WEEKLY SUPPLEMENT / European library

*** PHILIPPE POCHET (Ed.): Union monétaire et négociations collectives en Europe. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes and Peter Lang (15 Jupiterstrasse, CH-3000 Bern. Fax: [phone]). "Travail & Société" series, No. 23. 2000, 286 pp. ISBN 90-5201-916-9.

The euro is now jangling in our pockets, having entered into the lives of Europeans very smoothly. The new situation is a good reason for resurrecting this book, that made its way to the Agency by a highly tortuous route. It is, in fact, hugely of the moment now that the single currency has come into being, shedding light on the important challenge to be taken up by the European political and social system. In the preface, Lars Magnusson (Professor of Economic History at Uppsala University and Director of Research at the Swedish National Institute for Working Life in Stockholm) explains that the arrival of the single currency will doubtless create pressure for salary alignment and equilibrium across other labour costs in every single Member State, even those that have remained outside the eurozone, and this may call into question the various national collective bargaining systems that have been set up in the 20th century in the different European countries.

Director of the European Social Monitoring Centre, Philippe Pochet takes as his starting point the theory that the renaissance of the 'social agreements' seen at the beginning of the 90s was stimulated by the prospect of Monetary Union, particularly in countries that could face difficulties supporting a monetary system aiming at keeping inflation low and a stable currency combined with public deficits that are not allowed to get out of control. This general theory is then analysed in detail in the book through six case studies (Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Finland and France), preceded by an introductory chapter which is a kind of typological testing of the road taken by the different Member States in arriving at the decision to opt for the single currency. Here Philippe Pochet distinguishes between repercussions in the second qualification phase and repercussions that have been felt since joining the definitive stage of EMU. The author first gives a brief outline of the overall impact of EMU before going on to assess the initial economic positions of the Member States, leading him to divide them into two groups, each having two variables. The first group encompasses countries for which there has been little change, namely the little countries with very open economies on the one hand, and France and Germany on the other, which want to "project their model at the European level". The second group is made up of peripheral states that have recently adopted a monetary regime based on stability and combatting inflation. It is mainly in the latter countries that social agreements have been considered and signed; with two variables here too - on the one hand, countries where the various stakeholders (social partners and governments) negotiate positively on balance, and on the other hand, those where tension dominates the attempt to agree on a new social compromise.

In the "conclusions and perspectives" scattered throughout the book, Philippe Pochet points out that the Maastricht Treaty was more a stage in a process (although sometimes a vital stage) than a radical change in and of itself, with the different countries striking a more or less stable balance in order to cope with a monetary system that focusses above all on price stability. Looking at the potential implications of single currency in the eurozone as a whole, he comments that the only player that is on a completely European level and has to take into account the interests of the European Union in its entirety is the European Central Bank. Against this backdrop, there is concern that monetary policy will take precedence over other economic policies (the budget or pay) and that consequently the solutions decided upon may be less than perfect. For the Director of the European Social Monitoring Centre, this can also be looked at the other way round, in terms of the ECB's capacity to implement a coherent policy since it is faced with uncoordinated players. He initially focusses on the institutions and procedures that have been set up to supplement the centralisation of monetary policy (Eurogroup basically), before considering the strategies selected by the different players - essentially the trade unions - to deal with the changes in scale. At this moment in time, the strategies form a kind of mosaic, with the coordination of negotiations currently being in more at the apprenticeship stage than true Europeanisation. Michel Theys

*** The Monetary Policy of the ECB. European Central Bank (29 Kaiserstrasse, D- 60311 Frankfurt am Main. Tel: [phone] - Fax: [phone] - Internet: http: //http://www.ecb.int ). 2001, 149 pp. ISBN 92-9181-217-X.

Very well illustrated and usefully enriched with explanatory tables and diagrams (along with a glossary, a bibliography and an index), this publication introduces the European Central Bank and how it operates. The first chapter looks at the institutional framework of monetary policy, the second considers the economic and financial structure of the eurozone (from the key characteristics of the economy to financial intermediaries, via the job market, the public sector, foreign trade, financial structures and financial markets), the third looks at the strategy behind monetary policy (controlling inflation) and the fourth considers the implementation of monetary policy and finally the decisions taken by the ECB under Wim Duisenberg's leadership in 1999 and 2000. (LD)

*** STEPHAN RABE, SIMONE HEUSER: Die Einführrung des Euro-Bargeldes 2002.Bundesverband Öffentlicher Banken Deutschlands (VÖB-Service, 88 Godesberger Allee, Postfach 201355, D-53143 Bonn. Tel: [phone] - Fax: [phone] - E-mail: [e-mail]). 2001, 229 pp. ISBN 3-927466-67-0.

This book gives a very clear explanation of the process that led to citizens having Euro notes and coins in their pockets as from 1 January 2002, along with the legal and practical conditions preceding the introduction of the notes and coins. Legal texts and a series of documents, tables and diagrams and a lexicon of Eurospeak round off this very concise handbook. (CB)

*** GERARD FUCHS: Budget communautaire pour 2002: un budget à courte vue. 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 d'information de l'Assemblée nationale" series, No. 3220. 2001, 42 pp, 3.05 euros. ISBN 2-11-115360-5.

This is a highly critical report! French MP Gérard Fuchs analyses the European budget for the current year, openly regretting the strict financial discipline that has been imposed through the unbearably tight straitjacket by the Financial Perspectives decided upon for 2000-2006. Compared with the United States, Europe is suffering from structural weaknesses, particularly due to the modest level of its budget resources, laments the French MP, diagnosing in the Commission a surprising lack of ambition and voluntarism at a time when the European Union is moving towards a historic enlargement and when it should be trying to play a greater international role, concern itself with new technology, implement a genuine space policy, support the economy and be capable of solving various social problems at a higher level than nation states.

In the resolution adopted by the French National Assembly's Delegation for the European Union, based on this report, there is the idea of levying a Community tax in order to be able to implement the desirable new common policies. French MPs see the notion of earmarking part of income tax to the European Union, deducted from citizens at an invariable rate, as one option that might be considred, as long as it is preceded by a harmonisation of the bases decided upon. (MT)

*** BENJAMIN GEVA: Bank Collections and Payment Transactions. Comparative Study of Legal Aspects. Oxford University Press (Great Clarendon Street, Oxford OX2 6DP. Tel: [phone] - Internet: http://www.oup.com ). 2001,575 pp., £75. ISBN 0-19-829853-6.

The author of this exhaustive study, Professor of Law at York University in Toronto, describes in great detail the national and international laws governing payment transactions, particularly their legal ramifications in Australia, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Africa, Switzerland and the United States. The comparative monography is clearly aimed at banking law specialists, and would be of great use to academic researchers and lawyers specialising in this area. (PB)

*** CHRISTOPH GWOSC: Ein Verschuldungsrecht für die Europäische Union? Möglichkeiten und Beschränkungen einer Finanzierung der EU durch öffentliche Kreditaufnahme unter den gegenwärtigen institutionellen Voraussetzungen. Peter Lang and Publications Universitaires Européennes (see above). "Europäische Hochschulschriften" series, No. 2717. 2001, 161 pp. ISBN 3-631-37155-1.

The fiinancing possibilities and limits for the European Union through public lending in the current institutional framework are examined by Christoph Gwosc, a German economist, who has based the book on his doctoral thesis for Duisburg University. He considers the potential for the EU to be authorised to go into debt, a prospect that the author feels should not be ruled out in advance in the negotiations on the Community's budget reform in the run-up to the new financial challenges of enlargement and the Common Defence Policy. Christoph Gwosc argues that a lending policy with a view to funding the European Union must not be dismissed out of hand, but should on the contrary be a topic of discussion. A concise, theoretical book on a complex and controversial subject. (PB)

*** ULRICH HANGE: Umlagefinanzierte Alterssicherung, Land und Migration. Eine theoretische Untersuchung. Peter Lang and Publications Universitaires Européennes (see above). "Europäische Hochschulschriften" series, No. 2728. 2001, 150 pp. ISBN 3-631-37643-X.

Using mathematical and macroeconomic models designed to measure changes in the intergenerational distribution of wealth, the author of this book looks at the economic impact of public pension schemes in the different national economies, which are closely connected through migration and the huge mobility of units of production. Ulrich Hange examines the consequences in terms of allocation and redistribution in an abstract manner. The study also takes land ownership into account along with how it influences mobility and capital accumulation across the generations. The author is a research economist at Munich University who attempts to provide a theoretical framework in the book (based on a doctoral thesis) for a problem that the internatl market still hasn't resolved, namely the coordination and harmonisation of fiscal and social policy within the European Union. (PB)

*** YOTA KRAVARITOU (Ed.): The Regulation of Working Time in the European Union - La réglementation du temps de travail dans l´Union européenne. Gender Approach. Presses Interuniversitaires européennes and Peter Lang (see above). "Work and Society" series, No. 21. 1999, 503 pp. ISBN 90-5201-903-7.

This book edited by Yota Kravaritou, Law Professor at Salonica University and the European University Institute in Florence, covers the proceedings of a conference that took place in the mid-90s as part of the European Forum on Gender and Working Time. More than 25 researchers from various countries in the European Union look at how working time is regulated (taking a gender approach) by the 1993 Community Directive on working time. An interesting and detailed book aimed at a specialist audience. (PB)

*** UTE MÜLLER, REGINE PRUNZEL: Handeln in Europa. Handbuch der Förderinstrumente für Kommunen und Wohlfahrtsverbände. Verlag für zielorientierte Medien (90 Frankenstrasse, D-50374 Erfstadt. Tel: [phone] - Fax: 353861 - E-mail: [e-mail]). 2001, 89.80 DM. ISBN 3-9805951-2-9.

In the form of a file covering all the European Union funding programmes that are currently up and running (see also European Library of 17/18 April 2000), this guide is very regularly updated, the latest update being the fifth to date. The chapter on women has been supplemented by various programmes covering equal opportunities, action against human trafficking, sexual exploitation and combating violence against children, young people and women. Likewise, in the chapter on migration, racism and attacks on human rights, the authors have focussed on the European Fund for Refugees. (CB)

*** ALESSANDRA CANCEDDA: Employment in household services. European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Wyattville Road, Loughlinstown, Co. Dublin, Ireland. Tel: [phone] - Fax: [phone] - E-mail: [e-mail]). 2001, 119 pp, 22 euros. ISBN 92-897-0085-8.

This report by an Italian sociologist is the fruit of detailed research in eight Member States of the European Union (Germany, Austria, Finland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom) to measure the extent to which the creation of jobs in household services contributes to combating unemployment and social exclusion. (MT)

*** The EUROPEAN COMMISSION (Official Publications Office of the European Communities, L-2985, Luxembourg) has published the following documents:

*** InfoRegio News. DG Regional Policy (Fax: [phone] - e-mail: [e-mail] - Internet: http: //inforegio.cec.eu.int). February 2002, No. 95.

The adoption of the first report on progress in the field of economic and social cohesion provided Commissioners Barnier, Diamantopoulou and Fischler (joint rapporteurs for such matters) with an opportunity to explain the approach that has been followed and the difficulties encountered in this area, along with up-to-the-minute information on regional policy in the perspective of enlargement… The newsletter also announces the launch of a new Inforegio website on 1 March 2002 on Europa (http: //europa.eu.int/comm/regional_policy/index_en.htm).

*** Cordis focus. DG Entreprise (Fax: [phone] - E-mail: [e-mail] - Internet: http://www.cordis.lu/news ). 25 February 2002, N o. 191, 23 pp. Free of charge to subscribe.

In terms of reforming SMEs, European Commissioner Erkki Liikanen calls in this issue for Europe to "keep the pace up", in the light of the report on the implementation of the Euroepan Small Business Charter adopted on 12 February. The report's conclusions demonstrate that while progress has been made in key areas like cutting red tape and improving access to e-commerce, huge differences remain between the different Member States which remain an area of concern to the Commission. Other subjects covered: state aid for steel R&D subject to new rules following the expiry of the ECSC Treaty, and the appeal by French Industry Secretary of State, Christian Pierret, for the EU to match Japan and the United States in terms of innovation…

*** Liaisons sociales Europe. Groupe Liaisons (1 av. Edouard-Belin, F-92500 Rueil-Malmaison. Tel: [phone] and 299623 - Fax: 299670 - Internet: http://www.liaisons-sociales ). February-March 2002, No. 50, 7 pp, €25.

Europe wants workers to move - the headline on the first page. Following in the wake of the ideas set out in the March 2001 Communication on new job markets, the Commission has published an Action Plan setting out proposals aiming to expand the dimensions of the job market to fit the contours of the internal market, notes this review, which sees the objective as making the national job market geographical frontiers correspond with the EU's frontiers, and superimposing an area which could faciliate the process of workers becoming adaptable. Rigidity that holds back career development, and the lack of skills for settling in and adapting are criticised. Other areas covered include the Finnish law on new professional risks, a Belgian label denoting socially responsible production and a dossier on worker information and consultation in Spain

*** Trialog. Les nouvelles sur l'élargissement de l'UE et les ONGD. Comité de liaison ONGD-UE Trialog (3 Turkenstrasse, A-1090 Vienna and 10 square Ambiorix, 1000 Brussels. Tel: [phone] and (32-2) 7438790 - Fax: [phone] and (32-2) 7321934 - E-mail: [e-mail] and [e-mail] - Internet: http://www.clong-trialog.at ). January 2002, No. 1, 7 pp.

The first issue of this new magazine raises development questions in the context of European Union enlargement. One of the main priorities of the Trialog programme (celebrating its first year of existence) is to extend communication between all development cooperation policy stakeholders in an enlarged European Union. The programme will publish a regular information bulletin. This issue also comments on the Commission's regular reports on progress made by candidate countries in the course of 2001, a new ONGD? platform in Malta, changes to development policy in Slovakia, new sponsor in Poland and cooperation between Finland and Estonia.

*** La Lettre. La nouvelle lettre de la FIDH (Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l'Homme) (17 passage de la Main d'or, 75011 Paris. Tel: [phone] - Fax: [phone] - E-mail: [e-mail] - Internet: http://www.fidh.org ). February 2002, No. 54. 19 pp, €4.

Contents: the International Federaction of Human Rights Leagues reports to United Nations work group on arbitrary arrest; the death penalty in Cuba, from a de facto moratorium to an official moratorium; the taboo of homosexuality in the Muslim world coming out of the closet; popular mobilisation in Argentina in response to the crisis; Nigeria and urgent appeals.