*** LAURENCE IDOT: Droit communautaire de la concurrence. Le nouveau système communautaire de mise en œuvre des articles 81 et 82 CE. Etablissements Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Brussels Tel: (32-2) 5129845 - Fax: 5117202 - E-mail: info@bruylant.be - Internet: http://www.bruylant.be ). "Fondation pour l'étude du droit et des usages du commerce international", "Concurrence" series. 2004, 351 pp, 65 euros. ISBN 2-8027-1936-X.
Started on the initiative of former Commissioner Karel Van Miert, the process of updating the EU's competition law came to a head during Mario Monti's term of office when, on 16 December 2002, the Council adopted Regulation EC 1/2003 on implementing the competition rules set out in Articles 81 and 82 EC. The regulation came into force on same day as the most recent round of enlargement of the EU and has brought about a revolution in terms of the practices that had prevailed over the past forty years.
Lecturer in EU competition law at the Université Panthéon-Sorbonne de Paris, Laurence Idot describes and makes an in-depth assessment in this book of the sweeping changes wrought in the sharing of power between the Commission, the competent authorities in the Member States and national jurisdictions and studies the different application measures (Commission regulations, Communications and guidelines) accompanying the reforms. The book's subject matter is too specialised to make it suitable for the general public, but it makes indispensable reading for experts. Michel Theys
*** HANSPETER K. SCHELLER: The European Central Bank. History, role and functions. European Central Bank (29 Kaiserstrasse, A-60311 Frankfurt am Main. Tel: (49-69) 13440 - Fax: 1344 6000 - E-mail: info@ecb.int - Internet: http://www.ecb.int ). 2004, 227 pp. ISBN 92-9181-505-5.
Putting Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) into practice is probably one of the most tangible and spectacular aspects of the European project as far as citizens are concerned. The fundamental elements of this supra-nationalism are the creation of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the gathering of national central banks into a European central banking system. This book makes a relatively exhaustive analysis of the history, role and operations of the Frankfurt institution from a legal, institutional and organisational viewpoint. The book is divided into six chapters, with the first giving a historical overview of the creation of EMU and the ECB, and the second concentrating on legal, institutional and organisational aspects of the European central banking system. The third chapter describes the ECB's policies and how they apply in the Eurosystem framework, along with financial relations within Eurosystem itself. The next chapter describes the terms and conditions under which the ECB operates and its role in the EU's institutional set-up - the ECB is independent of the EU institutions, but is nevertheless part of the EU's political and institutional framework and hence governed by EU law. The last two chapters consider the ECB on the international stage and its internal operations, governance and personnel policy. (STu)
*** PASCAL DE LIMA: Intégration du système bancaire et financier en Europe. Revue Banque Edition (18 rue La Fayette, F-75009 Paris. Tel.: (33-1) 48005454 - Fax 48241297 - E-mail: baillard@revue-banque.fr - Internet: http://www.revue-banque.fr ). 2004, 125 pp, 19 euro. ISBN 2-86325-407.3.
Consultant at Cap Gémini Ernst & Young and senior lecturer at the Institut d'études politiques in Paris, Pascal de Lima looks in this book at integration in the European financial system and obstacles to it. He makes use of a series of axes of analysis - starting by studying the role of the financial markets and the importance of monetary union through bringing the euro into circulation. The single currency appears to be an incentive for consolidation in the financial system at pan-European level, apart from the stock exchanges. The author then examines the financial system in the US and what it implies for Europe. He ends his review of the situation by considering the specifics of banking. In the second part of the book, Pascal de Lima considers reform and progress in moving towards greater integration of the European financial system, for example through the implementation of the Action Plan for Financial Services adopted by the EU at the Lisbon Summit in March 2000. (STu)
*** GERHARD FINK, PETER HAISS, GORAN VUKSIC: Changing Importance of Financial Sectors for Growth from Transition to Cohesion and European Integration. Europainstitut der Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien (39-45 Althanstrasse, A-1090 Vienna. Tel: (43-1) 313364135 - Fax: 31336758 - E-mail: europafragen@wu-wien.ac.at). "EI Working Papers", No. 58. 2004, 59 pp.
This research aims to answer two questions. Firstly, does development of the financial sector play a significant role in terms of economic growth in accession and transition countries, and if so, is the impact on growth similar to the impact on established market economies? Secondly, do the different financial parameters affect growth unevenly and does this influence vary according to the group of countries in question? To make their economic tests, the authors take a sample of nine accession countries from
1996 to 2000. The results reveal that a number of financial elements stimulate economic growth in the initial phase of transition which are insignificant in developed countries, which means that the engines of growth are different at different points of the development cycle and economic policy recommendations derived from established market economies cannot be transferred ipso facto to transition economies. (STu)
*** GERMAINE KLEIN, HENNING SCHOPPLANN, DAVID DCHWANDER, CHRISTOPH WENGLER: Kreditwirtschaftlich wichtige Vorhaben der EU. Bundesverband Öffentlicher Banken Deutschland (VÖB-Service GmbH, Postfach 20 13 55, D-53143 Bonn. Tel.: (49-228) 8192-119 - Fax: 8192-234 - E-mail: verlag@voeb.de - Internet: http: //http://www.voeb.de ). 2003, 310 pp. ISBN 3-927466-82-4.
The German Association of Public Banks has published its 11th detailed report on European legislation and policies for the banking sector. More than one hundred EU directives, regulations and communications on banking law, stock markets, financial markets, commercial and company law, consumer protection, movement of capital, fiscality, payments and Economic and Monetary Union are outlined and analysed in a detailed and standardised manner. The book comes with a CD-ROM of the book and several directives and regulations. Given the complexity and highly technical nature of the dossiers, the explanations are clear and reader-friendly, even for non-expert readers. A reference tool for practitioners. (PB)
*** Zone euro. Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques (2 rue André Pascal, F-75775 Paris Cedex 16. Tel.: (33-1) 45248.00 - E-mail: webmaster@oecd.org - Internet: http://www.oecd.org ). "Etudes économiques de l'OCDE" series, No. 5. 2004, 234 pp. ISBN92-64-10655-3.
This OECD study makes recommendations on how to increase the euro's resistance to shocks and how to optimise progress in monetary integration and combating persistent under-employment and low productivity in under performing regions and countries. Recognising that the euro has played a decisive role in the European economic integration progress, the OECD notes that the five first years of the single currency have not been unproblematic. The slowdown in global economic growth, in particular, hit the eurozone more severely than expected and the upturn has yet to be seen. Likewise, budget policies have not performed as well as expected, and structural reform has yet to take off. The recommendations urge governments to opt for medium-term budget frameworks and take a more ambitious approach to streamlining public finance. Rapid pay and price adjustment between the different euro countries to make monetary union more effective; and under-performing countries and regions are encouraged to align product, labour and financial market policies with the best performing countries. The latter measure would make it possible to move towards the Lisbon targets and improve the viability of public finance. (STu)
*** Germany. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (see above). "OECD Economic Surveys", No. 12. 2004, 152 pp. ISBN 92-64-10840-8.
This report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) looks at reforms implemented by the German government to stimulate economic growth following three years of stagnation, and lists recommendations in this connection. The situation is far from rosy - domestic demand has declined in recent years due to an under-performing labour market which has sapped consumer confidence and the private sector. The labour market continues to suffer from low economic growth and is not leading to job creation, and this situation does nothing to ameliorate flagging productivity figures. The German government has implemented a huge reform programme to deal with the low confidence levels. The report comments that the reforms are appropriate but need to be continued and extended to reduce public debt levels, rectify budget distortions and improve incentives underlying job supply and demand. The biggest challenges facing the German authorities that are analysed in the report are how to link budget consolidation with reform of the public sector (whose performance has to be improved), increasing the economy's capacity to create jobs (the legislation for this has already been set in place), and improving innovation capacity and boosting growth and productivity through a strengthening of competition on the product market, for example, and reducing the administrative burden.
(STu)
*** CHRIS DE NOOSE (Ed.): The Russian Banking Sector and the Leading Role of Sberbank. Joint Office of the World Savings Bank Institute and the European Savings Banks Group Brussels (11 rue Marie-Thérèse, B-1000-Brussels. Tel.: (32-2) 2111111 - Fax: 2111199 - E-mail: silvia.cambie@savings-banks.com - Internet: http://www.savings-banks.com ). "Perspectives" series, No. 45. 2003, 56 pp, 10 euros.
The banking sector has been a key element of stimulating internal return of investment to Russia, a prerequisite for growth. For this reason, Russian banks have undergone a huge amount of change in recent years, particularly as a result of new laws on economic regulation. This brochure follows on from the twenty-third administrative council of the World Savings Bank Institute, held in Moscow. It studies the development of the Russian banking sector since it was first set up in the eighteenth century until the 1998 financial crisis. The authors explains that after the 1998 crisis, the Russian banking system developed a new series of services for its clients and discovered new products, which stimulated demand. The stabilisation of the Russian economy and improving macroeconomic conditions have led to economic growth, lower inflation and good tax returns for the state. The banking sector has gradually picked up, with growth of 38.2% in 2002, 40.1% in 2003, and forecasts of 45% growth for 2004.
(MRo)
*** World Investment Report 2004. The Shift Towards Services. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (United Nations Publications, United Nations Office at Geneva, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10. Tel.: (41-22) 9172612 - Fax: 9170027 - E-mail: unpubli@unog.ch - Internet: http://www.unctad.org/wir ). 2004, 436 pp. ISBN 92-1-112644-4.
This report takes a look at foreign direct investment (fdi) around the world. The first part describes the quantitative growth in fdi, following a slump in 2003 for the third year in a row, investment is expected to pick up in 2004, mainly by multinationals of developed countries but with increasing investment by companies in developing countries. The trends vary from one region to the next. Investment has picked up in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, but has fallen in Latin America, the Caribbean and central and Eastern Europe (but improvements are expected here in 2004). The second part of the report looks at the shift of fdi towards services, which simply reflects the greater share of services in the economy and greater liberalisation of services. The report highlights the reasons behind this trend, like the high proportion of mergers and acquisitions, and considers how these changes will impact on host countries. The third part concentrates on the challenges facing national and international policy-making, like developing infrastructure and skills and changing regulations.
(STu)
*** Actions to improve safety and health in construction. European Agency for Safety and Health at Work ( 33 Gran Via, E-48009 Bilbao. Tel.: (34-94) 4794360 - Fax: 4794383 - E-mail: information@osha.eu.int - Internet: http: //agency.osha.eu.int). 2004, No. 7, 32 pp.
Construction is one of the biggest industries in Europe, with a turnover of more than EUR 900 bn and a workforce of more than 13 million in the EU15. But it is also one of the sectors with the highest incidence of workplace accidents. A thousand or so workers are killed every year, and more than 800,000 seriously injured! Such statistics are unacceptable and the European Agency for Health and Safety at Work has devoted this year's Health and Safety at Work Week to the construction industry, urging stakeholders to improve safety standards and ensure they are properly implemented. This publication describes the different initiatives and the current situation and gives examples of good practice.
*** Forum. European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (33 Gran Via, E-48009 Bilbao. Tel.: (34-94) 4794360 - Fax: 4794383 - E-mail: information@osha.eu.int - Internet: http: //agency.osha.eu.int). 2004, No. 11, 12 pp. ISBN 92-95007-83-2
This issue describes the outcome of the European Agency for Health and Safety at Work's workshop on health and safety monitoring systems. There are many sources of information, none of which suffices in itself to provide sufficient data. The workshop aimed to get an overview of existing monitoring systems in the EU Member States - the review describes the workshop's methodology and categorises the different systems, highlighting pros and cons and general trends.
*** 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 ). October - November 2004, No. 114, 12 pp, 32 euros. Annual subscription: 867.85 euros.
Although it clearly got off to a bad start, the Lisbon Strategy to make Europe the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010 is still seen as a type of Bible by people who favour reform. The Lisbon Strategy underlies, for example, the Camdessus Report on increasing economic growth in France, and the German social security reforms under the Schröder government. The EU slams Member States' governments for failing to take the Lisbon Strategy seriously. Other articles in this review look at fighting ageism, and pension reform in Italy.
*** 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 ). November 2004, No. 135, 12 pp. Annual subscription: 20 euros.
This issue focusses on the draft directive to liberalise services in the common market, also known as the Bolkestein Directive. The detailed impact of the draft directive on coherence in terms of the ambitions of the Commission and the Member States has not yet been researched. It is described here as being out of line with the other main strands of the Lisbon Strategy (like employment and completing the construction of a Social Europe). The directive risks undermining social protection in the Member States, particularly healthcare, since like other utilities and services of general interest, healthcare has been included in the directive's definition of services on the same footing as normal commercial services. This publication notes that the directive also jeopardises public health and social cohesion by reducing healthcare to a simple commercial activity.
Review in brief
***Art. 88-4 de la Constitution Textes soumis du 9 juillet au 4 octobre 2004. Délégation pour l'Union européenne. October 2004, No. 1851, Paris. This publication looks at forty-four pieces of EU legislation and legislative proposals studied by the Délégation. ***Focus sur la Flandre. Édition Lanoo. November 2004, No. 39, Tielt. This issue of Flemish press clippings focusses on integration policy.