*** FRANCOIS DUTAUX-LOMBARD: L'euro aujourd'hui. Fondation Robert Schuman (29 bld Raspail, F-75007 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 53638300 - Fax: 53638301 - Internet: http://www.robert-schuman.org ). "Notes de la Fondation Robert Schuman" series, No. 20. 2004, 54 pp, 10 euros.
After more than four years of Economic and Monetary Union and two years of the euro being in people's pockets, the introduction of the euro can be 'seen as the most important event in the economic and financial history of the European continent in the twentieth century, with abandoning the gold standard and the introduction of generalised floating exchange rates'. This latest newsletter from the Robert Schuman Foundation stands in the spirit that underlies the Foundation, promoting the European ideal and democracy, and it has been justly awarded the status of being recognised as a public utility for this very reason. While, especially in certain Member States, there has been a mushrooming of criticism of the current monetary policy, the newsletter's author gives a useful selection of detailed reference points for discerning the euro's position on the chessboard of the international economy, and provides a foretaste of the currency's potential role in future monetary policy.
Initially, François Dutaux-Lombard explains how the single currency was started from scratch, a currency now familiar to some 300 million European citizens. He explains that it has brought about a genuine revolution because it preceded any true political union between the countries involved, unlike that happened on the other side of the Atlantic when Congress decided on 22 June 1775 to adopt the dollar as the currency of the United States of America. Much is written about the United States in later pages since in an initial summary balance sheet, the author makes a very convincing argument that after being imposed as the worthy successor of the strongest European currencies, the euro has a good future ahead of it as an international currency. In the author's view, the single currency is the only possible alternative to the dollar and it is inevitable that a balancing out will occur between the euro and the greenback since no global player can run the risk of remaining over-invested in a single currency. François Dutaux-Lombard then sketches out an economic backdrop to the Eurozone for 2004, going on to note that alongside economic performance that can still be built upon, the euro's greatest success lies in the idea Europeans themselves have of it, despite the fact that many people associate the euro with price hikes to the detriment of consumers.
In his conclusions, the author asserts that the euro will be an important element in the integration of the continent's economies once the question of the common economic governance of the European Union has been raised and resolved. In geopolitical terms, the single currency provides a solid, tangible basis to a blueprint of a multipolar economic world, which is already arising as a potential blueprint of a counterbalance to the dollar. Politically, the single currency gives the EU a powerful tool, since currency and power are indissolubly connected. An optimistic message that does not prevent the author from reviewing the challenges to be faced in turning this vision into reality.
Michel Theys
*** GUY RAIMBAULT: Mille termes pour comprendre l'Union Européenne après l'introduction de l'Euro. L'Harmattan (5-7 rue de l'Ecole-Polytechnique, F-75005 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40467920 - Fax: 43258203 - e-mail: harmat@worlmdnet.fr - Internet: http: //http://www.editions-harmattan ). Distribution Centre, P. O. Box 322, 3300 AH Dordrecht. Tel: (31-78) 392392 - Fax: 546474). 2003, 466 pp, 38 euros. ISBN 2-7475-4194-0.
This book is a model specimen. Convinced of the importance of the events that have taken place since the introduction of euro to the banking system on 1 January 1999, and then euro notes and coins in January 2002, the author (a lecturer for the EU Copernicus Programme and at the prestigious French Ecole nationale des Ponts et Chaussées) gives the definition of a thousand terms vital for correctly understanding the European Union. Designed in the form of a dictionary, it starts with a definition of abstention constructive and an explanation of the stages of its application in Europe, where Guy Raimbault notes that the example of accession to the Eurozone is characteristic of the application of constructive abstention (with 12 countries leading the way, and 3 exempting themselves from it without being able to prevent it). The last definition in the book is the zone Schengen, indicating that institutional aspects have not been left out, although the majority of terms defined are economic and financial. The major concepts described in the book are quantified with the aid of the most reliable recent statistics, which means that the book is more than just a dictionary. Reference to different Treaties is systematically accompanies by two dates - when the Treaty was signed by the Member States' official representatives and when the Treaty actually came into force - and for the reader in a hurry, every article has a summary of the definition in bold. The author has paid particular attention to the use of acronyms, ensuring that the full meaning of each is used at least once in the definitions in which it appears. This example should be followed by everyone, starting with the institutions. This reference book is supplemented by rich annexes, a particularly useful one being a 'short history of the events that formed economic and financial Europe'.
(MT)
*** PANAGIOTIS BERNADAKIS: Griechenland als 12. Mitglied der Europäischen Wirtschafts- und Währungsunion. Fakten und Perspektiven. Peter Lang GmbH Europäischer Verlag der Wissenschaften (Moosstrasse 1, Postfach 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen, Switzerland. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - publicity@peterlang.com - Internet: http: //http://www.peterlng.de ). 2002, 190 pp. ISBN 3-631-38068-2.
Greece joining Economic and Monetary Union and the single currency, and its prospects in the Eurozone are examined in this academic monograph. The author is a Greek economist awarded a doctorate by the University of Frankfurt am Main in Germany. He studies the developments of the Greek currency that led up to joining the euro and reforms and other measures applied since joining the euro by the government in Athens. Panagiotis Bernadakis concludes that the great challenge to be taken on by Greece in Economic and Monetary Union will be to draw closer to genuine economic convergence after managing to achieve nominal convergence in 2000. Plenty of tables provide the reader with basic information about a series of economic indicators in Greece and the nominal convergence process in the 1990s. The book is short and occasionally over-descriptive but interesting nevertheless in the information it provides about the launch of the euro through a lesser known case study.
(PB)
*** INGO KONRAD: Zur Integration ausgewählter mittel- und osteuropäischer Länder in die währungspolitische Ordnung Europas. Peter Lang (see above). "CeGE-Schriften" des Zentrums für Globalisierung und Europäisierung der Wirtschaft Georg-August-Universität Göttingen”, No. 2. 2002, 397 pp. ISBN 3-631-39585-X.
The challenge of the monetary enlargement of the European Union is examined in this doctoral thesis for Hohenheim University in Germany. In his study, economist Ingo Konrad sets out scenarios, criteria and indicators for analysing the capacity of central European countries to adjust to the euro. In his view, the future new Member States will have to take different routes to arrive at the single currency. He states that early integration in Monetary Union would be highly risky to central European economies, which therefore need to display patience and flexibly. A realistic analysis, providing useful information about the monetary policies of Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Slovenia.
(PB)
*** GERHARD RÖSL: Seigniorage in der EWU. Eine Analyse der Notenbankgewinnentstehung und -verwendung des Eurosystems. Peter Lang (see above). "Schriften zur Wirtschaftstheorie und Wirtschaftspolitik", No. 25 2002, 351 pp. ISBN 3-631-39750-X.
Despite the difficult subject matter (virtually unknown to the general public), this doctoral thesis by Gerhard Rösl, who is now an official at the German Bundesbank in Frankfurt, is worth reading. The author examines the redistribution of seigniorage profits (generated by the central banks of European Monetary Union manufacturing the single currency). He attempts to shed light on the controversy of winners and losers in the current system. Plenty of tables, statistics and institutional details make the study very valuable for readers interested in taking an in-depth look at the practical operations of the European monetary system at Eurozone country central bank level. A book for experts.
(PB)
*** MICHAEL GETZNER: Nuclear Policies in Central Europe. Environmental Policy and Enlargement of the European Union: Austria's Policies towards Nuclear Reactors in Neighbouring Countries. Peter Lang (see above). 2003, 105 pp. ISBN 3-631-50747-X.
Austria's anti-nuclear policies originated in the referendum on a nuclear plant at Zwentendorf in 1978 and the growing awareness of nuclear matters in Austria following the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. Since the 1990s, Austrian authorities have pursued anti-nuclear policies both at home and in foreign policy, focussing particularly on nuclear reactors in central and Eastern Europe. Senior lecturer at Klagenfurt University in Austria, Michael Getzner explores the growth in importance of anti-nuclear measures in Austria and discusses their timing, particularly the 2002 referendum on the Temelin reactor in the Czech Republic. The author also looks at whether Austria's position can be exported to other countries.
(LD)
*** BRUNO BARRILLOT: Les irradiés de la République. Les victimes des essais nucléaires français prennent la parole. Editions Grip (33 rue Van Hoorde, B-1030 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2418420 - Fax: 2451933 - e-mail: admi@grip.org - Internet: http://www.grip.org ) and Editions Complexe (24 rue de Bosnie, B-1060 Brussels). "Les livres du Grip" series, No. 269-270. 2003, 231 pp. ISBN 2-87027-972-8.
Joint founder of the Centre de documentation et de recherche sur la paix et les conflits, Bruno Barrillot has been working for nearly twenty years on the impact of nuclear testing. In this book, he quotes devastating eye-witness accounts, most of which have never been published before, from former conscripts who took part in French nuclear experiments in the Sahara and later in Polynesia. Most of the young men were given very little, if any, information about the risks they could be running by the military authorities. Almost forty years after the tests, the men have set up an Association des vétérans des essais nucléaires to ensure their views are heard and lobby for damages to be paid to men who are now suffering from a series of diseases - cancer tops the list of course - as are some of their children …
(MT)
*** SABRINA ROBERT: L'Erika: responsabilités pour un désastre écologique. Editions Pedone (13 rue Soufflot, F-75005 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 43540597 - Fax: 46340760). "Cedin Paris I - Perspectives internationales" series, No. 24. 2003, 259 pp, 20 euros. ISBN 2-233-00431-0.
On 12 December 1999, Erika, a 37,000 tonne oil tanker flying under the Maltese flag, capsized in the Bay of Biscay, polluting more than 400 kilometres of the French coast and laying waste to the coast of Brittany, which had already suffered similar devastation in the past. Wearing her hats of lover of marine life and enlightened lawyer, Sabrina Robert gets to the heart of the responsibilities that led up to this ecological disaster in the hope that determining the various players responsible for their acts will make it possible to avoid this type of catastrophe in the future. In order to do this, she first defines the liability of private operators in the marine transport sector. On paper, the 1992 Brussels Convention designates ship-owners as being responsible for repairing damages under a certain upper limit. It is then the International Pollution Damage Compensation Fund that takes over. But what about the clutch of responsibilities of all the different operators? Ship builders, freight forwarders, insurers and others send the ball into each other's court. And shell companies hiding behind screening companies like Russian dolls drag their feet or rather, one would be tempted to say, hide away like molluscs under successive layers of mud. The second part of the book looks at States escaping from their responsibilities, seemingly forgetting the 21st principle of the Stockholm Declaration whereby 'States have the duty to ensure that activity carried out within the limits of their jurisdiction or under their control does not damage the environment in other States or in regions not falling under national jurisdiction'. All in all, a heartfelt case is made for the sea not be subject to res nullis but subject to res communis, and for the sea to be managed responsibly by all for the good of all.
(FRo)
*** MICHAEL FAURE (Ed.): Deterrence, Insurability and Compensation in Environmental Liability. Future Developments in the European Union. Springer (Vienna. Internet: http://www.springer.at ). "Tort and Insurance Law" series, No. 5. 2003, 408 pp. ISBN 3-211-83863-5.
This book looks at the conditions in which regulations regarding liability can be used to provide optimal levels of prevention and insurance in the environmental domain. A comparison is made of how one can be insured against environmental issues in the EU and the United States and the proposals unveiled by the European Commission in its February 2000 White Paper on responsibility for the environment. This series of essays studies the utility and financial cost of environmental risks.
(LD)
*** EUROPEAN COMMISSION (Official Publications Office of the European Communities, L-2985 Luxembourg. Internet: http: //publications.eu.int) has published the following documents:
*** Europa am Scheideweg - Die Notwendigkeit einer nachhaltigen Verkehrspolitik. Generaldirektion Presse und Kommunikation. “Europa in Bewegung”. 2003, 22 pp.. ISBN 92-894-5924-7.
This newsletter highlights the need for the Union to embark upon a sustainable transport policy. It presents a view of Europe and the possibilities for countering the reign of the "domination by the car", given that the transport sector is the largest producer of CO2 emissions. Prioritising rail and combining different means of transport would help to reduce this phenomenon to a certain extent.
*** Rivista di studi politici internazionali. Rivista di studi politici internazionali (40 Lungarno del Tempio, I-50121 Firenze. Tel.: (39-55) 666384). January- March 2004, No. 281, 184 pp.. Subscription: 62 euros.
This issue provides a study carried out by Massimo Livi Bacci on the relationship between Europe and its neighbours, as well as possible developments in the social, demographic and immigration arenas. Cagiati and Vedovato tackle the crisis affecting the Constitution, while Margiotta Broglio looks at the question of whether the new dimension involving religious factors in the France of Jacques Chirac constitutes a crisis or rather a renewal of the secular state. Also included is an article by Samuel Hadas on reconciliation between the Catholic church and Israeli Jews under the impetus of Pope John Paul II.
*** Documents. Revue des questions allemandes (Bild, 50 rue de Laborde, F-75008 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 43879042 - fax: 42935094 - E-mail: bild.documents@wanadoo.fr). 2003, No. 4, 96 pp., 10 euros. Subscription: 39 euros.
Documents pays a final homage through ten contributions to Brigitte Sauzay, who worked so hard for Franco-German relations. The publication also looks at Gerhard Schröder's programme of economic and social reforms. It examines the new law on immigration, German external policy and the film "Good bye Lenin !" which enjoyed a huge success throughout Europe and which also provides an opportunity to have a look at East German cinema.
*** Kangaroo Group Newsletter. Kangaroo Group (9 Rond Point Schuman Bte 4, B-1040 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5410330 - fax.: 5384980 - E-mail: info@kangaroogroup.org - Internet: http://www.kangaroogroup.org ). February 2004, No. 36, 16 p..
This information newsletter follows up the results of the debate on services of general interest, which the group held at the European Parliament held on 8 J January. It also explores the issue of public and private partnerships, which has been in the forefront recently, given that state coffers have little means of finding the EUR 600 billion they need, according to the Commission, for investments in the major transport networks and other infrastructure, as well as for the protection of the environment. The role of the ombudsmen in defending the values of the enlarged Union is also examined.
*** Réalités industrielles. Editions ESKA (12 rue du Quatre-Septembre, F-75002 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 42865573 - fax: 42604535 - Internet: http: //http://www.eska.fr ). "Annales des Mines" series. December 2003, 74 p., 22 ,11 euros. ISBN 274720638-6.
This issue focuses on industrial research and innovation, just when European funding on defence is rising and with Europe seeking to provide itself with the means of realising its objective of being the first knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. Réalités industrielles provides articles such as, "Where's the Grey Matter Going and How do We Keep Hold of It?", "Enterprise Innovation Management", "Techno-poles and Clusters: growth through Innovation" and "Research and Technology for Security: European and National Perspectives".
Reviews in brief
*** Art. 88-4 de la Constitution. Papers submitted from 19 December to 4 January 2003. European Union Delegation to the French National Assembly. December 2003, No. 1320, Paris. This report provides the analyses of 28 proposals and draft Community Acts sent by the French government to the National Assembly.