*** RENAUD DEHOUSSE, ANDREAS MAURER, JEAN NESTOR, JEAN-LOUIS QUERMONNE, JOACHIM SCHILD: La nouvelle architecture institutionnelle de l'Union européenne: une troisième voie franco-allemande? Groupement d'études et de recherches "Notre Europe" (41 bld des Capucines, F-75002 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 44589798 - Fax: 44589799 - E-mail: notreeurope@notre-europe.asso.fr - Internet: http: //http://www.notre-europe.asso.fr ). "Etudes et recherches" series, No. 23. 2003, 31 pp.
On either side of the Rhine this year there is a desire to relaunch cooperation between Germany and France, Franco-German friendship must now consider working to be benefit of common responsibility for Europe, as the joint statement issued at the celebrations to mark the fortieth anniversary of the Elysée Treaty puts it. To elucidate the reforming of this couple, the "Groupement d'études et de recherches" headed by Jacques Delors could not have chosen a better subject than the two countries' contribution at the Convention to the institutional structure.
The authors assert that the two key elements in this joint proposal that most directly impact on the EU's institutional structure and which will have the greatest consequences are choosing a two-head structure and the institutional architecture and procedure chosen for the EU's external action. The two-head nature is based on two figureheads, one of whom being the President of the Commission. Unlike at present, he or she would be elected by QMV voting at the European Parliament, while the Commission itself would answer politically to both the EP and the Council. There is also innovation regarding the second figurehead, the President of the Council, who the Franco-German proposal sees as being full time throughout the term of office, implying he or she could not be selected from members of the Council but would be elected by the Council by QMV. More than one five and a half year term of office would be possible. The President would act as the EU's representative internationally and should not shadow the European Foreign Minister that the French and German delegates want to see established. The authors of this book see this as the most visible innovation. Appointed by the Council by QMV, the Foreign Minister would mesh the work of the current EU High Representative for CFSP and the External Relations Commissioner.
As a title of one of the chapters in this book puts it, areas of shadow hang over the "compromise by addition", in other words, a compromise that juxtaposes elements from both traditions. Among these shadowy areas the authors highlight institutionalising competition at the summit, which Council and Commission might oppose. Another area of artistic licence surrounds the weight of the Commission and the "ambiguous" role of the Secretary General of the Council. Rather than just a compromise, the common text appears like a compromise machine that could give rise to a whole series of solutions, concludes this book. It provides useful background for appreciating the outcome of the Convention.
Alain Dremière
*** GIOVANNI GREVI: Time for a Government of the Union. The European Policy Centre (Résidence Palace, 155 rue de la Loi, B-1040 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2310340 - Fax: 2310704 - E-mail: info@TheEPC.be - Internet: http://www.TheEPC.be ). "EPC working Paper" No. 4. April 2003, 63 pp.
Continuing his detailed exploration of the themes being examined by the European Convention, Giovanni Grevi, Associated Director of the "think-tank", European Policy Centre, set up by Stanley Crossick, appeals in these pages for innovation - a single European Union president - the idea first mooted by the French Convention Member Pierre Lequiller and who, over time has obtained the support of other Members of the Convention (see EUROPE 21 May p. 6). Like these other Convention members, and with the knowledge that mentalities are not yet ready for such an institutional "leap" , the author suggests that this new personality enters the European political arena in the long term, but by 2014 at the latest. Therefore, according to him, the future Constitution should include a clause (idea which is particularly shared by Commissioner Barnier) that allows for Heads of State and Government, "when they deem appropriate, at the latest in 2014, vote by qualified majority on the merger of the two presidential positions (of the Commission and European Council) in order to establish a President of the European Union". While waiting, a longer term president of the European is not acceptable, according to Grevi, unless very strict conditions are met (including a "job description") and that his appointment goes together with the election of the president of the Commission by the European Parliament. In the context of the "job description", Grevi mentions a very detailed British "non paper" leaked a few months ago and which contains "surprising suggestions". Such as that of a future "chair" of the European Council overseen by a Council Secretariat ("which formally becomes its administration") and is in charge of preparation of the agenda for the European Councils and which" inspects the conclusions", and approves the Sectoral Councils, the chairmanship of the trialogues between the Commission and the European Parliament, that it participates in the Commission meetings as an observer and is responsible for "the coordination and supervision of crisis and defence management aspects" (Giovanni Grevi has recently published another report on the future of external Union action).
Ideas are abundant at the EPC, as well as critics of the Convention. John Palmer together with other collaborators, has just written an article in the form of a warning: the European Convention appears to have lost its way, he fears. Guillaume Durand, in analysing the discussions of the plenary on 14 and 15 May asks whether "Nice wasn't so bad after all".
(MG)
*** Revue des Affaires Européennes - Law & European Affairs. Publisher: Alain M. Mys (12 Graslei, B-9000 Ghent Tel: (32-9) 2236471 - Fax: 2231364. 2001-2002/1, 123 pp, 85 euros. ISBN 90-5462-452-3.
In the editorial of this issue of the Law and European Affairs review focussing on the EU's institutions, Giuseppe Ciavarini Azzi, European Commission Special Adviser, comments that all the contributors are insiders, player or direct witnesses of how the institutions operate. In the chapter on the increasingly important issue of comitology, Azzi looks at this key element in the daily life of the institutions (with more than 1,200 decisions taken using this procedure in 2001 compared with around 200 using the legislative procedure).
Paolo Ponzano, Director at the Commission Secretariat General (and Alternate to Commissioner Antonio Vitorino on the Convention), examines the European Union's decision-making process, noting that it has not necessarily developed as recommended by the authors of the Treaty of Rome, the very important role initially played by the Commission gradually being weakened to the benefit of the Presidency of the Council. These days, notes Ponzano, the Commission's exclusive right of initiative under the first pillar tends to be turned into a function of the expertise and technical competence that the Commission provides for the legislator (or co-legislator). The "founding fathers" gave the Commission the role of favoured interpreter of the Community's interest and guarantor of minority countries, explains Ponzano, concluding that in an enlarged EU it will be vital that this double role is maintained.
On the institutional challenge of the European Commission and EU legislation, Andrea Pierucci, Head of Unit at the Commission's General Secretariat, says the EU should pass better laws in the future. It currently has a heritage of different types of law in the Community acquis, which has had an extraordinary impact on the development of European society and the economy. He explains that this heritage is sometimes not sufficient, whence the "unavoidable" need to simplify the "acquis".
Jérôme Vignon, Chief Advisor to the Commission's General Secretariat, described the often difficult path paving the way for the White Paper on European governance (which he was greatly involved with). He says the White Paper is both a reflection of a deeply held idea and the fruit of research, backed up by conviction that the Community Method is today (and will remain in the future) the best way of reconciling at EU level the search for unity, coherence and efficiency on the one hand and respect for diversity, minorities even, on the other. By "Community Method", the White Paper means the issue that stands out in the European political system, namely separation of the power of proposing legislation and the power of decision-making for legislation, and equality of national and Community sources of legitimacy. This system is still "the key to reconciling the general interest with the interests of national states, in his view.
(MG)
*** EUROPÄISCHE KOMMISSION: Durchführbarkeitsstudie - Beitrag zum Vorentwurf einer Verfassung der Europäischen Union - Arbeitspapier. (Internet: http: //europa.eu.int/futurum/comm/ const051202_de.htm). 04 December 2002, 196 pp.
"Constitution of the European Union" is printed in bold on the cover of this small red publication. The reader is almost invited to ignore the few lines in reduced size and situated below: "Feasibility Study", "contribution to the foreword" and "work document ". Although this is not the final version from the Convention, the compact brochure is thought to have inspired Convention Members and those who followed the European constitutional debate. In December 2002 and on the initiative of president Prodi, a Commission workgroup, led by François Lamoureux, came up with a remarkable paper that was both readable and well structured. The "Penelope Project", as it was called even proposed a short introduction that was understandable at the beginning and an explanatory synthesis at the end.
Simplification and modernisation of the treaties carried out in this concise study of the legal foundations of the Union reduces the number of pares from 225 to 125. The text also gets rid of the separate pillars. It incorporates the Charter of Fundamental Rights and offers a legal solution to the possible non-ratification problem of the Constitution by one or several Member States.. In the proposed preamble, which is largely identical to that in the Treaty on the European Community of Coal and Steel, three elements that draw one's attention: the mention of the "European Social Model", the concept asserted about a "Union that is continually drawing closer" and the formula "Europe as a world power". The main differences in relation to the proposals made by the Presidium of the Convention are in the refusal of the idea of a congress and the rejection on the intergovernmental method. the European Council has not acquired the status of Union body here. A permanent Council president is not envisaged either. It is just a simple text that is logical, structured and easy to understand. We can therefore hope that the future Constitution of the Union is not of a lower quality to that described in this working document.
(PB)
*** PAOLA BILANCIA (Editor): Il processo costituente europeo. Università degli Studi di Milano, Dipartimento giuridico-politico, Sezione di diritto pubblico, Dott. A. Giuffrè Editore S.p.A. (via Busto Arsizio 40, I-20151 Milan, Internet: http: //http://www.giuffre.it ), "Università degli Studi di Lecce series, Collana di diritto pubblico", vol. 13. 2002, 235 p., 19 euros. ISBN 88-14-09914-6.
Several researchers and practitioners, including Antonio Padoa-Schioppa, Jean-Louis Quermonne and Pier Virgilio Dastoli, have contributed to this book. The themes tackled are in the European Convention agenda and the post-Laeken process. It deals with institutional reform, the federal nature of the Union, problems of governance, subsidiarity, the Union's foreign policy, the role of the European political parties, as well as the Union's legal system. The book concludes with a summary on a project involving young political science students from Milan, who are proposing guidelines for a future European constitution.
(PB)
*** JAAKKO HUSA: Nordic Reflections on Constitutional Law. A Comparative Nordic Perspective. Press Interuniversitaires Européennes and Peter Lang (15 Jupiterstrasse, CH-3000 Bern. Fax: (41-31) 9402131 - Internet: http: //http://www.peterlang.net ). 2002, 209 p.. ISBN 3-8204-5952-6
Although the different legislation in Europe appears similar, at first glance, a more profound analysis demonstrates that these analogies are more cosmetic than founded on similar constitutional practices. Jaakko Husa, Senior Lecturer at the university of Vasa in Finland, successfully persuades us that the fundamental qualities o Nordic culture, whose legislative systems become more familiar to us after reading his book. (JNI)
*** GERT NICOLAYSEN: Europarecht I. Die Europäische Integrationsverfassung. 2e édition. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft (Postfach 10 03 10, D-76484 Baden-Baden. Tel: (49)7221210437- Fax: 2104-43 - E-mail: vertrieb@nomos.de - Internet: http: //http://www.nomos.de ) 2002, 504 pp, 34 euros. ISBN 3-7890-8037-3.
Professor Nicolaysen gives a detailed, well-structured outline of the European Union in this book, the second, updated edition of a work looking at European law which is quite accessible despite the fact, as the lengthy bibliographies reveal, that it is a highly researched description going well beyond what one would find in introductory texts for law students. He focusses on the supranational and constitutional nature of the European Union and goes beyond assessment of the institutions and legislation, explaining fundamental rights and a series of Community law acts, appeals and legal procedures.
(PB)
*** The EUROPEAN COMMISSION (Official Publications Office of the European Communities, L-2985 Luxembourg. Internet: http: //publications.eu.int) has published the following documents:
*** Towards a knowledge-based Europe. "Europe on the move" series. 2003, 22 pp. ISBN 92-894-4422-3
Both for individuals and for businesses, the Internet had revolutionised our lives. That said, the full potential of the web is still not being exploited, less than in the United States, for example. For this reason, at the March 2000 Lisbon Summit, EU governments recognised the need to turn Europe into a more digital economy. The EU set itself the target of becoming the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010.
*** Partenariat avec les villes, l'initiative communautaire URBAN. "Politique régionale" series. 2003, 50 pp. ISBN 92-894-5107-6
Nearly of Europe's population lives in urban areas of more than 50,000 inhabitants. These cities are the engine of the European economy and concentrate the lion's share of its wealth, know-how and technology. Paradoxically, in the very same cities are concentrated a large number of the problems in society, like poverty, exclusion, crime and deteriorating housing and environmental conditions. It is against this backdrop that the EU programme URBAN was launched, to increase the competitiveness of cities, combat social exclusion and encourage regeneration of housing and the environment. To date, URBAN has already provided aid to deprived areas in more than 70 cities.
*** Liaisons sociales Europe. Groupe Liaisons (1 av. Edouard-Belin, F-92500 Rueil-Malmaison. Tel: (33-825) 825371 - Fax: (33-1) 412299668 - Internet: http: //http://www.ls-europe.com ). May 2003, No. 80, 8 pp, 31 euros. Subscription: 757.58 euros.
This issue looks at trade unions' lack of awareness of exclusion, the British pay audit that will highlight social discrimination, the minimum wage in an enlarged Europe and the right to strike.
*** Europe Infos. The Catholic European Study and Information Centre (42 rue Stévin, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2350510 - Fax: 2303334 - E-mail: europeinfos@comece.org - Internet: http://www.comece.org ). Mai 2003, No. 49, 12 pp. Annual subscription: 27 euros.
This month's issue of Europe Infos looks at the need to consolidate the EU of 25 Member States. The journal also looks at the Convention's work, focussing on the chapter dealing with participatory democracy and the need to discuss the EU's foreign policy. In addition there are articles on issues such as agriculture, the liberalisation of services, bioethics and universities in Europe.
*** Cga Contact. Fédération des Centres de Gestion Agréés (14 bis place Charles-de-Gaulle, F-95210 Saint-Gratien. Tel: (33-1) 42679809). May- June 2003, No. 36, 18 pp. Annual subscription: 3.81 euros.
Aimed at small company managers, this bi-monthly publication interviews the winners of the Ailes de l'Entreprise competition and gives a roundup of news in the tax field and social affairs. There is a dossier on pharmacists.
*** Elan. FEC (17 place Saint-Etienne, F-67081 Strasbourg Cedex. Tel: (33-3) 88353620 - Fax: 88379983 - E-Mail: fec.strasbourg@wanadoo.fr). "Cahiers du FEC" series, 1st half of 2003, 31 pp, 7 euros. Annual subscription: 27 euros.
This issue focusses on the Alsace region, the theme of an FEC study day. It then looks at Strasbourg's European ambitions and enlargement.
*** Look Japan. Look Japan Ltd. (Kasuga Shogaku Bldg., Koishikawa 2-3-23 Bunkyo-Ku, 112-0002 Tokyo. Tel: (81) 358423111 - Fax: 258423125 - E-mail: editors@lookjapan.com - Internet: http://www.lookjapan.com ). June 2003, No. 567, 40 pp, 9 euros.
Look Japan this months focusses on Tokyo, which is celebrating its four hundredth birthday. There are also articles on the economy, culture and technology, like the very first fuel cell for laptops.