*** CHRISTOPHER AUDLAND: Right Place-Right Time. The Memoir Club (Stanhope Old Hall, Stanhope, Weardale, County Durham DL13 2PF UK. Tel: (44-01388) 529060 - Fax: 527215 - E-mail: memoirclub@email.msn.com - Internet: http://www.thememoirclub.co.uk ). 2004, 528 pp. ISBN 1-84104-091-6.
This is the story of a busy life, which the author relates by taking us through all the different stages from 1949 to the present day during which he had at least twenty-five different jobs, whether professionally or pro bono, in a huge variety of different domains across five continents. As the title chosen for this long but highly readable book suggests, the author has the grace to admit that he was helped by fate in his acquisition of so many enriching experiences. This book also shows, however, that ever since his early days, Christopher Audland has always been able to take hold of fate, thanks to his intellectual curiosity, open-mindedness and commitment. This commitment naturally led him in the direction of post-war Europe, where he spent several years as a young British diplomat in Berlin and then in Bonn, before arriving at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg in 1952. These years of training and discovery in the subject matter of Europe started at the time of the Franco-German reconciliation, years which were of course decisive for Christopher Audland, who spent a great part of his life in the service of Europe, from the (ill-fated) negotiations over the accession of the United Kingdom to the European Communities at the beginning of the 60s until he left the European Commission in the mid-80s.
The chapters on the negotiations led by Ted Heath between 1961 and 1963 (Ted Heath is one of the figureheads in this book for whom Sir Christopher expresses the greatest admiration and attachment) are analytical and highly informative, peppered with anecdotes about the main protagonists (and smaller players). Heath, of course, de Gaulle (Heath remained on good terms with General de Gaulle until the latter's death, points out Sir Christopher) and Couve de Murville, along with the "Flying Knights", as they were known - the dynamic team of British negotiators... Despite the failure of the negotiations, Ted Heath acknowledged that the Macmillan government's decision to apply to join the European Community was the sign of a profound change, explains Sir Christopher. Heath wrote at the time, in fact, that the application to join Europe marked the end of an epoch of glory, the end of the British Empire, and the start of an entirely new chapter in British history. Sir Christopher comments today that he would have liked this statement to be one hundred percent true, but in fact, forty years after the negotiations in Brussels, there are still plenty of British politicians who are loath to admit that the days of the Empire are over.
In the end, it was the same Ted Heath who, as Prime Minister, signed the Accession Treaty a decade later, in 1973. Christopher Audland says that when he arrived at the Commission in 1973 with the first wave of British officials, his experience of the first accession negotiations proved to be highly useful, enabling him to understand in full detail the ins and outs of the European institutions, policies and personalities. He joined the European Commission as Deputy Secretary General (working closely with the mythical Emile Noël, a key figurehead at the Commission for decades), where he experienced - from the inside this time (rather than from the outside from the Foreign Office) - the new round of negotiations between Europe and the United Kingdom. He describes this as the 'renegotiation' which (without requiring any amendment to the Treaty, points out Sir Christopher) enabled Harold Wilson to "sell" the idea of Britain joining Europe to Labour. For at this point in time, the Conservatives were pro-European, and Labour was anti, sometimes even vehemently opposed to Europe...
The years spent at the European Commission, first as Deputy Secretary General (from 1973 to 1981) with responsibility for relations with the European Parliament and reform of the Commission (yes, it was being talked about even back then…) then as Director General for Energy (from 1981 to1986) and general rapporteur on the Chernobyl disaster, provided Sir Christopher with the opportunity of meeting many significant people: Emile Noël, of course, along with President of the Commission Roy Jenkins, Energy Commissioner Etienne Davignon and President Delors. His work led Sir Christopher to closely monitor the development of a series of policies (energy policy, for example) and gave him an intuition of the development potential of various institutions (universal suffrage was not yet used to select the European Parliament). But this was not the end of the story. After leaving the Commission, Christopher Audland has opted for what he describes as active retirement, pursuing other interests, like Europa Nostra and the European Opera Centre.
Marina Gazzo
*** CHRISTOPH DEMMKE, CHRISTIAN ENGEL (Eds.): Continuity and Change in the European Integration Process. Essays in honour of Günther F. Schäfer (EIPA 1984-2003).European Institute of Public Administration (22 O. L. Vrouwplein, P. O. Box 1229, NL-6201 Maastricht. Tel: (31-43) 3296274 - Fax: 3296296 - E-mail: m.simons@eipa-nl.com - Internet: http: //http://www.eipa.nl ). 2003, 273 pp., 31.75 euros. ISBN 90-6779-181-4.
This selection of essays in German, English or French is a homage by friends and colleagues to Günther Schäfer, who worked at the Maastricht-based European Institute of Public Administration for eighteen years until his retirement last year. Eighteen years during which important political changes characterised the European integration process. These changes (along with aspects of continuity) are studied in this book. Christine Neuhold, Alexander Türk and Torbjörn Larsson look at changes in institutions and comitology, while Klaus Gretschmann considers economic developments, and Dieter Freiburghaus analyses changes in relations between the European Union and Switzerland. The development of various policies, particularly the CFSP, is studied by other writers, along with the impact of the integration process on the public administrations of Member States. Other essays look at changes at the EIPA itself and its relations with the Deutsche Hochschule für Verwaltungswissenschaften (in Speyer) in terms of training top officials from German Länder in European affairs. (MT)
*** ROBIN CASSLING, GABRIEL FRAGNIERE (Eds.): Social Sciences and Political Change. Promoting Innovative Research in Post-Socialist Countries. Presses Interuniversitaires européennes and Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.net ). "Philosophy & Politics" series, No. 9. 2003, 285 pp. ISBN 90-5201-168-0.
The outcome of a research programme of around 4500 researchers funded by George Soros, this book, edited by former rector of the European College in Bruges, Gabriel Fragnière, and the man who piloted the research project, looks in a series of contributions presented at a confernece3 in Budapest in May 2002 at major changes in the economic and social transformation process in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Hence it provides a panorama of the main trends in philosophy and research in these regions, at least in the domain of social sciences, which should enrich dialogue between the East and West in this connection.
(LD)
*** ANTONIO MARCELLO CALAMIA: La nuova disciplina della concorrenza nel diritto comunitario. Giuffrè Editore (40 via Busto Arsizio, I-20151 Milan. Internet: http://www.giuffre.it ). 2004, 133 pp, 8 euros. ISBN 88-14-10833-1.
The author, lecturer in European and international law at Pisa University, here examines the new EU anti-trust regulation that has been in application since 1 May 2004. The legislation should allow the European Commission now to focus to a greater extent on repressing the biggest infringements of competition rules. Prof. Calamia notes that in its 1999 White Paper, the Commission had linked updating of competition rules with decentralisation of their application. He explains that this was achieved by turning upside down the logic that has governed EU competition rules for the past forty years. Prof. Calamia describes Mario Monti's reforms as a genuine revolution compared with preceding ideas because competition rules have moved form a system based on the idea that everything is banned apart from what is authorised to a system where everything is authorised apart from what has specifically been banned. Another important area commented upon by the author is that fact that the measures the Commission can impose on companies to settle competition issues have to respect the pr8inciple of proportionality. In this situation, explains Prof. Calamia, we believe we can affirm that the company will have to be involved to ensure the Commission's assessment and intervention is not seen as 'meddling' in the company's structure. (MG)
*** The EUROPEAN COMMISSION (Official Publications Office of the European Communities, L-2985 Luxembourg. Internet: http: //publications.eu.int) has published the following document:
*** Au service des régions. Regional Policy Directorate General (Internet: http://www.europa.int/comm/regional_policy/index_fr.htm ). "Politique régionale" series. 2004, 36 pp. ISBN 92-894-7333-9.
Regional Policy is essential for the economic, social and territorial cohesion of the European Union. It absorbs more than a third of the EU budget and no longer has to prove its worth. Enlargement, however, has given it the challenge of cutting the gap between old and new Member States while continuing to help disadvantaged regions in the old Member States. To give an example, unemployment in the Tyrol region of Austria and in Cyprus hovered between 2 and 3%, compared with 29% for Reunion Island and 26% in the Lubaskie region of Poland. For this reason, the Commission has unveiled a draft reform for post-2007, outlined in this publication in the aim of raising awareness among citizens of the solidarity and development tool that is Regional Policy.
*** Régions et communes d'Europe. Committee of the Regions, “Press and Communications” Unit (92-102 rue Montoyer, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2822155 - Fax: 2822085 - Internet: http: //http://www.cor.eu.int ). June 2004, No. 43, 12 pp.
Régions et communes d'Europe is published by the Committee of the Regions, whose role in defending local and regional authorities' interests and acting as an interface with citizens was praised recently by Romano Prodi. This issue describes highlights of the April plenary session, focussing on Neil Kinnock's comments that restricting the EU budget would be highly damaging for growth in Europe. Other articles look at the CoR Open Day and interviews with politicians on the role of the regions in promoting European cohesion.
*** Notabene . Observatoire social européen (13 rue Paul Emile Janson. B-1050 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5371971 - Fax: 5392808 - E-mail: info@ose.be - Internet: http://www.ose.be ). July 2004, No. 133, 20 pp Annual subscription: 20 euros.
This issue highlights that despite the new broom that has been sweeping the European institutions recently and with the Lisbon Process being constantly in the media, the future of the European Social Policy remains nebulous, to put it mildly. In this connection, the review publishes a long and detailed article by Ramõn Peña Casas on work incentives (measures), particularly financial measures to make work more attractive and lower unemployment rates. The author is a member of the Observatoire Social Européen, who casts his eye over an area where doublespeak and political speechifying abound. This issue prints a new balance sheet of European social policies in 2003.
*** Liaisons sociales Europe. Groupe Liaisons (1 Avenue Edouard-Belin, F-92500 Rueil-Malmaison. Tel: (33-8) 25800929 - Fax: (33-1) 44722027 - Internet: http//http://www.liaisons-sociales.com ). June-July 2004, No. 107, 12 pp., 32 euros. Annual subscription: 867.85 euros.
Liaisons sociales comments on the weakness of the Constitution with regard to social affairs. This weakness is described as causing crocodile tears to be shed by French politicians, leading Valéry Giscard to respond that the Constitution now foresaw qmv (rather than unanimity) for some social issues. Other articles look at the European Works Committees, the new European agreement on stress at work, equality between part-time and full-time workers, and reports on pensions and the funding of health insurance schemes.
Reviews in brief
*** The European Cosmetic, Toiletry & Perfumery Market 2003 . The European Cosmetic Toiletry and Perfumery Association. June 2004, Brussels. The 2003 annual report of the European Cosmetics, Toiletry and Perfumery association. *** European Pulp & Paper. CEPI. July 2004, Brussels. This issue looks at the impact of the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (one of a range of measures to cut CO2 emissions) on electricity prices and hence on the competitiveness of the European pulp and paper industry.