*** DIMITRIS N. TRIANTAFYLLOU: Le projet constitutionnel de la Convention européenne. Présentation critique de ses choix clés. Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Brussels. Tel.: (32-2) 5129845 - fax: 5117202 - E-mail: info@bruylant.be - Internet: http://www.bruylant.be ). 2003, 142 pp, 28 euros. ISBN 2-8027-1813-4.
In the climate of uncertainty following the Intergovernmental Conference last December at a Heads of State and Governments level, something is becoming obvious: the draft Constitution elaborated by the Convention remains central. As hoped by most Member States, it appears that in the long term it will be necessary to grasp hold of the life belt or compass if we are all to get to dry land together. This observation reinforces the value of this book, which provides a succinct analysis by a member of the Commission's “Future of the Union Task Force's” legal service and an insight into the key choices at play in the framework of the Constitutional treaty. In the first part of the book Dimitris Triantafyllou examines the “key choices in prevailing legal systems”, which leads him to welcoming recognition of the Union's legal personality, which he considers as “the premise for effective and responsible Union action, particularly with relation to outside the Union, but also with European citizens. However, he does regret the maintaining of Eurotom and the “complication” of “the nuclear energy taboo, which remains unfathomable”. Similarly, he states that he shares this view about the merger of the treaties into a single one outside Eurotom. The author does not hide his glee, however, over the imperfect simplification accompanying (in principle at least) of the getting rid of the pillars, which in the eyes of a legal expert, constitutes some kind of “miracle”. Other choices, he claims, are more problematic, notably the “cosmetic changes that do not have any real content and which could indeed prove dangerous” and introduced to the Charter of Fundamental Rights. The author, however, reserves his most scathing remarks for the first part of the text elaborated by the Convention, the only one that should be of a genuine constitutional nature and subject to conditions by the third part on policies and limitations demanded by Member States. Triantafyllou states that “such a relationship is not appropriate to a Constitution that is supposed to constitute the primary source of all legal authority” and regrets that Convention Members did not set up a hierarchy for legal dominance.
In the second part of the book, Dimitis Triantafyllou examines the key choices in political supremacy and subsequently welcomes the controlled extension of qualified majority voting in justice and internal affairs and, indeed, in budgetary matters. Nonetheless, he claims that the lack of daring in the area of foreign policy and the Union's European Minister of Foreign Affairs will lead to the danger of a “voice shouting from the wilderness” while the bridges built so far could prove purely decorative.
The author refuses to come out with a reductionist judgement but does display a certain disappointment, underlining that the European Community, under the Convention (and we're not even talking about the follow-up, which reinforces and backs up his verdict) hardly produced any kind of “federal constitutionalism, unlike that in the USA. The author stresses that it is the “lack of courage” that differentiates the European Convention from the Philadelphia Convention: “Although both of them sought in some way to be components, the Philadelphia Convention formed part of the revolutionary line and was able to assert itself at the American Congress by going beyond its mandate of revision and, notably, by modifying the rules of its draft entering into force. On the other hand, the European Convention was unable to shed the mandate imposed by Laeken and did not dare to touch the rules on the entry into force of its draft (nor for any of its future revisions either) and docilely acquiesced to the timetable and pace imposed by the European Convention”. Going beyond the required unanimity for revision of the European treaties, through Article 48 would have meant abandoning the doctrine of international law based on consent and moving to a “constitutionalist logic based on the rule of the majority”. This would in practice mean a “break with the legal order”. But the author poses the question of whether ”all legal orders are the simple continuation of past legal orders”. He subsequently appeals for a “stabilizing contribution” from the European Council based on the American example: a ratification by nine States out of the twelve confederations was enough to give birth to the US Constitution. This gives us food for thought for unblocking the current stalemate.
Michel Theys
*** FRANKLIN DEHOUSSE, WOUTER COUSSENS: Le Traité constitutionnel de la Convention pour l'Europe: un nouveau pas pour l'intégration européenne ? Centre de recherche et d'information socio-politiques (1A place Quetelet, B-1210 Brussels. Tel.: (32-2) 2110180 - fax: 2197934 - E-mail: crisp@cfwb.be - Internet: http://www.crisp.be ). "Courrier hebdomadaire" series, No. 1808-1809. 2003, 57 p, 12.40 euros.
This weekly mail from Crisp extends and usefully completes the previous publication. Devised on a similar basis, authors Franklin Dehousse, currently a judge at the Court of first Instance and Walter Coussens, a researcher at the Belgian Royal Institute of International Relations, begin by analysing the process for elaborating the constitutional treaty before moving on to a comparison of the Convention which elaborated it and that which in 2000 worked on the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. In the second part, they study the content of the text submitted to the intergovernmental conference and shed light on the most significant changes introduced by Convention Members. In the third part they draw the lessons from the lessons of the Convention, as well as on the method used and its results. Unsurprisingly, they conclude that there was progress overall but which was modest and not mentioned by some political actors. Like the previous author, they consider that the absence of any immediate reform of the revision process constitutes one of the “major weaknesses - perhaps the most fundamental - of the Convention's constitutional treaty” and which risks leading to a “major political crisis” or a repetition on a more significant level of the ratification problems experienced by Ireland and Denmark.
(MT)
*** STEFAN COLLIGNON: The European Republic. Reflections on the Political Economy of a Future Constitution. Federal Trust for education & research (distribution: Kogan Page, 120 Pentonville Road, London N1 9JN. Internet: http://www.kogan-page.co.uk ) en association avec la Bertelsmann Foundation. 2003, 212 p.. ISBN 1-903-40351-0.
This book explores the “consequences of the euro” but clearly extends beyond its simple monetary framework. The author, Economics Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science, begins with an observation that monetary union is faced with an economic union that is still far too fragmentary -“too many cooks in the kitchen”, he states. This straight away leads to a look at the “imbalance between the economic and political Union as the Achilles'heel of European integration”. His arguments claim that future success of the latter will inexorably depend on the ability of Europe to provide the Union with a federal structure close to the republican concept of the US constitution. His basic argument is that the Union “needs an integral government based on the authority of its citizens and that the intergovernmental approach is no longer effective faced with globalisation, a practically completed economic integration and the next enlargement”. Stefan Collignon firmly outlines that the main source of the Union's political legitimacy resides with its citizens and not its governments. On this basis, he puts forward proposals for detailed reforms that would naturally lead to a European republic.
(MT)
*** PIERRE LE MIRE: Droit de l'Union européenne et politiques communes. Dalloz (31-35 rue Froidevaux, F-75685 Paris. Distribution: Patrimoine, 168 rue du Noyer, B-1030 Brussels. Tel./fax: (32-2) 7366847). Collection "Mémentos". 2003, 283 p., 20 euros. ISBN 2-247-05391-2.
This Memento - which is in its third edition, always a measure of quality - proposes an up-to-date analysis of the Community's economic law. Professor at the Pantheon-Sorbonne (Paris 1)University, the author initially paints a picture of the rules applicable to areas covered in the first pillar. He then illustrates the implementation of Community rules in Member States. This brief insight will be useful to all those in need of an overall view of material Community law.
(CFo)
*** JEAN-MARC FAVRET: Droit et pratique de l'Union européenne. Gualino publishers (Paris. Tel.: (33-1) 56541600 - fax: 56541649 - E-mail: gualino@eja.fr - Internet: http://www.lgdj.fr. Distribution: Patrimoine, see address attached). "Manuels" series. 2003, 650 pp, 40 euros. ISBN 2-84200-530-9.
This Manual provides an insight into general law in the Union, as well as institutional practice and decision-making in Europe, including the innovations introduced by the treaty of Nice. Jean-Marc Favret the author is a PhD in law and teacher of legal studies at the faculty of law in Bayonne and other institutions responsible for training French civil servants. The book provides readers with a comprehensive and informative insight into this domain and is of particular interest to higher education students or candidates for A grade posts at the European institutions. The book is highly accessible and contains a bibliography at the end of each chapter, a detailed index and a table of jurisprudence listing all the major national and Community legal rulings.
(NBo)
*** Les codes Larcier informatisés. Larcier (39 rue des Minimes, B-1000 Brussels. Diffusion: Accès+, 4 Fond Jean-Pâques, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve. Tel.: (32-10) 482500 - fax: 482519 - E-mail: acces+cde@deboeck.be). 2003. ISBN 2-8044-0812-4.
The Larcier codes contain information on all federal, community and regional legislation in Belgium, as well as useful information on European regulation. They are also available on CD-ROM. As well as the codes, numerous annotations, jurisprudence notes and footnotes are also available. Every six months a new updated CD-ROM, replaces the previous set of codes. This instrument offers several substantial advantages: an efficient search engine, opportunities for obtaining data using several criteria (date, number of article, key words etc). The contents, alphabetical or chronological tables can also be consulted for research purposes. Supplementary texts are also available. Due to the size of the documents the paper version no longer exists. This is a precise and comprehensive informative manual.
(MLe)
*** Revue de droit monégasque (Palais de justice de Monaco, B. P. 513, MC 98015 Monaco Cedex.). 2003, 256 pp, 30 euros.
A ruling on 2 April 2002 revised the Monaco Constitution dating back to 1967. This book provides a detailed insight into the new amendments. It looks at both public law and the institutions in Monaco, as well as private law and jurisprudence.
(NJo)
*** GUIDO ALPA, REMO DANOVI (Editor: Diritto Contrattuale europeo e Diritto dei Consumatori. L'integrazione europea e il processo civile. Giuffrè editore (40 via Busto Arsizio, I-20151 Milan. Tel: (39-2) 38089290 - fax: 38009582 - Internet: http://www.giuffre.it ). 2003, 414 pp, 29 euros. ISBN 88-14-10218-X.
In a Communication of the 11 July 2001, the Commission sent out a long questionnaire in an effort to obtain observations and suggestions from the European institutions and Member States on the subject of European contract law. The Communication was directed to two different areas: the many different standards or the Community bodies in contract law as well as the common basis developed on terminology, concepts, general principles and specific rules constituting the context of development in the different countries. The models inherited from the specific culture, professional experience and different traditions can be maintained as they are today in a fragmentary or complex way or they will the move towards harmonisation and ultimately, unification. The authors are legal practitioners and examine the legal perspectives and their possible unification in this book structured into two parts: the first is dedicated to an analysis of the European civil code and consumer law, arguments for and against the Europeanisation of the different legal systems; the second part explores European integration and civil proceedings, while looking at new techniques in cross border legal cooperation in Europe. This interesting book includes reference texts such as the Communication and "Green Paper" on consumer protection in the Union.
(MRo)
*** La COMMISSION EUROPEENNE (Official Publications Office of the European Communities, L-2985 Luxembourg. Internet: published he following documents: http: //publications.eu.int)has t:
*** Innovation & Technology Transfer. DG Enterprise, Information and Communication Unit (EUFO 2290, L-2920 Luxembourg. Fax.: (352) 430132084 - Internet: http://www.cordis.lu/itt/itt-en/home.html ). November 2003, No. 6/03, 32 p..
The magazine underlines the fact that with over a third of the time set out for attaining the Process of Lisbon of objectives, the Union is progressing too slowly. Although the private sector is investing sufficiently in the areas of technology capital has been directed to sectors that are essentially safe and technology that has yet to prove its worth, is being ignored. The main article in this issue focuses on innovation in European aviation.
*** The Federalist Debate. JEF, UEF, WFM, CESI (26 Via Schina, I-10144 Turin. Tel./fax: (39-11) 4732843 - E-mail: federalist.debate@libero.it - Internet: http://www.federalist-debate.org ). November 2003, No. 3, 64 pp. Subscription: 15 euros.
This federalist publication has completely redone its lay-out, in its quest to become an actor in the implementation of globalisation that is both regulated and democratic. With this goal in mind, it brings together numerous contributions such as the creation of a free-trade zone by members of ASEAN by 2020 ; the fall-out from Cancun, the accession of the USA to Unesco and articles on the European Constitution.
*** In Europa. Centro In Europa (7/5 Via Ippolito D'Aste, I-16121 Genoa. Tel.: (39-10) 586716 - fax: 564356 - E-mail: ineuropa@euroframe.it - Internet: http://www.centroineuropa.it ). 2003, No. 2, 98 pp., 7.75 euros. Subscription: 92 euros. ISBN 88-8163-228-4.
In this issue of Europa attention is focused on shipbuilding and maritime transport. The subject area looked at is very diverse and looks at the ship yards in Genoa, the sinking of the Prestige and the place of European shipbuilding in the world as well as developments and perspectives for the European shipbuilding sector.
*** Economia Exterior. Estudios de Politica Exterior SA (6 Padilla, E-28006 Madrid. Tel.: (34-91) 4312628 - fax: 5777252 - E-mail: revista@politicaexterior.com). Autumn 2003, No.26, 242 pp., 13 euros. Subscription: 66.50 euros.
This edition of Economia Exterior provides a complete analysis of the energy sector, specially focusing on oil. It then looks at the level of supply and demand, the state of the Spanish energy market, liberalisation issues in the sector, renewable and environmental energies. It also provides a detailed study of the support mechanisms and main oil producing zones.
*** Informe del Patronat. Patronat Català Pro Europa (Internet: http://www.infoeuropa.org /catala/publicacions/inf_semestral/grecia/cat/). 2003, No. 9, 100 pp..
The different European affairs issues under the Italian presidency are looked at in this publication in a way that is both clear, and is organised in sections dealing with the different areas of the Union. The publication analyses, for example, the situation regarding the Stability Pact over this period, enlargement and questions relating to immigration and external border control. It also includes annexes, such as the results from the referendums on accession of candidate countries, as well as demographic and financial data.
Reviews in brief
*** Art. 88-4 de la Constitution. Delegation to the European Union from the National Assembly No. 1096. October 2003, Paris. C this report covers the delegation's work on the European drafts submitted to the National Assembly on 28 June-24 September 2003.. *** Carrefour de l'économie. SPF Economics, SMEs, the middle classes and energy. No. 9 A&B. 2003, Brussels. Section 9A examines copyright, economic relations between Belgium and Luxembourg and the issue of chocolate in Belgium. Section B provides a range of macro-economic data. *** The letter from DIV. The town inter-ministerial delegation. No. 87. November 2003, St. Denis la Plaine. This issue asks whether we are moving to a European policy on crime prevention.