*** JACQUES RUPNIK (Ed.): Les Européens face à l'élargissement. Perceptions, acteurs, enjeux. Presses de Sciences Po (44 rue du Four, F-75006 Paris. E-mail: info@presses.sciences-po.fr - Internet: http: //http://www.sciences-po.fr ). 2004, 328 pp, 22 euros. ISBN 2-7246-0928-X.
Since 1 May 2004, for the first time in the history of the old continent, most countries in Europe have, through their own democratic will, been equal members of a single economic and political body. As destiny would have it, many experience this high point in the process of unifying the continent as a time of division, both over the Iraq War and transatlantic relations and over the adoption of the European Constitution. Does this mean that 'old' Europeans would do well to fear that the new arrivals will change the nature of the European Union? How to explain the reluctance of some sections of the elite and public opinion both within the Union and among new members of the 'club'? This book of essays provides scientifically explained and generally soothing answers to these questions.
Eminent specialists from the countries under consideration explain what were (and still are) the hopes and fears surrounding enlargement, along with governments' strategies, the role of political elites and changes in public opinion. The first part of the book looks at public opinion in Member States by focussing on France ("a doubting society with sceptical elites"), Germany ("slippage towards the West"), Austria ("reluctance through proximity") and the United Kingdom ("distant, unknown countries"). The next to be reviewed are central Europe, the Czech Republic, Hungary ("being in Europe without being part of it"), Slovakia ("lack of consensus among the elite and lack of adversaries from the Union") and the Baltic States ("Baltic Euro-scepticism: a spectre which has not materialised"). Finally, an assessment is made of "public opinion at the borders of Europe" through a case study of Romania ("Accession tests at the end of the subsidies?") and the Balkans ("enthusiasm for the imaginary European saviour"), but also the Ukraine, Byelorussia and Moldova.
It is of course impossible to resume these detailed and highly nuanced essays. In the introduction, however, Jacques Rupnik paints a backdrop of national feelings and resentments roused by enlargement. Research Director at the 'Centre d'études et de recherches internationales', he notes three factors which might explain the reticence. Firstly, the factor of time, since the "long march" to Europe has, for public opinion, caused a "disconnection between the democratic changes of 1989 and the European project". Whence a political blow even more accentuated by the fact that NATO was enlarged before the EU. In the former candidate countries, Jacques Rupnik notes three phases. Firstly, "Europhobia", with the fall of the Berlin Wall leading in the West to "genuine sympathy and a desire to open up". The problem is that this empathy was not translated into politics, with the leader of 'wait and see' being Mitterrand (who didn't imagine central European countries joining 'for decades to come', not to mention the fact that the former French President seemed to include… Russia, in his planned European Confederation, which made it "doubly impossible to agree to countries escaping from Soviet dominance and wanted to hitch up to the Union as soon as possible". The second phase involved "mutual disappointments", with the violent explosion of the former Yugoslavia reminding the West that post-Communism also announced a return to war and nationalism, while countries in central Europe understood that deepening unity was more of a priority for the EU15 than enlargement. The third phase was the launch of accession negotiations in 1998, when enlargement took "a highly technical turn" with everyone in both East and West weighing up the "pros and cons, costs and benefits". Which inevitably led to a fall in support for the process. Especially since the second reason noted by Rupnik is the fact that in order to lead this process, the EU has preferred a traditional law-based approach, rather than "opening up to the challenge of inventing democracy in the East (…) by rethinking its accession process", and this has prevented the emergence of any "feeling of belonging to the European family" and has led many to believe that it was less a matter of unifying Europe than of enlarging a Union held to ransom by experts. Add to this the third reason - a lack of information and absence of trans-European debate. All of which has meant that in fifteen years we have gone from "a political vision based on democratic values to a more technocratic, accountancy-based approach", leading Jacques Rupnik to suggest to Günter Verheugen that he paraphrase something erroneously thought to have been said by Jean Monnet: "If it had to be done again, I would start with politics".
Is this the end of the story? No. In the light of the challenges lying ahead of the enlarged European Union - transatlantic relations and the CFSP, the cost of enlargement and solidarity, democracy and European governance - Jacques Rupnik observes the rising power of European public opinion likely to cause havoc to the outcome desired by the elites. And as Bronislaw Geremek points out in the conclusion, "the people have been able to preserve a part of the European dream" and in many cases "people are wiser than their elites".
Michel Theys
*** ALAIN REGUILLON: Quelles frontières pour l'Europe ? Europe-puissance ou Europe-marché ? L'Harmattan (5-7 rue de l'Ecole-Polytechnique, F-75008 Paris. Tel.: (33-1) 40467920 - Fax: 43258203 - E-mail: diffusion.harmattan@wanadoo.fr - Internet: http: //http://www.editions-harmattan.fr ). "Questions contemporaines" series. 2004, 170 pp, 5 euros. ISBN 2-7475-6884-9.
What kind of Europe do we want? This is the ever more fundamental question underlying this book, an adaptation of a doctoral thesis for the 'Centre d'études diplomatiques et stratégiques' in Paris. Senior player and deputy director of the French section of the Council of Communities and Regions of Europe, Alain Réguillon aims to provide answers by considering the meeting with citizens required, in his view, by ratification of the Constitutional Treaty. This exercise of citizen pedagogy cannot, in the author's view, do without a debate (and therefore thought) about the forms of organisation to be drawn up within the European Union. Which means that European citizens should be perfectly aware of matters and say whether they want a Europe-market or a Europe-power. In the light of historic, economic and demographic considerations, the author makes a determined argument for the second option, failing which Europe would become limited to the role of operetta principality or an open air museum. For this reason, Réguillon suggests that a Federation should be organised where a few countries would lead the way (the old Six and "possibly" Portugal) within a European Community covering an economic space of some … forty states. But because "geographical sense has to be respected within reasonable limits", neither Turkey nor Russia would be members since they would inexorably ruin dreams of Europe-power. These countries should, in the author's view, serve as an anchor for regional units, with a Euro-Asian Association at the EU's eastern borders with the Community of Independent States, and a EuroMed Confederation to the south with countries around the Mediterranean - which would stabilise the world a little more while allowing Europe's full potential to Europe as a power to be both preserved and strengthened.
(MT)
*** CHRISTOPHE HILLION (Ed.): EU enlargement: A legal approach. Essays in European law. Hart Publishing Ltd. (Salters's Boatyard, Folly Bridge, Abingdon Road, Oxford, OX1 4LB. Tel.: (44-1865) 245533- Fax: 794882 - E-mail mail@hartpub.co.uk - Internet: http://www.hartpub.co.uk ). 2004, 230 pp, £40. ISBN 11-84113-376-0.
Europe's most recent round of enlargement is the one most recently studied from the political and economic angles, but it also has important legal repercussions, which this book by academics and officials of the enlarged EU aims to explore. The essays look at three main topics. The first chapters examine how the accession criteria were arrived at and checked. Christophe Hillion argues that the Copenhagen criteria, initially drawn up for countries in east and central Europe, have crystallised into criteria that have to be met to be allowed to join the club and have become standard criteria now applied to all candidate countries across the board. The second part looks at accession details and the pre-accession strategy drawn up by the EU in order to monitor the transformation of legal systems in the candidate countries. The last second considers the impact of enlargement on the EU's institutions and policies.
(STu)
*** JACQUES MYARD: L'adhésion de la Roumanie en 2007: une échéance à respecter. Délégation de l'Assemblée nationale pour l'Union européenne (Kiosque de l'Assemblée nationale, 4 rue Aristide Briand, F-75007 Paris. Tel.: (33-1) 40636121 - Internet: http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr ). "Rapport d'information", No. 1480. 2004, 37 pp, 3.50 euros. ISBN 2-11-117619-2.
French parliamentarian Jacques Myard points out in this newsletter that France has not ceased
supporting the idea of Romania joining the EU in 2007, a view which he described as "not being dictated only by close historical and cultural ties between the two countries" but "also takes account of notable progress by Romania in recent years towards meeting the accession criteria". Initially, the author looks at the relevance of the regular reports published by the European Commission. Without denying that endemic corruption has still to be rooted out in Romania, he launches a pre-emptive strike: "On reading these reports, we cannot fail to wonder what the results would be of such an exercise applied to a country which has been an EU Member State for decades". He also questions the pressure being exerted by the European Commission to achieve "total liberalisation of the economy, particularly in energy". Jacques Myard believes there is no doubt that Romania already meets the political criteria and can be considered a viable market economy. It has made steady progress in adopting Community acquis. He demonstrates that Romania will be able to overcome the major obstacles remaining with the aid of France, particularly in terms of reinforcing administrative and judicial capacity. In the third part of the report, he considers Romania's specific geographical position, progress still to be made in terms of ensuring tight borders and Romania's ambivalent relations with its neighbours, particularly Moldova. Jacques Myard concludes that the transition period will not be over on 31 December 2006, but the transition will probably be "easier to finish if Romania is accepted within the EU, rather than keeping it on the fringes".
(STu)
*** STEPHANE LATHION: Musulmans d'Europe. L'émergence d'une identité citoyenne. L'Harmattan (see above). 2003, 194 pp, 19.80 euros. ISBN 2-7475-4107-X.
A portrait of today's generation of European Muslims is given in this book by a doctor of European Studies at Geneva University, head of the "Islam in Europe" Unit of the 'Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Arabe et Méditerranéen' (Cermam). The book aims to show how young Muslims are changing in Europe. Through his work, the author proves that the Muslim world has been changing for the last ten years and analyses the prospects for Muslim culture and society in Europe. Stéphane Lathion also considers an urgent issue in modern Europe, marriage between Muslims and Christians. The author underlines the need for Islamic schools which help Muslims get to know their place in society. He believes that national governments in Europe should promote positive integration of Muslims in all spheres of social life. In his conclusions, he argues that European Islam is complex, formed of belonging to multiple groups continuously interfering with one another.
(OPa)
*** TALIBE SÜZEN: Das Scheidungsverhalten türkischer Migrantinnen der zweiten Generation in der Bundesrepublik. Die subjektiven Ursachen und Folgen der Scheidung - Kulturpendlerinnen. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, Postfach 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen, Switzerland. Tel.: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - E-mail: publicity@peterlang.com - Internet: http: //http://www.peterlang.de ). "Europäische Hochschulschriften - Publications Universitaires Européennes - European University Studies", Series XXII Sociology, No. 379. 2003, 282 pp. ISBN 3-631-50513-2.
In this book, Talibe Süzen, doctor of social sciences at Berlin University, analyses the reasons and motives for divorce for second generation immigrant women living in Germany. Using bibliographic research methods and personal and narrative interviews, the author identifies a specific typology of divorced women of Turkish origin and examines the influence of women' liberation, the various forms and ideals of the family and marriage, work and social status and economic dependence on the decision to get divorced. An interesting pioneering study, giving specific and differentiated perspectives, but based on very few examples and empirical studies.
(PB)
*** The EUROPEAN COMMISSION (Official Publications Office of the European Communities, L-2985 Luxembourg. Internet: http: //publications.eu.int) has published the following document:
*** Le Magazine. DG Education and Culture (B-1049 Brussels. Fax: (32-2) 2964259 - e-mail: eac-info@cec.eu.int - Internet: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/education_culture/index_fr.htm). 2004, No. 23, 24 pp.
Mens sana in corpore sano. This is the famous adage chosen by the European Union when it made 2004 the Year of Education Through Sport. 2004 hosted a number of big sporting events, like the Athens Olympics and the European Football Cup in Portugal. This issue of the Magazine de l'éducation et de la culture points out the importance of sport for health and personal development and for learning social values like patience, tolerance, and teamwork for common objectives. The magazine also looks at the role of sport in Europe and EU initiatives within the framework of the European Year of Education Through Sport.
*** Les Nouvelles du GRIP. Groupe de recherche et d'information sur la paix et la sécurité (33 rue Van Hoorde, B-1030 Brussels. Tel.: (32-2) 2418420 - Fax: 2451933 - e-mail: mailto: publications@grip.org - Internet: http://www.grip.org ). 3rd quarter 2004, No. 33 (special issue), 16 pp. Annual subscription: 15 euros.
Established in 1979, in the middle of the Cold War, GRIP has expanded to consider security questions in a wider sense, focussing on the proliferation of light arms and the control of arms exports. GRIP has taken advantage of its 25th anniversary to publish this special issue, looking at international security questions in the last quarter of a century, particularly the mushrooming of nuclear warheads, military spending and an escalation in the number of wars and conflicts. Following a fall after the collapse of the USSR and the end of the Cold War, these indicators are on the rise again. The review also looks at support for the military option in the United States, changes in multilateralism, the role of NGOs and the link between extreme free market policies and rising insecurity.
*** 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 ). September - October 2004, No. 112, 12 pp., 32 euros. Annual subscription: 867.85 euros.
This issue of the review looks at the new draft EU directive on working time. The directive establishes a 65 hour maximum working week, and gives definitions for working time and being on call. It also considers cultural differences in Europe vis-à-vis older workers, who tend to be marginalised in Western Europe, although Scandinavia often has active employment policies for older seniors. Other issues considered include a focus on the Danish 'flexisecurity' model to combine job security and flexibility in a rather free-market based framework.
*** Notabene. Observatoire social européen (13 rue Paul Émile Janson, B-1050 Brussels. Tel.: (32-2) 5371971 - Fax: 5392808 - e-mail: info@ose.be - Internet: http//http://www.ose.be ). September 2004, No. 134, 12 pp. Annual subscription: 20 euros.
This issue includes an article by Rita Baeten on European cooperation in terms of healthcare. Such cooperation is required if one is to preserve the social character of national healthcare systems. Such cooperation was suggested by the Commission at the beginning of 2004 in two Commission communications. The first aimed to encourage cooperation between Member States (which have tended to jealously guard their prerogatives in this area) through the 'Open Coordination Method'. The second looks at patient mobility, which raises issues concerning the freedom to provide healthcare services and how they are reimbursed.
Review in brief
***Activity Report 2003. EIB Group. 2004, Luxembourg. In this report, the European Investment Bank outlines its activity in 2003 along with plans for 2004. ***Financial Stability Review. National Bank of Belgium. 2004, Brussels. The first part of this report gives an overview of prevailing financial conditions, while the second includes articles and case studies on more specific issues.