21 rue de la Baume, F-75008 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 53837045 - Fax: 53830170). 2001, No. 1013-1014, 179 pp, 98 FF. Subscription: EUR 61 (France) or EUR 74 (abroad).
The editorial in this issue is called "Refondations ?" and quotes Peguy Noonan, an American journalist who, in 1998, wrote in an article entitled, "To Stay the Hand of God": "We are in a cabin on the Titanic. (…) Three billion human beings are suffering and dying from starvation. (…) Terrorism will strike soon (…) in Manhattan, the city at the centre of our modernity (…) and our arrogance"… This disturbing testimony, full of foresight, provides the lightening conductor throughout the pages that stem from the conviction that the lack of participation and transnational terrorism are the two sides of a world in decay, with each of them revealing in their own way, the dysfunctionality of the forces of development. Other contributions - particularly that of Elisabeth Guigou on social dialogue and participatory revival - the most likely routes to lead to social and geopolitical regeneration. There are also the differing German and French perspectives on how to tackle the future of the European institutions, as outlined by Jean-Claude Zarka.
(MT)
*** Revue internationale de politique comparée. De Boeck (39 rue des Minimes, B-1000 Brussels. Distribution: Accès+, 4 Fond Jean-Pâques, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve. Tel: (32-10) 482500 - fax: 482519 - E-mail: acces+@deboeck.be). 2001, No. 2, EUR 34.46. ISBN 2-8041-3681-7.
The main article of this issue is entitled "The Consolidation of Democracy: New Issues" and includes a contribution by Laurence Whitehead on the subject of European Union enlargement and the risks to democracy that accompany it.
(MT)
*** EUROPEAN COMMISSION (The Official Publications Office of the European Communities, L-2985, Luxembourg) has published the following document:
*** Cordis focus. DG Enetrprise (Fax: (352-4301) 32084 - E-mail: innovation@cec.eu.int - Internet: http://www.cordis.lu/news ). December 2001, No. 187, 27 pp. Free subscription.
Commissioner Erkki Liikanen is quick to point out on the first page of this publication that information technology orientated research projects have a key role to play. He explains how this is true for the development of small businesses and the different activities of those involved in the science sector in general. This is undoubtedly the reason why the new Spanish Presidency wanted to give this sector a new boost in the next six months of its office. One of the practical Spanish initiatives will be to develop access to the Internet for more people in Europe and in so doing reduce the gap between it and other continents in the world.
*** Article 88-4 de la Constitution. Délégation pour l'Union européenne de l'Assemblée nationale (Kiosque de l'Assemblée nationale, 4 rue Aristide Briand, F-75007 Paris. Internet: http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr ). "Les documents législatifs de l'Assemblée nationale" series, No. 3347. 2001, 254 pp. ISBN 2-11-115115-7.
Politician, Alain Barrau, provides an introduction on the work of the European Union Delegation of the French National Assembly between 27 June and 11 October 2001. Fifty seven Draft Community Acts were dispatched to him by the government under Article 88-4 of the Constitution, resulting in his pronouncements on documents regarding agriculture, foreign trade, the environment, justice and home affairs, fishing, foreign and joint security policy, external relations, economic, budgetary and fiscal issues, health and transport etc.
*** Scenarios as tools for international environmental assessment. Experts' corner Prospects and scenarios No. 5 European Environment Agency (6 Kongens Nytorv, DK-1050 Copenhagen K. Tel: (45) 33367100 - Fax: 33367199 - E-mail: eea@eea.eu.int - Internet: http: //http://www.eea.eu.int ). "Environmental issues report" series, No. 24. 2001, 31 pp. ISBN 92-9167-402-8.
This issue begins by explaining that if we wish to create a sustainable environment, we need to look further than just tomorrow because building a better world requires imagination. A variety of scenarios and other prospective analyses are not, in the eyes of the European Environment Agency, points of purely intellectual interest but above all, effective tools for synthesising, communicating and informing the public and our decision-makers. It has therefore been given the mandate for producing information that helps decision-makers in the field of the environment. This kind of information in the Agency's view, cannot be effective if it is devoid of the innovation that generates alternative scenarios. This is why it is proposing to introduce in its reports a call to the decision-makers to join in and facilitate exchange and provide the necessary resources.
*** La Lettre de confrontations. Confrontations (41 rue Emile Zola, F-93107 Montreuil cedex. Tel: (33-1) 49881194 - E-mail: confrontations@wanadoo.fr - Internet: http: //http://www.confrontations.org ). October-November 2001, 28 pp. Subscription: 150 FF.
In brief: The WTO, the meeting place, Doha, and the stakes involved in a new round of trade negotiations (this is the synopsis of a conference organised by Confrontations in Brussels with Pascal Lamy and respresenatives from the economic and trade union world, and European civil society), conclusions of the public debate on the future of Europe, revise the growth and stablity pact and the centre-piece "Après the Shock of 11 September: Justice, Security, Development -Europe must show that it exists".
Reviews in brief
*** Courrier économique et financier. November 2001, Brussels. The publication of the KBC bank review the shortage of capital at the Brussels stock exchange and the profitability of Belgian companies in 2000. *** La Lettre d'information. France's Minister for Culture and Communication. November 2001. Paris. In this special supplement " The Year of the Circus" Charter for Welcoming Circuses in the different boroughs *** Look Japan. December 2001 and January 2002. Tokyo. To summarise these two issues: direct foreign investment, the "Doctor-Patient" network, new technologies and medical treatment, the development of the Chinese economy in the twenty first century and terrorism.