*** Een leven voor Europa. Liber Amicorum Max Kohnstamm. Europese Beweging Nederland (137 Riouwstraat, NL-2585 Den Haag. E-mail: ebn@xs4all.nl - Internet: http: //http://www.europese-beweging.nl ). 2004, 198 pp.
Happy Birthday Max. For his ninetieth birthday, Max Kohnstamm has been dedicated by the Dutch European Movement this attractive selection of essays where his friends write about him (mainly friends dating back a long way), whose memories often cover fifty years of European history, from his detention in a German concentration camp to his experience as Secretary to Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, his work at the International Ruhr Authority, his time as the first Secretary General of the High Authority of the ECSC with Jean Monnet, his work alongside Monnet at the Committee for the United States of Europe, and the years he spent in Florence as President of the European University Institute.
Jacques-René Rabier, who Jean Monnet had got to come from the Commissariat to the Plan in Luxembourg, remembers how Kohnstamm started as Secretary General of the ECSC in August 1952. I soon learned that he had Monnet's esteem and confidence and that was very important for me. Confidence - that huge key word of what has been called the Monnet Method - rapidly grew between us, comments Rabier. Jean Guyot describes the same period and the subtle arrival in the old city of Luxembourg of a posse of officials, often young, from the five other countries of the European Community of Coal and Steel in a kind of commando atmosphere. Guyot describes Kohnstamm's sense of diplomacy, experience, political philosophy and personal authority, based on unfailing integrity and constant reference to high moral values, along with his sense of humour. Virtues recognised by all his friends, including those who work with him on a daily basis today, like Crossick, founder of The European Policy Centre where Kohnstamm did a lot of work (because Max Kohnstamm has continued to work, constantly interested (and recently very concerned) about the direction the world is headed in). Crossick lists his friend's qualities - moral qualities and sense of values, compassion, loyalty, modesty, fairness and objectivity, along with his sense of humour, which hasn't dried up with age. Above all, his wisdom. A philosopher and wise man, writes Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, today a member of the European Central Bank's Governing Council, who met Max Kohnstamm in 1980, when they were a high-ranking official at the European Commission and the first President of the European University Institute of Florence, respectively. Most of his friends link Kohnstamm's memory with Monnet, like former MEP Katharina Focke, who explains how she met him in 1969 with Jean Monnet at the Bundeskanzleramt in Bonn, explaining that before Monnet's death, she discovered him with his own personality. The German Social Democrat recalls, as do other friends, the formative experience for Kohnstamm of the German concentration camp and imprisonment during the Occupation, an experience which makes Max, even today, work towards the objective of giving peace a structure. Karl Lammers, former CDU/CSU spokesperson for foreign policy at the Bundestag, says Kohnstamm incarnated the wisdom and broadness of mind of the victors of the Second World War, who gave Germany the chance to participate in the new European project. For a quarter of a century, Max was the most important and versatile direct associate of Jean Monnet and his closest political advisor, points out François Duchêne, another of Monnet's main co-workers, who also comments that Kohnstamm was precious for Monnet in relations with British and also, more particularly, American officials. (Duchêne describes the generous approach of Americans like Bob Schaetzel, who later became US ambassador to the European Community (he recently died). Like Duchêne, Richard Mayne met Max Kohnstamm at Jean Monnet's beginnings at the ECSC High Authority in 1955, when Kohnstamm became Monnet's right hand man at the Action Committee for the United States of Europe, in Paris. Mayne says that some people might say he was a stubborn Dutchman. He can be stubborn, but underneath that lies his integrity - one of several key words that come to mind when I think about Max. Georges Berthoin says that Max always had a vital role around Monnet, remembering how many documents in his archives have the initials MK, initials often found together with JM. Berthoin also writes that he always loved his powerful expressions of indignation, MK's impatient nature, because they expressed the extraordinary youth which is one of his characteristics.
As a young diplomat, Bernard Bot, Dutch Foreign Minister and formerly Dutch Permanent Representative to the EU, met Max Kohnstamm for the first time in the early 60s. He remembers the lively nature of the series of conversations they had about Jean Monnet, the High Authority and the question of whether the federalist ideal was compatible with the different identities of the European peoples. The lively nature of discussions with him also arose from the fact they didn't always agree, and neither of them easily gave up, comments Bot. Mom Wellenstein describes his memories of Max Kohnstamm in three languages, each symbolic of a different state. The first in German describes the exceptional circumstances in which they met for the first time, in 1942 as political prisoners of the Nazi regime; the second in Dutch starts in 1950 when they worked together at the Dutch foreign ministry; and the third in French about time at the High Authority in Luxembourg until 1955, when they parted their ways in terms of work, but not in terms of spirit. Hans van den Broek, former European Commissioner and former Dutch Foreign Minister comments that peace and security are becoming ever more crucial a priority in the world today. To contribute to this peace and security, the EU must speak with a single voice and show itself capable of leadership in crises. We will most likely need a Max Kohnstamm to convince EU Member States, comments Van den Broek.
Marina Gazzo (with Helmut Brüls)
*** ANNA MICHALSKI (Ed.): The Political Dynamics of Constitutional Reform. Reflections on the Convention on the Future of Europe. Netherlands Institute of International Relations “Clingendael” (Clingendael 7, P.O. Box 93080, NL-2597 VH The Hague. Tel: (31-70) 3245384 - Fax: 3746667 - E-mail: research@clingendael.nl - Internet: http: //http://www.clingendael.nl ). "Clingendael Study", No. 21. 2004, 136 p. ISBN 90-5031-089-3.
In this collection of essays edited by a former member of the Commission's Forward Studies Unit, the writers Mark Gray, Karoly Grüber, Kirsty Hughes, Jan Rood, Michel Theys, Thomas Traguth, Helen Wallace, Wolfgang Wessels and Jan Wouters write about one of the most crucial stages in the building of a political Europe, the genesis of the European Constitution. From the fallout from the Nice debates - where tensions revealed to citizens as never before the state of divisions between Member States after so many years together in the European Union - to concerns about enlargement, via the painful breakdown of the European Council in Brussels last December, the strained birth of this fundamental document marks a fundamental turning point, in fact, in the history of the continent of Europe.
This stage of history merited at the very least in-depth consideration that was more than simply a technical catalogue of the planned reforms, being also a synoptic table illustrating as fully as possible all the motivations of each player, whether a politician or state, detailing constraints, visions, public opinion supporting him or holding him back. Basically the general background, political and philosophical, underlying the birthing of a text destined to link up nearly half a billion citizens. Whether these labour pains actually ends up giving birth to a great political unified Europe or a Europe reduced to its hard core, the authors are at pains to demonstrate, each for his own particular area of investigation and analysis, that the Convention for the Future of Europe will go down in history as a voluntarist action eminently revealing of this tremendous common will to unite in consensus countries, nations and peoples. A one-off in history and hence an extraordinary school with regard to the problems encountered by all to get agreement between such diverging interests. Also lessons with regard to al the solutions put forward to resolve the problems in an immense role-playing exercise that should be a university for the mergers, alliances and reconciliations of the future.
Through the book, readers explore the inexorable political integration process that is underway, the internal dynamic of the Convention, the lessons to be drawn from the failures along the way in this unprecedented development, the dance of hesitation between federalists and intergovernmental lists, between the supporters of a united European Union and the most Atlanticist of its members, between those moving forward and those holding back in doubt. A rigorous and intelligent analysis by writers who have left the necessary distance between themselves and the events to be able to study their context, depending on the soil where they were rooted. All this without failing to assess the impact of this on the future of Europe.
(FOc)
*** L'Europe en formation. Centre international de formation européenne (10 av. des Fleurs, F-06000 Nice. Tel: (33-4) 93979397 - Fax: 93979398 - e-mail: europe.formation@cife.org - Internet http: //http://www.cife.org ). No. 4/2003 and No. 1/2004, 188 & 122 pp, 11 euros each.
Last year's last issue of L'Europe en formation focussed on Europe's role in globalisation and regionalisation. Underlying this, the issue looks at the influence of globalisation and regionalisation (only antagonistic at first sight) on European civilisation and their connections with the outside world. Some of the articles come from the Entretiens sur le régionalisme organised by the European Institute of High International Studies, looking at issues like the challenges Europe will have to face when it comes to social, economic and territorial cohesion, particularly following enlargement. Other articles criticise the Huntington theories of the clash of civilisations and consider the different types of tax federalism. An article of note in this issue is Christian Roy's comments on a 'specious' biography of Alexandre Marc, the now deceased founder of L'Europe en formation, whose federalism is described by John Hellman as Nazi anti-Nazism. Christian Roy accuses Hellman of using lack of proof as the most undeniable proof, typical of all inquisitions.
The first issue this year essentially focusses (in line with its timing) on enlargement of the European Union. It opens with an interview with Günther Verheugen, European Enlargement Commissioner, who explains the Commission's role in enlargement, outlining his views and expectations. Other articles analyse the path taken by this enlargement and consider the sensitive issue of the EU's foreign and defence policy. One article highlights the challenges facing the most populous acceding country, Poland, while another compares the accession of the Czech Republic with Slovakia, and a third considers the constitutional turmoil of an often overlooked country, Moldavia.
(FRo)
*** ALFREDO RIZZO: L'allargamento ad Est dell'Union europea. Problematiche del Trattato di adesione. Editoriale Scientifica (39 via San Biagio, I-80138 Naples. Tel: (39-81) 5800459 - e-mail: es@editorialescientificasrl.it). 2004, 20 euros. ISBN 88-88321-87-X.
The author of this book represented the Italian foreign ministry in the work of drawing up the Accession Treaty of the ten new EU Member States. The book was published very soon after the end of the negotiations. It analyses the treaty structure and the most important and controversial rules. In the second part of the book, the author takes a closer look at the permanent and transitory amendments and the main European policies brought in by the Accession Treaty coming into force.
(MG)
*** SOPHIE BOUTILLIER, HENRI TONNET (Eds.): La Grèce dans tous ses états. 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 ). "Economie et Innovation", "Clichés" series. 2003, 154 p6, 13.75 euros. ISBN 2-7475-4828-7.
Most people only know modern Greece through its tourism, along with its share of clichés and prejudice. This book is a veritable encyclopaedia, illustrated with plenty of photographs to help develop the cultural, historical, artistic, literary, economic and social aspects of the country. Sophie Boutillier led a multi-disciplinary team, with each author considering a specific issue in a separate chapter. The collection of essays outlines the multiple aspects of modern-day Greece and prospects for the future, spiritual matters and national ideology. It also look at the issue of Cyprus. The Greek economy still relies on agriculture, fisheries and navigation (18.5 % of the world's fleet). Its economic geography highlights the prospects opened in the Balkans following the disappearance of the Communist bloc - Greek businesses setting up in Albania, Bulgaria and Romania. It is still tourism that makes up the lion's share of the country's income. Archaeological tourism has been slowing down, but the Greek islands and Crete attract masses of beach holiday tourists. Tourism revenue has fallen, however, given competition from other countries providing similar opportunities. EU aid for developing infrastructure for the 2004 Olympics has helped modernise the country, giving it a provisional stimulus, particularly for the truly international airport, the big hub of communications between Europe and Middle East, and the ports of Piraeus and Thessalonica. The authors note that Greece's prospects after enlargement of the EU are not promising, however. A cut in EU aid and a stiffening of competition at international level can be forecast. To conclude an excellent guide for anyone wanting an overview of Greece at the start of the third millennium.
(JNi)
*** The EUROPEAN COMMISSION (Official Publications Office of the European Communities, L-2985 Luxembourg. Internet: http: //publications.eu.int) has published the following document:
*** Agenda Social. DG Employment and Social Affairs, Centre de documentation (B-1049 Brussels. Fax: (32-2) 2962393 - E-mail: empl-info@cec.eu.int). April 2004, No. 8, 20 pp.
This issue's special dossier looks at the European Social Fund. Part of the European Structural Funds, the European Social Fund provides a vital contribution to job creation and social integration, aiming to adapt skills, update education and training systems and employment services. The magazine also looks at aspects of the Cohesion Policy, working time and how it is distributed out in the EU and simplifying social security legislation. Other articles consider the different faces of poverty, particularly in the new Member States.
*** Liaisons sociales Europe. Groupe Liaisons (1 av. Edouard-Belin, F-92500 Rueil-Malmaison. Tel: (33-8) 25800929 - Fax: (33-1) 44722027 - Internet: http//http://www.liaisons-sociales.com ). June 2004,No. 106, 12 pp., 32 euros. Annual subscription: 867.85 euros.
This issue of Liaisons sociales looks at stress at work, seen as leading to bad health but not as a disease as such. It is the subject of a non-binding draft framework agreement soon to be voted in. The agreement proposes a way of detecting stress and establishes the employer's explicit liability to remedy stress once it has been detected. Other articles look at the new European healthcard which should greatly simplify administration and replace a whole series forms, the coordination of social security systems and equality between men and women. Women often suffer from unequal treatment with regard to pay, and this is often the case for health and safety at work too.
*** Revue du Marché commun et de l'Union Européenne. Editions techniques et économiques (3 rue Soufflot, F-75005 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 55426131 - Fax: 55426139- E-mail: editecom@starnet.fr - Internet: http: //http://www.editecom.com ). June 2004, No. 479, 58 pp., Annual subscription: 202 euros.
This publication continues the analysis begun in previous issues of the impact of enlargement, this issue focussing on relations between Russia and the EU. Both navigate between the desire to establish a friendly strategic partnership and the unsuitability of the exchange framework as to its substance. The review also outlines Norway's views on enlargement, a country generally more involved in the affairs of the EU and more concerned by EU enlargement than one tends to imagine. Other articles look at the CFSP, immigrant children's right to education and the role of combatting unemployment in the European project.
***Opinion Jeunesse. Forum européen de la Jeunesse (120 rue Joseph II. B-1000 Brussels. E-mail: press@youthforum.org). 2004, No. 2, 24 pp. 13 euros. Annual subscription: 66.50 euros.
The European Youth Forum is an international organisation of national youth councils and international youth NGOs, aiming to give young people the resources to take an active role in the fashioning of Europe and the society they live in. This issue includes articles by more than a dozen people, including European Youth Forum members and representatives of the youth sections of European political parties, writing about the need to vote in European elections, education and the weight young people can bear on the future of the European Union. It also has an interview with outgoing President of the European Parliament, Pat Cox. The publication is available in both French and English.
*** Europe infos. Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community and Catholic European Study and Information Centre (45 rue Stévin , B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2350510 - Fax: 2303334 - E-mail: debbichi-ocipe@tiscalinet.be). May 2004, No. 60, 12 pp., Annual subscription: 27 euros.
This issue of Europe Infos looks at the European Culture Capitals - formerly known as European Cities of Culture - which seem to be sailing full steam ahead. The selection system for Culture Capitals has been amended for 2005 onwards. Other articles give the views of Paul Collowald, former Director General of Information at the European Parliament, on Robert Schuman's declaration (launching the European project), the partnership between the EU and Latin America, anti-semitism in Europe and how humanity fits in to a technological world.