*** Annales d'études européennes de l'Université catholique de Louvain: La Belgique et l'Europe, Editions Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Brussels).Volume 5. 2001, 398 pp. ISBN 2-8027-1523-2.
What is the connection between the European project and Belgium? How can one explain the differences between Europe on paper and Europe as it actually pans out? And how should one approach the schizophrenic behaviour of Belgium, pro-European at times, while lagging behind at others? This collection of essays tries to answer these questions by focussing on four topics, first of all "The European idea in Belgium" where Geneviève Duchenne introduces us to the Socialist leader Jules Destrée's little known documents arguing in favour of the pan-European ideas of Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, a voluntarist and prefigurative vision of the common market. Gaëlle Rony analyses the way that Belgium sketches the outlines of its own identity when it takes action to pursue the European project. The young researcher comments for example that the more people expect from Europe, the more Belgium presents an idealised vision of itself. The country would discover in the European project a way to protect itself from splintering into different segments, along with a way of asserting itself as an important player on the European scene. The second topic discussed is Belgium's European policies. Europe didn't appear out of the blue, and the authors demonstrate the extent to which Europeans - and therefore Belgium - have turned the continent into a huge laboratory experimenting with economic and social data. We are introduced to the role that Pierre Harmel played (the Foreign Minister) in 1966 in stepping up contacts between the constituents of a Europe which was still divided into two blocks. Véronique Filieux shows how the nineteenth century saw a plethora of bodies being created, usually international but actually European in their activities, encouraging cooperation in a wide variety of domains. The third topic covered is European policies in Belgium, showing the extent to which Europe's impact on Belgium can be interpreted in terms of areas of reference. Making a comparative analysis of Walloon and European planning of land use, the contributors points out that various reference levels exist that complement each other, are articulated in terms of each other and interconnect with each other. After looking at a fourth area, institutional aspects, the third part of the book naturally leads to the conclusion of the "Varia" essay in which Christian Arnsperger denounces what he calls "false universalities", in other words, seeing the European project as no more than economic union. Christian Arnsperger is thought provoking in his description of the role and limits of the free market economy against the backdrop of European universality faced with the values of postmodernism. Europe was the cradle of rational universality in the Enlightenment, but historically has also been one of the fiercest promoters of an economic model - free market capitalism - which is tending to outstrip Europe today and remove its policy cohesion and identity, according to the book. Raw capitalism therefore struts about in all its false "universalising" finery, relying on a strengthening and concentration of powers against which Europe will have to take up arms if it wants to return its universalist goal of reason to its rightful place, which Europe has been building for centuries. The logic of the market would therefore cohabit with the values that it has throttled hitherto. This book accompanies the preparations for a debate on "Belgium and Europe in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries", that is being organised for 24-26 April 2002. Alain Dremière
*** Cahiers du droit européen. Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 512 98 45 - Fax: 511 72 02), No 3/4. 2001, 604 pp.
We scarcely need to introduce the Cahiers du droit européen. Stéphane Rodriguès devotes the editorial to the future of the European Union. He first looks at the EU's ambitions, sketching a broad picture of them in terms of the political project, readability and visibility. He then discusses the rationalisation current in which Europe now finds itself. The section on doctrine focuses on four issues - the free circulation of chemicals in the framework of the so-called trichloroethylene ruling, conserving biodiversity in the Common Agricultural Policy, the Emesa Sugar affair and the light shed by the German Constitutional Court on bananas and fundamental rights. A chronicle of jurisprudence is followed by a contribution by Frédéric Louis and Anne Vallery on competition. The book begins with an obituary of the Founder and Chief Editor, Léon Goffin, who passed away on 30 September of this year. (AD)
*** MAURICE MESTAT: Mémoires et libres propos. (53 rue du Château, L-6961 Senningen. Tel: (352) 34 04 49 - Fax: 34 04 36) - 2001, 142 pp.
Maurice Mestat is now in retirement. In this book, he sheds light on thirty-five years spent at the Protocol directorate at the European Parliament. As the title suggests, the book takes the form of a logbook, with the biographical dimension running throughout the book without ever coming to the fore. The paragraphs are short and heterogeneous, running from a survey of sites, gastronomy and art to jottings on the future of Europe and organising receptions and official dinners. Not all readers will agree, of course, with his vision of the current Pope as the pope of the modern epoch but the different anecdotal sections are very amusing. Particularly one in which a secretary starts doing striptease to destabilise Members of the Volkspolizei of East Germany who were spying on a parliamentary committee meeting in West Berlin. In brief, the Wall came down, the artist takes off her makeup and introduces you to her dressing room. (AD)
*** VLAD CONSTANTINESCO, YVES GAUTIER, DENYS SIMON (Ed): Le traité de Nice, premières analyses. Presses universitaires strasbourgeoises (Palais universitaire, 9 place de l'Université, F-67000 Strasbourg). Université Robert Schuman series. 2001, 266 pp, 30 euros. ISBN 2-86820-188-1.
"The European Community has been in an almost continual process of reviewing its constituent treaties for more than a decade (…) but has still not provided the clarification and simplification expected by public opinion… ", explains Professor Constantinesco in the preface. This book fills the gap for the Nice Treaty for people who are already quite familiar with the subject matter. In the first of the ten chapters, the authors look at the Intergovernmental Conference of 2000 and how the Treaty was drawn up. After giving an explanation of the background, they then rapidly describe the players and their contributions, covering the various themes with a toothcomb. The chapter ends with the assessment of the Treaty itself made by the various Community institutions and the Member States. Another chapter looks at the search for institutional legitimacy and analyses the Treaty's impact on the composition of the Community's institutions and bodies. An excellent book, perfectly marrying analysis and description, by authors whose standing has more than enough weight to convince. (AD)
*** ANDREAS MAURER: Le pouvoir renforcé du Parlement européen après Amsterdam. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes and Peter Lang (Brussels. Internet: info@peterlang.com). "La Cité européenne" series, No 23. 2000, 121 pp. ISBN 90-5201-928-2.
Based on an analysis of the institutional criteria of the 1999-2004 term of the European Parliament, this book outlines the future prospects for European parliamentary democracy. The first chapter explains the four amendments to the institutional balance that were introduced in the Amsterdam Treaty, namely extending the application of codecision and assent procedures, simplifying the codecision procedure, the recognition of Parliament in internal and judicial affairs and changes in the procedure for appointing the President of the Commission and the other Commissioners. The second chapter puts the Treaty back into context through the activity already carried out by Parliament while the third chapter considers how the co-governance principle operates. The next four chapters take more of an evaluation-oriented approach, looking in turn at the Treaty's effectiveness, its impact (assessed by answering the question of the importance of Parliament) and the responsibility of the executive and the relationship between the Commission and Parliament. The penultimate chapter looks at the constitutional agenda while the final eighth chapter takes a look at what the future holds and the question of reform. (AD)
*** JON MARCUS MEESE: Das Petitionsrecht beim Europäischen Parlament und das Beschwerderecht beim Bürgerbeauftragten der Europäischen Union. Peter Lang (see above). "Schriften zum Europa- und Völkerrecht und zur Rechtsvergleichung" series, No 4. 2000, 404 pp. ISBN 3-631-36856-9.
This book is based on a doctoral thesis presented at Frankfurt University in 2000 and provides information about on very precise aspect of European citizenship that was introduced in the Maastricht Treaty, namely a series of guaranteed, flexible, out of court legal protection rules that European citizens can have easy access to. These petition and complaint rights form part of the Community legal system and the author proceeds to make a comparative analysis of the EU's right of petition against the oft quoted right of petition that exists in Germany. In terms of the European Ombudsman, however, the position is a conglomerate of various types of Ombudsman existing in the Member States. Hence Jon Marcus Meese compares the French ombudsman, the British Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration and the North European ombudsman systems (Denmark, Finland and Sweden). The study ends by looking at the relationship between petition and referring to the Ombudsman.
In the conclusion, the author makes a series of criticisms and useful suggestions. He criticises the European Parliament and its committees for not taking enough notice of mass petitions, which are the only direct way that citizens can participate in Community law. Jon Marcus Meese argues that petition law should extend beyond the European Parliament to other EU institutions (like the Court of Auditors or OLAF). He is also unhappy about the extremely limited powers of the European Ombudsman who is also subject to limited rights to publish the results of his investigations. The most far-reaching criticism made by the author concerns the limited role of the European Ombudsman which cannot fail to disappoint European citizens - he explains that the Ombudsman answers more than three-quarters of complaints addressed to him by means of a standard letter explaining that he has no powers in the area in question. This will certainly not make citizens identify more closely with Europe. (CB)
*** CHRISTINE NEUHOLD: Das Europäische Parlament im Rechtsetzungsprozess der Europäischen Union. Demokratische Kontrollmöglichkeiten im Hinblick auf die Durchführungsbefugnisse der Europäischen Kommission. Peter Lang (see above). "Europäische Hochschulschriften" series, No 427. 2001, 338 pp. ISBN 3-631-36882-8.
There is nothing new about the issue raised in this book - democratic deficit in the European Union due not to the lack of legitimacy of any particular body or to a lack of representation, but rather to the complexity of the decision-making process on several levels. The author feels that it leads to political decisions being taken by an opaque conglomerate of power. Christine Neuhold justifies her views with a criticism of the comitology system that diminishes the European Parliament's role in implementing the very legal instruments it is co-deciding upon. Against this background, the author considers how Parliament could participate in the decision-making process without being submerged in questions of detail and maintaining a degree of control over legal instruments, considering the role of interinstitutional agreements in this connection. She also raises the issue of the impact of the comitology system on the effectiveness of implementation of the legal instruments and looks at how the system could be made more democratic.
After explaining the notion of democratic deficit and giving an overview of the powers of the Council and the Commission, the author makes an in-depth analysis of the legislative powers held by the European Parliament over time, explaining how the comitology system arose and how the European Parliament fits into it. She illustrates the gap between legislative and executive powers, followed by a look at the implications of this gap in terms of the European Union's decision-making powers. The analysis leads her to the conclusion that Parliament is only involved in the implementation of Community law to a limited extent and should have greater involvement in certain fundamental decisions, particularly in terms of consumer protection where the comitology system allows decisions to be taken behind closed doors despite the fact that citizens' safety is at stake. Christine Neuhold recognises that there is a very narrow margin between technical measures and matters of principle in which Parliament should be involved. The author also admits that this would not solve the problem of the democratic deficit in any case, since it is too deeply rooted at the level of the Member States themselves. (CB)
*** The EUROPEAN COMMISSION (Official Publications Office of the European Communities, L-2985, Luxembourg) has published the following documents:
*** The Magazine. Education and Culture in Europe. DG Education and Culture (Fax: (32-2) 2964259 - E-mail: eac-info@cec.eu.int - Internet: http: //europa.eu.int/dgs/ education_culture/index_ en.htm). No.16, 2002, 23pp.
One of the aims of DG Education and Culture is a Europe of tolerance and intercultural dialogue and a Europe that is open to the rest of the world. To achieve this, the Education and Culture Commissioner Viviane Reding believes the European Union must strengthen dialogue between different cultures. Also in this edition: Multifaceted minorities, European journey to other people's countries, The flat has already been let, Chinese vs Moroccans, Either way I'm black, Legal bases and objectives of the fight against racism and xenophobia, Education and culture, Melting pot of tolerance, Imagining a fraternity dictionary, Asylum, Online tolerance newsletter.
*** Environment for Europeans. DG Environment (Fax: (32-2) 2969560 - E-mail: envinfo@cec.eu.int - http: europa.eu.int/comm/environment/index_en.htm.). No. 9, 2002. 15pp. Free subscription.
A special dossier on enlargement "From the Atlantic to the Black Sea" opens this edition of Environment for Europeans. In an interview with the magazine the Head of the Enlargement Unit at DG Environment, Soledad Blanco, highlights the positive changes in the candidate countries. The complex environmental negotiations are progressing well with most candidate countries that are likely to join the European Union in 2004. The Commission's requests have been taken very seriously by the candidate countries. The dossier looks at the history of the environment in the enlargement negotiations, an appeal for the Blue Danube, raising targets, protecting coastal regions, Green Week 2002 and recent proposals and Communications.
*** Compte rendu. Délégation pour l'Union européenne. Les Documents législatifs de l'Assemblée nationale. (4 rue Aristide Briand, F-75 007 Paris. Internet: http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr ). No. 178, February 2002. 13pp.
French MP Alain Barrau introduces the report on the meeting of the French Délégation de l'Assemblée nationale pour l'Union européenne on 20 February 2002. Areas covered: exchange of views with a delegation from the European Integration Committee of the Bulgarian National Assembly headed by its President, Daniel Valtchev; report by René André on the Stability Pact for South-East Europe; information by Marie-Hélène Aubert about her mission to Malta; and an examination of documents submitted to the Assemblée nationale under Article 88-4 of the French Constitution.
*** Défis Sud. SOS Faim (4 Rue aux Laines, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2)5112238 - E-mail: d.sud@sosfaim.be - Internet: http://www.sosfaim.be ). No.50, 2002. 46pp. Prix: 3€.
The social conflicts that have hit Bolivia in the last three years are explained by the exclusion that various sections of the population feel they are victims of. Since 1985, economic policy priorities have been measured in terms of macroeconomic indicators. Whole sections of the population are excluded from the internal market. Défis Sud asks whether the key to development is not to be found in integration in the global economy. Other issues covered, the reactions of Latin America, Africa and the Arab world to 11 September; Interview with Walden Bello about the WTO; Africa and Sabena; and the tinderbox of Southern Africa.
Reviews in brief
*** Interactive. Datanews., No. 4, March 2002. Vilvoorde Review of the "decision-makers in the digital age", this publication looks at economic issues in the digital age. In this issue: IT will not be put on a pedestal, the long-awaited explosion of Business Intelligence, direct marketing through CRM tools and e-invoicing. ** La Lettre d'information. Ministère de la culture et de la communication., No. 94, February 2002. Paris Contents: The second series of measures for short cinema films, the Franco-German youth office - a major player in cultural co-operation, the bicentenary of Victor Hugo and the regulations fixed for land-based digital television. *** Go! The Euronext magazine. No. 6, February 2002. Paris Contents: The internationalisation of share trading - the focus of the European Directive; socially responsible investment - the key to growth; and important biotech prospects.