*** FRANKLIN DEHOUSSE, JORDI GARCIA MARTINEZ: La coopération policière et judiciaire pénale de l'Union européenne. Les lents progrès d'un nouveau projet européen. Institut royal des relations internationales (69 rue de Namur, B-1000 Brussels. Tel.: (32-2) 2234114 - fax: 2234116 - E-mail: studia.diplomatica@irri-kiib - Internet: http: //http://www.irri-kiib.be ). "Studia Diplomatica" series, No. 4. 2002, 152 pp.. Subscription: 81 euros. ISBN 2-9600353-4-8.
The monstrous attacks in Madrid reveal in a very bloody way that the European Union is no kind of sanctuary. It also illustrates how terrorists and other dormant networks use the eradication of borders to their full advantage. More generally, criminal organisations all round are benefiting from the vast European area on offer to them. There is nothing new about this. This explains why European leaders, taking into account of the risks of increased criminality established mechanisms from the 3rd pillar of the Maastricht Treaty and solemnly laid the foundations for a Freedom, Security and Justice Area during the European Tampere Council of 1999. Following the attacks in Madrid they were forced to admit that police and legal co-operation was marking time. Why? Perhaps because although policy on immigration and asylum was largely place in the Community sphere, legal and police co-operation was still largely intergovernmental. Franklin Dehousse and Jordi Garcia Martinez explains that "this choice has profoundly coloured the results of this co-operation".
The book is very useful for its methodological description of the slow rise in power of the European police and penal system. In the first part they paint a general picture, pointing out that the origins for police and legal co-operation, with the creation in the 1970s of the Trevi Group (named after a famous Roman fountain and Dutch minister of the epoch called Fonteijn before becoming an acronym for "terrorism, radicalism and international violence", as well as the legal bases of the treaties. The book then covers the programme worked out at Tampere and completed in Brussels following the 11 September attacks in 2001. The authors then study the progress achieved in legal co-operation in light of a rapprochement in material law (financial crime, corruption in the private sector, the fight against cyber-crime, the trafficking in human beings and the sexual exploitation of children, illegal immigration, drug trafficking, terrorism, racism and xenophobia etc), procedural issues (instruments such as the arrest warrant, mutual assistance and traditional legal support and harmonisation instruments and the development of networks between national actors, the last to date, being Eurojust. The third part of the book focuses on police co-operation. Dehousse and Garcia describe the "subtle" methods of police co-operation to begin with (training, exchanges) before tackling instruments that allow for greater co-operation, such as Europol and provisions from the Schengen Convention.
In the last part of the study, the authors examine future challenges, "crime that doesn't recognise borders; strengthening mutual trust (the two writers almost wrote with a premonition when describing "the poor quality of information sent to Europol" is testimony to the lack of trust that prevails "between the authorities of Member States both legal and police", "the external dimension of internal security", "incomplete legislative development", "ignored operational action", and finally, "divergences between the Commission, European Parliament and Council, without mentioning "enlargement". They then analyse the "weaknesses of the institutional framework established by the treaties" before critically gauging the responses by the European Convention to these challenges and weaknesses. A genuine inventory of what measures to take in the future.
Michel Theys
*** ICOLA BARTONE: Mandato di arresto europeo e tipicità nazionale del reato. Analisi strutturale comparata dei reati di frode/truffa nelle sovvenzioni, criminalità informatica, furto, racket/estorsione, riciclaggio, corruzione, associazione per delinquere in Italia, Francia, Germania, Spagna. Giuffrè editore (40 via Busto Arsizio, I-20151 Milano. Tel.: (39-2) 38089290 - fax: 38009582. Internet: http://www.giuffre.it ). 2003, 318 p., 24 euros. ISBN 88-14-10235-X.
As stated by Nicola Bartone in the beginning of this book, the European Union will exist as soon as it is an entity, which will be the case when it has unitary legal order, with its penal code and own legal structure granting every European citizen the same habeas corpus. On this basis, the author studies “the great leap forward”, which in this context, the framework directive on the European Arrest Warrant adopted on 13 June 2002 entered into force or in most Member States on 1 January this year. This instrument will facilitate the fight against crime such as embezzlement, corruption, computer crime etc. Concerned by the impact of European law on the situation in Italy in the penal domain, the author looks at the provisions in the framework decision when they are integrated in four Member States: Germany, Spain, France and Italy, which all share the same legal tradition. This leads him to make a strong appeal for legislative harmonisation. Bartone hopes that in the future European law will be elaborated through a unifying European code that contains a common denominator of sanctions and a micro-European penal system
(MRo)
*** ENNIO AMODIO: Processo penale, diritto europeo e common law. Dal rito inquisitorio al giusto processo. Giuffrè editore (see address attached). 2003, 280 p., 16.50 euros. ISBN 88-14-09797-6.
This work presents a study of the reform of penal procedures from the Inquisition to the Italian code of 1989, the rallying cry for the promotion of individual guarantees. The author's objective is to reveal the multiplicity of the support in different European law and in "common law". In the first chapters, Ennio Amodio analyses "the decadence of inquisitorial rites in light of comparative experience", via an exploration of constitutional values and procedural reforms on the European continent, without counting the impact of European standards on Italian legislation. The author then focuses on the systems in the different countries, before tackling the Anglo-European model.
(MRo)
*** PHILIPPE DE BRUYCKER (Editor): The Emergence of a European Immigration Policy - L'émergence d'une politique européenne d'immigration. Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Brussels. Tel.: (32-2) 5129845 - fac: 5117202 - E-mail info@bruylant.be - Internet: http://www.bruylant.be ). Collection de "La Faculté de droit de l'Université libre de Bruxelles". 2003, 466 p., 85 euros. ISBN 2-8027-1783-9.
The Academic Network of Legal Studies on Immigration and Asylum in Europe was set up in 1999 with the support of the Commission via the Odysseus programme. In all Union Member States, this programme brings together legal experts that provide a greater insight into law affecting foreigners in a perspective of European immigration and asylum policy. It also seeks to diffuse this knowledge as broadly as possible through new technology (the network can contacted through e-mail: odysseus@ulb.ac.be). This book was created at a congress organised on the theme of "What Immigration Policy for the European Union?" in view of drawing up a balance sheet of the Maastricht Treaty and tracing the perspectives created by the Treaty of Amsterdam. Although these are constituted into action, contributions that were made there were considerably constructive and above all, helped to update the constant and rapid developments occurring in European immigration policy up to the end of last year. Issues covering short term visas, work linked immigration, long term foreign residents, family reunification and the fight against illegal immigration.
(MT)
*** ROCÍO FUNGUEIRINO-LORENZO: Visa-, Asylum- und Einwanderungspolitik vor und nach dem Amsterdamer Vertrag. Peter Lang AG (1 Moosstrasse, Postfach 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen, Switzerland. Tel.: (41-32) 3761717 - fax: 3761727 - E-maill: publicity@peterlang.com - Internet: http: //http://www.peterlang.de ). Collection "Publications Universitaires Européennes", Série II Droit, No. 3527. 2002, 228 p.. ISBN 3-631-39949-9.
Union policy on asylum, visas and immigration, which has gradually been included into the Community sphere by the Treaty of Amsterdam is at the heart of this book written by a young Spanish legal expert. In his doctorate at the University of Passau, Rocio Fungueirino-Lorenzo meticulously examines the political and legal evolution in these extremely important and sensitive areas. The author also defends the point of view that expanding the competencies of the European Court of Justice in the areas of visas, asylum and immigration constitutes considerable progress despite certain restrictions and, at the very least, a step in the right direction. The book provides a clear and well structured presentation of difficult subjects, which are not simply of concern to those in the legal profession.
(PB)
*** MONICA DEN BOER: 9/11 and the europeanisation of anti-terrorism policy: a critical assessment. Notre Europe (41 bld des Capucines, F-75002 Paris. Tel.: (33-1) 44589797 - fax: 44589799 - E-mail: notreeurope@notre-europe.asso.fr - Internet: http: //http://www.notre-europe.asso.fr ). "Policy Papers", No. 6. 2003, 34 p..
This book looks at developments in the anti-terrorist struggle since 11 September, providing an overview of the legislative measures adopted up to August 2003. the book also describes the process for setting up new intelligence agencies and the fight against terrorism, as well as new interconnections and cooperation between those that already exist. The author explores trans-Atlantic cooperation, which, in this area, has never been so close as it is now. He highlights the impingements on civil liberties resulting from new security dictates. The book is accompanied throughout be different recommendations.
*** MARCEL KLUGMANN: Europäische Menschenrechtskonvention und antiterroristische Maßnahmen. Eine Untersuchung der Rechtsprechung des Europäischen Gerichtshofes für Menschenrechte am Beispiel des Nordirland- und des Kurdenkonflikts. Peter Lang (See address attached). "Publications Universitaires Européennes" series, II Droit, No. 3315. 2002, 178 pp.. ISBN 3-631-38898-5.
The jurisprudence of the European court of Human rights and anti-terrorist measures in Northern Ireland and Turkey are examined in this doctorate by a young legal expert from the University of Bonn. Conflicts between Protestants and Catholics in the North of Ireland, as well as clashes between Turkish security forces and Kurds in the South East of turkey outline the political framework, while the European Convention on Human rights marks the legal framework of this study. The author meticulously examines several cases in different legal categories, including the case of the Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan. Marcel Klugmann concludes that significant changes to the jurisprudence of the court in Strasbourg have occurred since the 1990s impacting on antiterrorist measures: judges now highlight protection of life and physical integrity of presumed terrorists, refuse to countenance any kind of torture, but accepts in principle stricter conditions for arrest of those accused of such crimes. This is an interesting book to researchers and those active in the area of human rights in Europe and for all those who want to obtain legal information on these two regional conflicts. (PB)
*** MARIO CHIAVARIO: La justice pénale internationale entre passé et avenir. Giuffre editore (see address attached). 2003, 398 p., 36 euro. ISBN 88-14-10053-5.
This volume is the result of research undertaken by university teams from three Member States of the Union (universities of Berlin, Catania, Paris 1 and Torino) on the themes and problems areas of the international system for criminal law in light of a major advance - "utopia becoming reality", according to a formula by Mireille Delmas-Marty - which led to the decision to set up the International Criminal Court. It consists of four sections, the first constitutes a kind of general framework for the subject in light of comparative law. The authors then focus on aspects of international law and examine the relationship between the ICC and the United Nations and the role of Non Governmental Organisations, as well as on that of the ad hoc courts for Yugoslavia and Rwanda. They then explore international criminal law and the procedures and individuals involved in shaping them: the accused, the plaintiff and the prosecutor.
(MT)