*** DELPHINE GARCIN: La répression de la fraude au préjudice du budget communautaire. La Documentation française (29-31 quai Voltaire, F-75344 Paris cedex 07. Tel: (33-1) 40157000 - fax (33-1) 40157230 - Internet: http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr ). "Monde européen et international". 2004, 449 p, € 45. ISBN 2-11-005659-2.
Resignation of the Santer Commission in 1999, the Eurostat affair in 2003 etc. Crises have not been in short supply with regard to the European institutions in recent years. Often, there has unfortunately been the suspicion of fraud involving the Community budget and the European institutions as a recurrent theme. And yet, this book is the first of this kind to meet this major problem head on. The thesis of Delphine Garcin employs a transversal and multi-disciplinary approach in its tackling of the problem of fraud and the damage is causes to the European budget. It looks at it through the angle of Community law, international criminal law, public finance, human rights and international public law. The book provides a detailed insight into how the Community institutions have responded to the different cases of fraud. Bodies which are increasingly specialised in this are have been created for fighting against fraud: the Court of Auditors in 1975, UCLAF in 1988, which became OLAF in 1999.
Despite the means put into place by the Community bodies, serious problems arise due to the fact that criminal law and the clamping down on fraud is within the remit of Member States and not the European Union. Although there is increased awareness in this arena since the 1990s, of the need to modernise the legal system dealing with fraud, particularly the appeal from European judges to set up a genuine European legal area, the diversity of legal regimes, combined with the complexity of the Community institutions, continues to play into the hands of the fraudsters.
The author sees the difficult task of punishing fraud being due to the organisational specificity of the Union and the autonomous legal nature that is of an essentially economic character, which does not cover either maintaining public or social order or the concomitant problems, as well as the crime-prone nature of the Community budget: the Union's financial system lacks homogeneity, favours ambiguity in the area of is own resources and leads to temptation. These problems in dealing with fraud are also due to the incomplete definition of fraud and how it harms the Community budget. The legal framework in punishing fraud is complex and heterogeneous, a direct consequence of the sharing out of Community policies over the three pillars. Ms Garcin believes that the only viable way of rectifying the situation would be to set up ad hoc legislation orientated towards increased anti-fraud measures.
The first part of the book looks at the search for a coherent anti-fraud strategy by examining the variety of sentencing and punishments involved at present, the European structures for punishing fraud and the elaboration of a common criminal law for sentencing. The author in the second part of the book then investigates possibilities for putting in place an effective means of dealing with fraud. She touches on all the obstacles hampering this research, such as fragmented vertical cooperation and intergovernmental cooperation that has not been sufficiently adapted. She then examines how the Union could set up a single legal European area.
Stéphanie Tuetey
*** MITCHEL DE S. -O. -L'E. LASSER: Judicial Deliberations. A Comparative Analysis of Judicial Transparency and Legitimacy. Oxford University Press (Great Clarendon Street, Oxford Ox2 6DP, United Kingdom. Tel.: (44-1865) 556767 - Internet: http://www.oup.com ). "Oxford Studies in European Law" series. 2004, 382 p., £ 50. ISBN 0-19-927412-6.
A lecturer in law at Cornell Law School, the author provides a very interesting and original comparative study of the legal foundations for the European Court of Justice, court of Cassation in France and the Supreme Court in the USA. Firstly, he deals with the first two courts and how French jurisdiction is based on an institutional and ideological structure that is particularly homogenous, as well as on the Republican notions of meritocracy of expertise. As well as a legislative process which can be limited by succeeding legislators, the government does have in this area, significant normative prerogatives. On the other hand, Professor Lasser demonstrates how the US system results from a more democratic and participatory approach and that its legitimacy flows from the habitual intense debates carried out in complete transparency. Having painted this picture, the author then goes on to say that the Court of Justice has delicately positioned itself between these two extremes and the same time reproduces the hierarchical French structure while diluting it via a trans-national context, which compels it to seek global recognition. (MT)
*** ALEXANDRE KISS, JEAN-PIERRE BEURIER: Droit international de l'environnement. Editions A. Pedone (13 rue Soufflot, F-75005 Paris). "Etudes internationales" series, No. 3. 2004, 503 p., 35 €. ISBN 2-233-00457-4.
During its fifty year existence, international environment law has experienced an extremely rapid development. During the 1970s, international regulation, in parallel with national legislations, sought to focus protection on the main sectors of the environment,: the sea, continental waters, air and wildlife. Another method was then added to this sectoral approach. This consisted of regulation of substances that could have a negative effect on the environment, chemical and radioactive products and waste. In the 1990s the third period began, characterised by integrated environmental protection, as well as the taking into account of the global economic context. Without setting aside the instruments already devised, in the two previous periods, an increasing number of legal instruments focusing on environmental regulation in the different area of human activity cam into being. This comprehensive book is written by two eminent specialists (Alexander Kiss, president of the European Council of Environmental Law of which Jean-Pierre Beurier, lecturer at the University of Nantes, is also a member). The book looks at the character of international environmental law, as well as the sources for its development and the major players involved. Principles and concepts are investigated, as well as the legal techniques used, which allow the authors to avoid repetition in the following chapters that deal with the different elements of the environment, wildlife and control of substances and hazardous activities. A special chapter summarises the relationship between international trade and the environment, a problem which has become particularly important. Finally, developments on international liability are tackled in the final chapter with the authors outlining a balance sheet.
(MT)
*** ISABELLE PINGEL: Droit des immunités et exigences du procès équitable. Editions A. Pedone (see details attached)). "Contentieux européen" series. 2004, 162 pp., € 20. ISBN 2-233-00462-0.
This publication traces the activities that took place at a colloquy in Paris last April. It involves the different ideas of specialists on privileges and immunities, such as prerogatives accorded to States, international organisations and those representing them. It also looks at the right to a trial and implementation of rulings. The tension between these two aspects is explored in light of the “invasion” of international law by fundamental rights via the European Convention of Human Rights.
(MT)
*** Guide des organisations françaises et internationales d'aide aux personnes en difficulté et en danger de prostitution. Fondation Scelles (14 rue Mondétour, F-75001 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40260445 - fax: 40260458 -: fondationscelles@wanadoo.fr - Internet: http://www.fondationscelles.org ). 2004, 379 p., € 15. ISBN 2912876-02-8.
The Fondation Scelles enjoys widespread public recognition in France and brings together those fighting different kinds of sexual exploitation: prostitution, living off immoral earnings, trafficking in human beings etc. It raises awareness among the public and helps victims of sexual exploitation, while working with specialist associations. This investment allowed it to publish, on its tenth anniversary, the third edition of this guide which presents around 150 French organisations and 350 foreign associations which provide support to women victims of this terrible phenomenon. This issue highlights 31 of these associations (26 of them French and 5 international), outlining their history, their objectives, where they work and what they do, as well as their budgets and means of communications.
(MT)
*** RICHARD BREITMAN: Official Secrets. Ce que les nazis planifiaient, ce que les Britanniques et les Américains savaient. Calmann-Lévy (Paris. Internet: http://www.calmann-levy.fr ) et Mémorial de la Shoah. "Mémorial de la Shoah" series. 2005, 363 pp., € 23. ISBN 2-7021-3558-7.
On the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, haunting and disturbing questions arose that went beyond a display of compassion for the victims of the Shoah. Were the Allies, starting with the British and Americans, aware of the monstrous crimes committed by the Nazis? This book is translated from the original English version written by Richard Breitman, who poses the terrible question and to which he says the allies were indeed aware. This professor of history at the American University is also editor-in-Chief of “Holocaust and Genocide Studies” and author of a book on the decisive architect of the holocaust, Himmler. Brietman explains that although the Nazi regime tried to do everything to get rid of the evidence of its crime resulting in serious gaps in the annals of history, certain proof of the abomination committed have been in the hands of western leaders for a long time. He demonstrates, backed up with the evidence, that the British intelligence services had intercepted and de-coded many radio messages from the German police forces and later on from the SS. Marked “Top Secret” and “”this must never leave this office”, this essential proof was concealed for more than fifty years. By including this proof into his book, together with sources that were already known, the author examines how and when the Nazi leaders organised the holocaust. He also assesses the scale of Britain and America's role in concealing information on Nazi massacres, before he reveals the tension that this triggered off between the two powers on how they should respond to the horror. In conclusion, he examines the consequences of maintaining this information secret over so many years. (MT)
*** Des voix sous la cendre. Manuscrits des Sonderkommandos d'Auschwitz-Birkenau. Calmann-Lévy (see address details attached) et Mémorial de la Shoah. "Mémorial de la Shoah" series. 2005, 442 p., €22. ISBN 2-7021-3557-9.
Published by the same editor in the same series as the previous book, this publication allows three Jewish prisoners to speak, who, before dying, wrote down their experiences as Sonderkommandos, compelled by the Nazis to take the bodies out of the gas chambers, burn them in the crematoria and disperse of the cinders. These three manuscripts, hidden away and translated from Yiddish, recount the unspeakable. Added to this and published for the first time in French, are the sworn affidavits made at the Krakow Trial in 1946, from three sonderkommando escapees. The testimonies confirm the intensity of the massacres of Jews in Hungary in spring 1944. George Bensoussan explains in his preface that, “these isolated voices, buried under the cinders give vent to the desolation of the last century”. The preface includes a “unique historical document”, which reveals the Nazis genocidal operations to the whole world. Although the texts are essential, it is also due to the unique position of those who wrote them as, “from the bottom of this bottomless abyss, these humble voices explain how policy, most often hidden from us, determines our lives and our deaths”. Something to think about in these times when once again Europe is seeing a growth in extremism. (MT)
*** JOSHUA M. GREEN: Justice à Dachau. Calmann-Lévy (see address details attached). 2005, 447 pp , € 23. ISBN 2-7021-3553-6.
This book could be read as a legal thriller but it is not in any way fictional. A television documentary producer, the author reconstitutes the Dachau trials where hundreds of officers, guards and doctors were brought to account for their responsibility in getting the slave labour extermination policy up and running at the concentration camps at Dachau, Mauthausen, Flossenburg and Buchenwald. Joshua Greene reveals the essential role played in this trial by William Denson, Professor of law and who at the age of thirty two was appointed military prosecutor by the US army, in charge of setting up a team of legal experts responsible for establishing the case of the prosecution and recruiting lawyers for the defence. Benefiting from exclusive access to the personal archives of Denson, including the minutes of the trial, the author explains how the young legal expert had to prosecute those on the accused bench, such as Dr Klaus Carl Schilling, responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of human guinea pig victims of “research” on malaria, Edwin Katzen-Ellenbogen, Harvard trained psychologist and Gestapo informer and Ilse Koch, who has gone down in history as the “dog of Buchenwald”. Greene draws a portrait of a man, who deeply attached to the rights of the defence, did not want the convictions obtained at Dachau to be considered as simply the justice of the victors. The author explains that Denson wanted the history of these trials to be told, “not for its own glory but so that future generations know that no-one is genetically preconditioned against inhumane behaviour . (MT)
*** THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION (Official Publications Office of the European Communities, L-2985 Luxembourg. Internet: http: //publications.eu.int) has published the following documents:
*** Looking beyond tomorrow: Scientific research in the European Union. DG for Press and Communication Publications (B-1049 Brussels). "Europe on the move" series. 2004, 22 p.. ISBN 92-894-8073-4
Europe was birthplace of numerous discoveries and inventions which, two centuries ago, was the source of the industrial revolution. Today, companies and European research institutes are still making progress in physics, life sciences and technological development that shape the world of tomorrow. However, companies and European research centres do not have the means to deal with international competition. Europe as a whole needs to increase spending on research, particularly if it is going to meet the Lisbon objectives. This is why this newsletter presents the Union's increasing role, describes in the main guidelines of the sixth framework programme and outlines the priorities in present and future research in some of the projects destined to pool European research efforts.
*** 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 ). December-January 2004, No. 118, 12 pp., 32 euros. Subscription: 867.85 euros.
This issue examines the signing of an agreement between General Motors and its European Works Committee. Opel, a subsidiary of General Motors, is currently entering a restructuring phase and is expected to be getting rid of 12,000 jobs in Europe. The agreement between the multinational and its European Works Committee is expected to allow this restructuring to be accompanied by a series of measures such as voluntary redundancies, the transfer of employees to joint ventures or early retirement. Other articles focus on the expansion of the European social model, with that of the Union not necessarily coinciding with the increased representation of personnel in companies in the new accession states of eastern Europe, even if these governments are not systematically opposed to the adoption of new social rules.
*** Paneuropa Intern. Paneuropa - Union Deutschland (17 Dachauer Strasse, D-80335. Tel: (49-89) 55468384 - fax: 594768). January 2005, No. 1, 4 pp. subscription: 95 euros.
This edition focuses on Russia. It points out that falloff the USSR left a significant number of observers expecting a democratisation of the country. Under Yeltsin, attention and criticism focused on political and social disorder, which reached alarming heights and left the issue of democratisation in the shade. Afterwards, the wind from Russia changes with the arrival in power of Vladimir Putin. A number of Europeans and Americans believe his style of government, happily drawing on the support of the FSB, the reshaped KGB, has a dictatorial stench to it. To certain people, Russian appears, observes the newsletter, like a country within an ace of becoming police state, which uses the fight against terrorism as a bolster to its role in the Chechen conflict. Other contributions tackle the reaction of the German political class to Turkish manoeuvres to join the Union
*** La Lettre des Européens. Mouvement Européen - France (95 rue de Rennes, F-75006 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 459393 - fax: 45499661 - e-mail: contact@mouvement-europeen.org - Internet: http//http://www.mouvement-europeen.org ). October - November - December 2004, No. 51, 16 pp., 8.38 euros. Subscription: 30 euros.
This special edition focuses on national study days of the French section of the European Movement, which took the Constitution as their main theme. The European Movement is committed to persuading, thanks to its technical and political arguments, the French people of the importance of a vote for the Constitution during the referendum. The issue of Europe, as a global actor was also tackled during these study days, as was that of the Unions borders. The publication also included a dossier ion better understanding the benefits that the Constitution holds for the French and subsequently reviews some of the points in the text. It then goes on toe look at the question of “What's Europe got to do with You?”.
Reviews in brief
***Focus sur la Flandre. Édition Lanoo. January 2005, No.1, Tielt. This issue references the different subjects that arose in 2004. ***Most. Slovenian Business & Research Association. Autumn 2004, No. 19, Brussels. This publication presents economic and scientific news affecting Slovenia.