*** OLIVIER DE GASQUET: Comprendre notre agriculture et la PAC. Stratégie, vérités et mensonges de 1945 à nos jours. Librairie Vuibert (20 rue Berbier-du-Mets, F-75647 Paris Cedex 13. Tel: (33-1) 44084908 - Fax: 44084929 - Internet: http://www.vuibert.fr ). "Gestion internationale" series. 2002, 226 pp. ISBN 2-7117-7873-8.
Some books are ill served by the title they are given, and this one is a case in point. Not that the title does not describe the goods, quite the opposite. After going through the book, readers will come away understanding the Common Agricultural Policy and what's at stake in European farming a thousand times better. The title is not misleading… but it gives no idea of the genuine high quality of the drafting of this book, which goes beyond a simple education manual providing useful technical explanations for a target audience to put the entire history of European agriculture over the past fifty years into perspective. In so doing, it provides vital tools for any citizen wanting to gain an accurate understanding of what's genuinely at stake in the domestic and international farming battles of the future. No doubt some will object that the author, Director of the Fédération française des producteurs d'oléagineux et de protéagineux, is not impartial. All the more so because he is a French national and therefore has a partisan view of the agriculture issue. The objection has some merit since it is true that some sentences in the book are irritating. But at the end of the day, what import do they have compared with this talented, masterful work of historical reference granted to us by a man who also happens to be director of studies at the Bordeaux Institut du management des affaires du commerce international.
Olivier de Gasquet devotes the first part of his historical perspective to the "foundation period" of 1945 - 1969, characterised by the post-war reconstruction and modernisation policy and then the setting up of the Common Market. Against this background, he sheds light on how "Green Europe" was just as much a fruit of historical hazard as of political will. French political will in fact, since Charles de Gaulle used bare-faced bargaining to seize from Konrad Adenauer's Germany (in what became ministerial Europe's first "marathon") the following: "industrial Germany can have its industrial common market if France has its agricultural common market; and too bad for Europe if an agreement cannot be struck between these two big nations!" De Gaulle finally won out, as the CAP demonstrates. The author explains, candidly, that with the CAP, France will succeed in its daring attempt to get its partners to pay for developing French agriculture, in return for France's commitment to the European project. For more than thirty years, Germany agreed to pay for this compromise, leading one day to Margaret Thatcher's infamous "I want my money back". The author also points out the extent to which "enlightened" state intervention was used in that period, leading to the "prodigious transformation" of European farming, which could still be described as medieval at the time. This technocratic state intervention can be found in the setting up of instruments like the levy, a variable customs duty constituting a "genuine absolute protectionist weapon" making it possible to erect "fixed barriers against imports around the emerging agricultural Europe"; or export subsidies, known in jargon as "refunds". Even the United States were forced to submit to this protectionist coup de force orchestrated by France, although they forced the Europeans in 1962 to agree to give up for good on any customs duties on oilseed. History would soon remind them that in trade as in agriculture the important thing is to sow the seed…
The other three parts of the book are of the same ilk, Olivier de Gasquet happily marrying pedagogy, rigorous argument, high quality writing and apposite comments. The second period described is that of "growing pains" in the 1970s and the beginning of the following decade, which saw budget spending take off and overproduction set in, with milk lakes and butter mountains. The third period is that of Europe's asserting itself with regard to France, and the heartrending changes being forced on farmers without bringing them to change their production habits. This period is punctuated by the Marrakech trade agreement that sanctioned the sanctioned the "end of the European agriculture exception". The final period is the era of the citizen. It started in the middle of the 1990s with he made don crisis and genetically modified organisms and we are still living in this period today. In the author's view, it proves that "in agriculture as in other areas, democracy has to be rebuilt" since "food crises have demonstrated, going as far as the absurd, where a lack of transparency and the lack of an organised debate on the big issues facing society can lead". The author's deep motivation was to provide the tools required to ensure the big farming debate he aspires to does not go off the rails. Mission accomplished, and how!
Michel Theys
*** PAVLOS D. PEZAROS, MARTIN UNFRIED (Ed): The Common Agricultural Policy and the Environmental Challenge: Instruments, Problems and Opportunities from Different Perspectives. European Institute for Public Administration (PO Box 1229, 6201 BE Maastricht, The Netherlands. Tel: (31-43) 3296274 - Fax: 3296296 - E-mail: m.simons@eipa-nl.com). 2002, 251 pp, 32.75 euros. ISBN 90-6779-166-0.
It is a commonplace that farming, as a major human activity mainly linked to the use of natural resources (land, soil and water), has a direct impact on the environment. In general, agricultural policies tend to ensure the supply of the food provisions needed to feed the population. The biggest and most complete sectoral policy designed by the European Communities, the Common Agricultural Policy, does not escape from this rule. For more than forty years, it has provided a high level of support and protection for European farming. In parallel with the development of the CAP, various attempts have been made to make farming less environmentally damaging. The Commission, for example, has launched a series of initiatives to achieve sustainable agriculture. And the introduction of Article 6 in the Treaty, which demands the integration of an environment policy in all the Community's sectoral policies. The move towards a "greener" CAP has become a regular process.
It's against this backdrop that the European Institute for Public Administration organised a seminar in May 2001 on the Common Agricultural Policy and the Environmental Challenge. National and European officials, industry representatives, NGOs and scientists debates the different elements of a greener CAP. This book publishes their written contributions.
(MF)
*** Agriculture et commerce international. La Documentation française (29-31, quai Voltaire. 75007 Paris) Tel: (00-33) (0)1 40157100 - Fax: 40156800 - Internet: http://www.ladocumentationfran çaise.fr). 2001, 163 pp. Price: 18.50 euros
The agriculture sector has the specific characteristic of not yet being wholly globalised, as is witnessed by, for example, the way that international trade negotiations over agriculture are carried out. Agriculture is also not simply the "subject of generous taxation, but also benefits from huge subsidies". As this special issue of the Economie internationale review explains, the degree to which a sector has been opened to market forces can also be assessed in terms of changes in trade flows. As it happens, between 1950 and 2000, "the ratio of world exports to world production grew fourfold in the manufacturing sector, while it only increased by seventy percent in agriculture". The authors involved in this work brilliantly describe the way in which traditional exchange barriers are not the only characteristic of the agricultural sector. "For several years agricultural imports have been subject to an increasing number of restrictions for health, phytosanitary and environmental reasons". This helps us better understand how the challenges of opening up the agricultural sector internationally "extend beyond the framework of economic assessment of exchange barriers alone", but are also a cultural, public health, environmental and "even a political challenge". This leads the public authorities to give agriculture specific functions, such as food self-sufficiency or land management, for example. The authors trace out the various changes that farming went through in the nineties, answering numerous questions about the true range of effectiveness of the agreements which have covered the agricultural sector. Stefan Tangerman of the OECD draws up a balance sheet to the Uruguay Round in terms of farming. Kym Anderson from Adelaide University and Chantal Pol Nielsen of Copenhagen University make an "economic assessment of the effects of adopting GMO technology in various parts of the world and the import ban on such products in other zones ". Other areas covered include the possibility of using tariff quotas as a tool for increasing access to the Northern market for developing countries and measuring the intensity of the adoption of health, phytosanitary and environmental standards in agriculture.
(AD)
*** MICHL EBNER: La montagna, nostro spazio vitale … da un punto di vista europeo. Casa Editrice Athesia (Bolzano/Bozen. E-mail: buchverlag@athesia.it - Internet: http://www.athesiabuch.it ). 2002, 247 pp. ISBN 88-8266-194-6.
This book (written originally in German with the title "Der Berg als Lebensraum") by Michl Ebner, MEP for the Austrian Südtyroler Volkspartei and chair of the European parliamentary delegation for relations with Slovenia, calls for the EU to adopt a "mountain" policy. It points out that the living area of mountains covers around 30% of the landmass of the EU, including 20% of its "useful" agricultural land and 10% of its population. Moreover, 2002 was decreed International Mountain Year by the United Nations. European Regional Policy and Agricultural Policy Commissioners, Michel Barnier and Franz Fischler, recognise the importance of the contribution to the debate by the MEP from Bolzano, the author of a European Parliament report on "25 years of the implementation of the Community scheme for agriculture in mountainous regions". Another MEP from an Italian mountainous area, Luciano Caveri (from the Val d'Aosta Union), President of the European Parliament's Regional Policy and Transport Committee, supports his colleague's work with a description of the Alpine Convention (which came into force in 1995) as an international instrument for the sustainable development of the Alps.
(MG)
*** Equivalence of SPS measures in WTO law. O'Connor and Company (Rue de Spa, 30, 1000-Brussels, Belgium. Tel: (32+2) 2854685 -Fax: 2854690 - e-mail: oconnor@oconnor.be). June 2002, No 5, 142 pp.
In this monograph, law firm O'Connor and Company, specialising in commercial law and the EC, has looked at the issue of equivalence in health and phytosanitary measures. The authors devote a great proportion of the book to the term "equivalence", which they define as an effective means of minimising trade barriers, in that various criteria, while different, can have the same effect. The lawyers then analyse the SPS agreement, its definitions and role. The SPS is the most important World Trade Organisation agreement in terms of food safety. It includes all measures affecting international trade concerning the protection of human beings, animals and plants within WTO countries against specific external risks such as the plague, toxins and naimal diseases. The following chapters take a more detailed look at Article 4 of the SPS agreement on equivalence and examples of equivalency agreements, such as the US-EC Veterinary Equivalency Agreement, EC-Canada Veterinary Equivalency Agreement, and others.
(ML)
*** GIACOMO LUCIANI, GERD NONNEMANN and RODNEY WILSON: EU-GCC Co-operation in the Field of Education. European UniversityIinstitute (Badia Fiesolana, I-50016, San Domenico di Fiesole, Italy - Internet: http: //http://www.iue.it ) and The Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Studies, The Policy Papers Series, No 02/1, January 2002, 52 pp.
The development of relations, particularly economic relations, between the Gulf Cooperation Council and the European Union may be stimulated by greater cooperation in the field of education. Neglected up till now, this book analyses the initiative in terms of its feasibility and the benefits it could provide to both parties. It is true that the GCC members are facing a serious challenge in this area. Their populations are growing rapidly and their leaders therefore have to invest a large proportion of their budget in education. Moreover, since these countries want to diversify their economies so as no longer to depend on energy resources, there is an increasing demand for professional training. Through three different analyses, the authors explore how current education cooperation operates, looking at initiatives set up by the EU to date, the implementation of European Studies in the Gulf, and Gulf Studies in Europe with a view to improving partnerships and stimulating mutual understanding. Giacomo Luciani is a lecturer at the European University Institute. Rodney Wilson lectures at Durham University and the Islam and Middle East Studies Institute. Gerd Nonneman lectures at Lancaster University.
(BJL)
*** MARCO CHIRULLO and PAOLO GUERRIERI: GCC-EU Relations and Trade Integration Patterns. (see above for details).
This book outlines the interests of the GCC and the Euroepan Union in the development of trade, particularly in terms of Saudi Arabia joining the WTO and the potential implementation of a GCC-EU free trade agreement.
(BJL)
*** The EUROPEAN COMMISSION (Official Publications Office of the European Communities, L-2985 Luxembourg, http: //publications.eu.int) has published the following documents:
*** Le Magazine de l'éducation et de la culture. DG Education and culture (Fax: (32-) 2964259 - E-mail: eac-info@cec.eu.int - Internet: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/education_culture/ index_fr.htm) 2002, No 18. 23pp.
"Knowledge-based Europe: new horizons for education and training" is the main topic, composed of a range of articles from the big issues of education and training to aid that should be provided for the disabled via the desire to give Europeans the means to quickly enter the information society, eLearning, or the "desire to make multimedia work for schools" and mastering ICT.
*** Le politiche strutturali e I territori dell'Europa. Cooperazione senza frontiere. Dg Politica regionale (http: //europa.eu.int/comm/regional_policy/index_it.htm). 2002, 50pp. ISBN 92-894-4028-7.
Despite the numerous challenges met at external borders, instruments for regional policy are becoming more developed within the European Union, according to this publication from DG Regional Policy. The areas covered by the publication in terms of cross-border and transnational integration are transport and telecommunications, the environment "without frontiers", economic cooperation, training and employment, culture, tourism, information, administration and common management.
*** Le Courier ACP. DG Development (12 rue de Genève, B-1140 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2968330- Internet: http: //europa.eu.int/development/publicat/courier). September - October 2002,No194, 92pp.
An interview with the author of the United Nations 2002 report into human development "Extending democracy in a fragmented word", Sakiko Fukudu-Parr, opens this issue of the ACP newsletter. It zooms in on the World Sustainable Development Summit, looking at the shift from theory to practice. Current events considered here include solidarity between ACP countries and the EU in a global world, a dossier on the culture industry, trade, rural development and a report on Lesotho.
*** Actualité des industries de réseaux en Europe. (36, rue de Laborde - F-75008 Paris. Fax: (33-1) 4387689). No7, October 2002. 16pp. Annual subscription: 490€.
There is a dossier on the environment, and more specifically on the energy and water situation at the heart of debates at the Earth Summit and the "French experience" being used for sustainable development. This issue also looks at the regulation on opening up urban transport to the market, the specific case of European metropolises and the steel war, or European penalties put in cold storage.
*** The CEPII Newsletter. Centre d'études prospectives et d'informations internationales. (9 rue Georges-Pitard, F-75015 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 53685514 - Fax: 53685503 - Internet: http: //http://www.cepii.fr ). September 2002, No 215, 4pp.
The newsletter reports that in the euro versus the dollar, everyone can make mistakes and exchange rate predictions generally display poor performance. If predictions influence markets, partially at least, how can the appreciation of the euro be reconciled with the depreciation observed recently?
*** Annual Review. 2001-2002. UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre (12 Piazza SS Annunziata - Tel: (39-55) 20330 - Fax: 244817. E-mail: Florence@unicef.org - Internet: http://www.unicef-icdc.org ). 2002. 15pp. ISBN 88-85401-82-1.
One of the fundamental ideas underlying UNICEF's activities is defending children's rights. 2001 was a crucial year for children throughout the world and this booklet outlines research looking at the monitoring of the impact of socio-economic activity on children's lives, children in industrial countries and getting the message across.