*** KONRAD HAGEDORN (Edited by): Environmental Co-operation and Institutional Change. Theories and policies for European agriculture. Edward Elgar Publishing (Glensanda House, Montpellier Parade, Cheltenham, Glos, GL50 1UA, United Kingdom. Tel.: (44-1242) 226934 - fax: 262111 - E-mail: Info@e-elgar.co.uk - http: //http://www.e-elgar.co.uk ). "New Horizons in Environmental Economics" series. 2003, 385 p.. ISBN 1-84064-841-4.
Implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy has unquestionably contributed significantly to the process of Community integration. That said , the CAP also provided over a period of time the opportunity to find solutions that did not prove so viable, which restricted those with the mandate pursue long, painful and often controversial reform. Amongst some of the demands made is for a permanent synergy between the environment and agriculture.
From this point of view, "continuously increasing political pressure to integrate agro-environmental polices in the CAP have clearly reveal ed the need to combine the centralising and decentralising approaches in a way that create a an efficient federal decision making structure". The subsidiary principle, prioritised by the Commission in the framework of negotiations for Agenda 2000, can therefore be found in this article as a perfect illustration of its evolution. In this context, the authors "do not think that this process will be easy, not only because agricultural policies in Europe are dominated by specific interest groups but primarily because integrating environmental aspects into the CAP requires institutional change at different levels . Centralised and hierarchical structures of governance which have characterised previous years are likely to not come up with suitable solutions if they are not modified, namely, that they are redirected to regional and other more pertinent levels.
It also appears indispensable that economists specialised in agriculture "increase their capability to advise their political representative on the way in which agri-environmenal policies and institutions have to be adjusted" to their regional, indeed, local contexts. At this stage, the authors of this book confess that, "our knowledge in this field is still quite incomplete". The theoretical concepts are lacking and do not allow cooperation between the different actors involved. This is the reason why the European association for agricultural economists have organised their sixty-fourth seminar on the theme of, "Cooperative strategies to cope with agri-environmental problems". This books constitutes the results of discussions at the University of Humboldt in Berlin in Autumn 1999.
Initially, the theoretical bases are put aside. The contributors outline the contours of the environmental cooperation institutions. The second part examines the experience of the Netherlands. The third looks at the theme "the structures of governance and the learning process involved in alternative agricultural practices". We are also given an insight into new cultivation methods adapted to protecting water. This is followed by two scientists who propose an empirical and theoretical analysis of the ways for creating interactive decision making tools to help more farmers develop ecological practices. The fourth part looks at the issue of applying economic policies in rural zones, which are put forward in the agro-environmental programmes. The fifth part looks at this issue and describes the cooperative approach and the elaboration of documents for introducing standards. In the pen-ultimate section, the writers demonstrate how a "cooperative" approach can perhaps be the natural solutions when it comes to conflicts solving of different interests between actors on the ground. By way of real cases, the authors back up their thesis. They therefore describe, with much realism, the problems that appeared in the 1990s in the regions of Brandenburg in Germany when they had to manage designated “protected” zones".
This books is addressed above all to specialists in the area. It will also delight those who are simply curious, despite the presence of in-depth articles. More than thirty contributions are provided in this book, most of them from the academic world. Konrad Hagedorn is a Lecturer at the University of Humboldt in Berlin where he teaches on the subject of "economic resources".
Alain Dremière
*** JEAN-MARIE SERMIER: Une PAC forte pour l'Europe élargie. Délégation pour l'Union européenne de l'Assemblée nationale (Kiosque de l'Assemblée nationale, 4 rue Aristide Briand, F-75007 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40636121 - Internet: http: //http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr ). "Rapport d'information" No. 889. 2003, 205 pp, 6.50 euro.
This report is a vitally important text for understanding the way the Common Agricultural Policy is understood and supported in France. It looks like a genuine hymn to the Common Agricultural Policy in the form it took before the recent mid-term review that under the leadership of the Commission was endorsed by the 26 June 2003 Agriculture Council. French deputy Jean-Marie Sermier outlines its successes over time, the false accusations made against it, and the challenges it successfully saw off in the context of ever greater globalisation, via an assessment of the great reforms of 1992 and 1999. With a certain aplomb, the report attempts to demonstrate that the mid-term review so staunchly defended by the Commission had only one aim, namely to subject to the Great Global Market paradigm as best it could to its realpolitik rather than the welfare of Europeans, European farmers, countryside, livestock and tastes, along with the taste and quality of its food.
(FOc)
*** WOLFGANG MÜNCH: Effects of EU Enlargement to the Central European Countries on Agricultural Markets. Peter Lang (1 Moosstr., CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel./Fax: (41-32) 3761727 - Internet: http://www.peterlang.de ). "CEGE-Schriften" No. 4. 2002, 242 pp. ISBN: 3-631-39939-1.
For any enlargement of the European Union, farming has been one of the most sensitive issues. The enlargement process that will see ten new countries (eight of them in Central and Eastern Europe) to joint the club on 1 May 2004 was no exception to the rule. An expert at the European Commission, Wolfgang Münch looks in this book, written before the conclusion of the enlargement negotiations, at the impact enlargement will have on farming markets, using various scenarios based on a predefined mathematical model: immediate direct payments, gradually introducing direct payments, a simplified transit system with premiums without production obligations, aid for transforming and modernising agriculture and rural regions since the latter fall victim to migration from the countryside against a backdrop of unemployment in subsistence farming. He reviews ways of setting quotas and taking account of natural disasters. This macroeconomics tome is highly technical with regard to models and simulations, presenting the reader with raw results without any genuine conclusions, thereby making it suitable for informed readers.
(JNi)
*** DANIEL GARRIGUE: Directive "oiseaux": le juge ou le scientifique ? Délégation pour l'Union européenne de l'Assemblée nationale (Kiosque de l'Assemblée nationale, 4 rue Aristide Briand, F-75007 Paris. Tel.: (33-1) 40636121 - Internet: http: //http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr ). "Rapport d'information", No.833. 2003, 95 p., 3.50 euros.
France or, at least certain fringes of French public opinion, have had a lot of difficulty with accepting the Directive of 2 April 1979 regulating of migratory birds and water-based game. French MP Daniel Garrigue wanted to be clear about the matter: is the feeling - widely picked up on by certain MPs and felt by French hunters, an example peculiar to France or does it go beyond the country's borders? Drawing on an investigation led for the main in southern European but also by the relevant Commission services, the author provides a measures response to this issue, pointing out that the pain is perhaps the keenest in France but is felt elsewhere. Essentially, Daniel Garrigue's diagnosis is damning. He believes that the Commission is not the real guilty party and that its positions are relatively moderate. He believes that the real problem results from the " praetorian interpretation "of the Court of Justice's Directive provisions and how these have been created. The rapporteur considers that the "current impasse" could be overcome by the creation of a European scientific observation network for wild birds and by re-examining the concepts relating to jurisprudence through the notion of "decade" followed by the conclusion of an international binding convention that covers migratory birds, which also happen to be those most under threat.
(MT)
*** TIM JEPPESEN: Environmental Regulation in a Federal System. Framing environmental policy in the European Union. Edward Elgar Publishing (Glensanda House, Montpellier Parade, Cheltenham, Glos GL50 1 UA, UK. Tél.: (44-1242) 226934 - fax: 262111 - E-mail: Info@e-elgar.co.uk - Internet: http: //http://www.e-elgar.co.uk ). "New Horizons in Environmental Economics" series. 2002, 214 p. ISBN 1-84064-944-5.
This books is the result of the author's own experience, managing the Kommunernes Revision in Denmark, which at the time was sinking in the general confusion in the Union, caused by the results of the Danish and French referendums on whether to agree to the Maastricht treaty. These results led to many to question the perspectives on Community environmental policy, subsidiarity, the multiplicity of national approaches, protectionist obstacles and research, which more often than were subject to the lowest common denominator and influence this area more than any other. In an attempt to clarify the matter, the author aims to (after dedicating a thesis on the subject of which this book is the most accessible version) is to assess the advantages and disadvantages of centralised and decentralised environmental policies. Systematically in the nineteen approaches provided and the seven explicatory graphs, he explores the: socio-economic, capitalistic, political, legal, and even philosophical aspects, as well as the perspectives of each government in choosing to support or counter different interests by focusing on mathematical formulas developed by advances marketing studies.
(FOc)
*** JONAS EBBESON (Ed.): Access to Justice in Environmental Matters in the EU - Accès à la justice en matière d'environnement dans l'UE. Kluwer Law International (Distribution Centre, P. O. Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht, The Netherlands. "Comparative Environmental Law & Policy Series", No. 3. 2002, 498 pp. ISBN 90-411-1826-8.
In the preface to this bilingual book (French and English), the President of the European Environmental Law Council, Alexandre Kiss, comments that the environment has gradually become a major concern for humanity, leading to the growth of an impressive volume of rules, treaties, directives and other laws at national level. All the same, environmental awareness differs from one country to the next and the profusion of legal instruments hence complicated citizens' access to justice over environmental issues. The sheer weight of national an/or EU legislation attempting to deal with the numerous problems raised by citizens' awareness of the damage being done to the environment - and the possibility of taking legal action against those responsible - has inevitably made the implementation of the new rules more complex and the rules are not always compatible with each other. Since the 1992 Rio Convention and the 1998 Aarhus Convention on accessing information, the need has gradually arisen for a comparative study of the various current and future legal mechanisms in the European Union, a study that would cover the matter of citizens' access to the legal system over environmental issues. The editor of this book, Environmental Law Professor at Stockholm University, first looks at the current status of EU and Member States' law covering the environment, then considers EU regulations in some detail along with each Member State's domestic law, before going on to look at citizens' legal action. There are essays by twenty-three specialists looking at fifteen different domestic legal systems and drawing up a very detailed balance sheet of measures taken by each country in environmental law.
(FOc)
*** SIMON CHARBONNEAU: Droit communautaire de l'environnement. L'Harmattan (5-7 rue de l'Ecole-Polytechnique, F-75005 Paris. Tel.: (33-1) 40467920 - fax: 43258203 - E-mail: diffusion.harmattan@wanadoo.fr). "Logiques juridiques" series. 2002, 353 p., 29 euros. ISBN 2-7475-2929-0.
The predominant view in this book is nether managerial or technocratic but rather, that of the legal expert - the author is a Senior Lecturer at the department of Hygiene-Safety-Environment at the University of Bordeaux I and researcher at the "Laboratoire d'Automatique et de Productique" (industrial automation techniques) - the unseen face behind Europe's citizens who strives to obtain a humane component in the relationship between humankind and nature. Simon Charbonneau initially studied political and legal principles in Community law on the environment at the beginning of the 1970s, as well as the stages for its implementation. The second part focuses on the field of action for this l aw, which aims both to deal with the causes and consequences of environmental damage. This is turn leads to the issues of the social acceptability of rise, the fight against chronic pollution and the management of industrial dangers etc.
(LD)
*** EUROPEAN COMMISSION (Official Publications Office of the European Communities, L-2985 Luxembourg. Internet: http: //publications.eu.int) has published the following documents:
*** Magazine of education and culture. DG education and culture (Fax: (32-2) 2964259 - E-mail: eac-info@cec.eu.int - Internet: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/ education_culture/index_fr.htm). 2003, No. 21, 23 p..
In her editorial, Commissioner Viviane Reding looks at the importance of culture and intercultural dialogue as a tool for bringing people together, firstly with people of the Union, then those of EU and the ten new accession countries but also between those of Europe and the rest of the world. In order to achieve this, the Union uses different methods such as the « Culture 2000" cooperation programme, this constitutes the central theme of this issue. Centred around this issue, the magazine looks at the question of the status of artistes in n Europe, cultural industries and the place of "the Cultural Europe" in the world.
*** Innovation &technological transfer. DG Enterprise (EUFO 22896, L-2920 Luxembourg. Fax: (352-4301) 32084 - E-mail: innovation@cec.eu.int - Internet: http://www.cordis.lu/itt/itt-fr/home.html ). July 2003, No. 4/03, 32 p..
This magazine aims to "raise awareness of European citizens about innovation" and support European growth through the promotion of the spirit of innovation in the service of enterprises, in particular SMEs. This issue tackles the creation of the European patent, the European defence market, the opening up to the East of the Paxis programme supporting start-ups and innovation in Italy.
*** EURinfo. Représentation en Belgique de la Commission européenne (73 rue Archimède, B-1000 Bruxelles. Tel.: (32-2) 2953844 - fax: 2950166 - E-mail: represent-bel@cec.eu.int - Internet: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/represent/be). September 2003, No. 278, 20 p..
Beginning of term again! EURinfo uses this occasion for dedicating this months' main article to students, particularly those who want to study abroad. The magazine unveils useful solutions for carrying out this project. It also looks at Europalia, which this year, is focusing on Italy. Article son CFSP, European aerospace policy and GMOs are also provided.
*** Südosteuropa Mitteilungen . Geschäftsstelle der Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft (49 Widenmayerstrasse, D-80538 München. Tel.: (49-89) 21254-0 - fax: 2289469 - E-mail: suedosteuropa-gesellschaft@t-online.de - Internet: http://www.suedosteuropa-gesellschaft.com ). 2003, No 3, 112 p., 10 euros. Subscription: 50 euros.
This edition mainly focuses on Montenegro. It presents us with the reform process followed by the country, its position in this context of European integration, the macro-economic situation. Common foreign and security policy in the context of post-war Iraq is also examined.
***Hémisphères. Colophon/6 novembre (25 rue Gratès, B-1170 Brussels Tel.: (32-2) 7331088 - fax: 6758327 - E-mail: colophon@online.be - Internet: http://www.colophon.be ). June-July-August 2003, No. 21, 12 p.. Subscription: 9 euros.
Hémisphères is a publication containing debates on development which "pluralism has adopted as its fundamental principle, putting the pen in the hand of those most competent and which deals with subject that are generally ignored by the traditional media". This is translated in an editorial that packs its punches when it explores construction of the "so-called Israeli security wall" as well as a series of current affairs articles on agricultural policy, the World Bank, cotton prices and the WTO.
Reviews in brief
*** Benelux Newsletter. Economic Union Benelux. No. 2, 2003, Brussels. Newsletter on Benelux. *** Paneuropa intern. Paneuropa-Union Deutschland. No. 8, July 2003, München. This publications looks at the "Berlusconi affair". *** News from Cyprus. Press Office of the Cypriot Republic's Delegation to the European Union. May-June 2003, Brussels. New perspectives following signing of the accession treaty. *** Provincia informa. Provincia di Torino. No. 3, 2003, Torino. Information magazine of the province of Turin on Community policy. *** Leuven. Catholic University of Leuven. No. 139, June 2003. This issue mainly focuses on humanity.