*** JEAN-LUC SAURON: La Constitution européenne expliquée. Présentation synthétique et thématique - Texte officiel et intégral de la Constitution - La Constitution en 30 questions. Gualino éditeur (EJA,. Paris. Internet: http://www.lgdj.fr ). 2004, 320 pp, €20. ISBN 2-84200-809-X.
Jean-Claude Sauron, Maître des Requêtes at the French Conseil d'Etat and Associate Professor at Université Robert Schuman in Strasbourg, explains in this highly useful book how the European Constitution now in the process of ratification by the Member States was drawn up and adopted (so far only Lithuania, Hungary and Slovenia have ratified it). In terms of how the text of the Constitution should be judged, the author suggests 'humility and wisdom' are required, as demonstrated by Benjamin Franklin in 1787, speaking about his vote on the draft Constitution of the United States drawn up by the Philadelphia Convention, who admitted there were various aspects of the Constitution he did not approve of right then and which he was not certain he would ever approve of, but he said he was not sure either whether another convention would be able to draw up another Constitution. He said this was why he had approved the current Constitution, because he did not expect anything better. Such words could easily be spoken by European politicians today in reaction to the arguments of those who believe, like members of the Socialist Party in France, that the contents of the European Constitution can still be improved...
Before providing the official text of the Constitution, Prof. Sauron highlights some of its characteristics, like clarifying 'living together in a community of values', more visible proceedings and more coherent action and solidarity to deal with a changing world. The author highlights the 30 issues debated in the current phase of public debate over the ratification of the Constitution by the Member States. He asks the general question, for example, of which EU institution has gained the most from the Constitution, replying that without doubt it is the European Parliament. This is itself a first argument against people who claim that no democratic progress has been made in the Constitution, and on the contrary it marks a step backward. Prof. Sauron raises several other problems at the heart of the debate in France, that will have to be clarified ahead of the referendum now expected to be held before the summer, like does the Constitution pose a threat to the secular nature of France? The author answers that defending the secular nature of French society is 'perfectly ensured by the wording selected' for the Preamble. Does the Constitution make any new contribution in terms of public services? The author points out that Article III-122 allows for concerns for social cohesion and the rehabilitation of public services as tools required for the effective functioning of a market economy to be opposed to the logic of 'all-out competition', although it does not guarantee the form of public services set up in France at the beginning of the 1950s will not be changed. Will 'cultural exception' still be protected once the Constitution comes into force? The author writes that Article 111-315 (argued for and won by France) grants this 'totally'. When it comes to one of the issues that rouses the most passion in France, Turkey joining the European Union, Jean-Luc Sauron explains that the Constitution does not make any fundamental changes to the rules governing accession to the EU and does not make Turkey's accession any more easier, or any more difficult. Citizen readers, get ready!
Marina Gazzo
*** JACQUES ZILLER: La nuova Costituzione europea. Il Mulino (37 strada Maggiore, Casella Postale n° 119, I-40100 Bologna. E-mail: diffusione@mulino.it - Internet: http://www.mulino.it ). "Universal Paperbacks il Mulino" series. 2004, 202 pp, €10.50. ISBN 88-15-09813-5.
"In the following pages you will find the answer to all the questions and curiosity one might have about the Convention", about the text it gave rise to and the text as it was finally approved by heads of state … In the preface to this book, Giuliano Amato, one of Valéry Giscard d'Estaing's two Vice-Chairmen on the Convention, cannot find warm enough praise for the work of Jacques Ziller, Professor of Public Law at the Sorbonne before moving to the European University Institute in Florence, where he headed the Legal Science Department (and won the favour of the former Prime Minister of Italy, Amato …). Ziller specialises in constitutional law and government systems, and formed part of the small working group at the Florentine Institute's Robert Schuman Centre that drew up a "Fundamental Treaty for the European Union", and also closely monitored the work of the Convention in his work as an expert for the Committee of the Regions. His level of expertise might lead one to expect a remarkably rigorous scientific book, which it certainly is, but one might expect it to be illegible for lesser mortals. Nothing could be further from the truth since this legal expert, Giuliano Amato explains, knows how to write for everyone in a clear, simple and captivating language. Is the legal text now being submitted for ratification a Treaty or a Constitution? What difference does it make with regard to the Rome and Maastricht Treaties? How does it promote the rights of European citizens? To what extent does it simplify the legal instruments and procedures currently in force in the European Community. The author provides clear - and committed - answers to these and many other questions. His own feeling is that while the text is formally a Treaty given the still international nature of the procedures for revising it, it is organised all the same according to the classic tenets of post-French Revolution Constitutions by putting into law the rights recognised for citizens alongside the rights of states. (MT)
*** DIMITRIS N. TRIANTAFYLLOU: La Constitution de l'Union européenne selon le Traité de Rome de 2004. Les choix clés de la Convention et de la Conférence intergouvernementale. 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 ). 2005, 150 pp, €35. ISBN 2-8027-1984-X.
At the beginning of 2004, this Bibliothèque européenne column gave the merited praise to another book published by the same publishing house on "Le projet constitutionnel de la Convention européenne", critically analysing the key points for and against. Since then, the last Intergovernmental Conference has taken place and the Member States have again affirmed their 'mastery' of the Constitutional Treaty now submitted for ratification, by reappearing where the Convention had suggested more meshing or even federal solutions, both in terms of the institutions and in terms of various policies. Analysing the most important amendments by the government representatives to the solutions put forward by the Convention, the author, a legal advisor to the European Commission and member of the erstwhile Taskforce on the future of the EU, places the final text under the fire of constructive criticism which is more disenchanted than pessimist. And he puts his hope for a rebound in no less than the failure of unanimous ratification of the Constitution which would mean the European Council could then adopt the Constitution according to the democratic rule of the majority. (MT)
*** The European Constitution in Perspective. Analysis and Review of "The Treaty Establishing A Constitution For Europe". British Management Data Foundation (Highfield, Longridge, Sheepscombe, Stroud, Gloucestershire GL6 7QU, United Kingdom. Tel: (44-1452) 812527 - Fax: 812527 - E-mail: bmdfstroud@aol.com - Internet: http://www.bmdf.co.uk ). 2004, 306 pp, £27.50. ISBN 0-9520366-7-3.
Without doubt, this monumental book (over 300 pages of A4) will be a precious working tool for anyone needing to find their away around the European constitutional texts. Initially, it provides a detailed analysis of key elements (particularly those likely to be of interest to the business world) of the Constitution that has now been submitted for ratification, commenting on the articles judged to be the most relevant and establishing connections with corresponding articles in previous treaties. One section reviews the changes made in the voting procedures, with unanimous voting giving way to qualified majority decision-making. The Treaty in the form validated by the Intergovernmental Conference is published unabridged, but reduced from 844 pages to 270. Detailed annexes and an index supplement this book, a precious guide for people needing to know what's going on in Europe. (MT)
*** JEAN-LUC SAURON: Cours d'institutions européennes. Le puzzle européen. Gualino éditeur (see above). "Manuels" series. 2004, 474 pp, €30. ISBN 2-84200-531-7.
In the preface, Vlad Constaninesco, Professor at Strasbourg's Université Robert Schuman says that this new issue of Prof. Sauron's manual has come at the right time, given the changes made to the European Union by the events of the year 2004 - enlargement to ten new Member States, the European Constitution, a new European Parliament and a new Commission. Following a history of the debates surrounding the European project, and then the 'tranquil revolution' in Europe from 1969 to 1979 and the 'European building site' of 1980 to 1988, Prof. Sauron discusses the problematic change from the European Economic Community to a 'Europe of Nations' from 1989 to 2004, going on to describe the work of the EU institutions and other, non-Community European institutions like the WEU and NATO, and organisations with the misssion of 'affirming the primacy of law', like the Council of Europe or the OSCE.
Prof. Constantinesco comments that the manual goes beyond simply making an accurate and detailed sketch of European institutions and organisations to invite European citizens to consider why the peoples of Europe should still unite now that the Iron Curtain and the Cold War are behind us. To what extent should the EU expand before it loses its identity? What is the best way to coordinate the work of the various European organisations, some of which are redundant or even rival each other? How to reconcile ensuring the vitality of national political arenas and the construction - for the very first time - of a transnational political arena without a state? (MG)
*** MARIA GRAZIA MELCHIONNI: Quale domani per questa Europa ? Edizioni Studium (Roma). 2004, 292 pp, £25. ISBN: 88-382-3957-6.
Prof. Maria Grazia Melchionni is a well-known specialist in the history of European integration. Lecturer at La Sapienza University in Rome, holder of a Jean Monnet Chair, she is the author of a considerable body of work which should be better known outside her native Italy and outside the confines of academia stricto sensu.
This book carries on where many of her earlier work left off, whether review articles, presentations in conferences etc. After demonstrating the specific nature of the history of European integration as a discipline or, rather, as an inter-discipline (law, economics, political science, history of international relations, etc.), the author points out that the origins of the very idea of a 'European Community' owe their inspiration to Jean Monnet. The ideas were understood and taken up politically at government level in the 1950s by figureheads like Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer, Paul-Henri Spaak and others, with Italians like Alcide De Gasperi playing a major role. The chapters on Charles de Gaulle and Jean Monnet, on Altiero Spinelli, and figures less known outside Italy like diplomat Roberto Ducci and the great cultural figure Giuseppe Vedovato, President of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe from 1972 to 1975, are particularly precious. Analysis and reflections on culture in the European project will be useful in the perspective of upcoming or more distant enlargements since while Monnet, as is explained here, never said people should begin here, culture acts (or should act) as a catalyst in Europe's political integration strategy and process. But what's it all really about? The chapter on Europe as seen from the other side of the English Channel leads one to ask the question. The last chapter reviews Italians who have taken an active role in their country's European path, looking at the period from the Second World War to recent tines.
This book is an example of research work to be pursued to ensure better understanding of what each of our countries can contribute to the common effort. (J-RR)
*** Centro In Europa. Rivista di Studi e di Iniziativa Europea. Laboratorio Europa (via Ippolito d'aste 7/5, I-16121 Genoa, Italy). 2004, No. 4, 60 pp., €7.75.
The latest issue of this review published in Genoa announces the launch of a new association, "Il Laboratorio politico", a crucible of thought and exchange aiming, as former MEP Roberto Speciale, President of the In Europa Centre, explains in the editorial, to introduce cultures of reformism to one another to ensure they become the engine of the centre-left. The initiative is commented upon by Giorgio Napolitano, former President of the European Parliament's Constitutional Committee (also former President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies and former minister of the interior), MEPs Gianni Pittella, Enrico Letta, Pasqualina Napoletano, Pier Luigi Bersani and Marta Vincenzi, and Italian MPs Carlo Rognoni and Anna Finocchiaro. The first debate, in the pages of the review, looks at the proposals by the cetnre-left in terms of justice, while Ezio Andreta and Riccardo Casale of DG Research at the European Commission discuss the cohesion and innovation policy. (MG)
*** Codices. Commission de Venise du Conseil de l'Europe - Strasbourg. This database on CD-ROM, available in English and French, covers case law of Constitutional Courts in Europe, America and South Africa, and the European Court of Human Rights and the European Court of Justice since 93. It includes abridges decisions and a systematic thesaurus to guide readers to the full legal texts that are available …
*** 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. 24, 28 pp.
Promoting education and culture is one of the tasks exercised by the European Union with plenty of enthusiasm. It enables the cultures of the European Union to develop in diversity and form a foundation for economies providing jobs and social progress through education. It is also a link between the European Union and the rest of the world, through EuroMed cooperation, for example, or Erasmus Mundus at the global level. This issue of the Magazine provides an overview of major trends in the European Union's cooperation policy on culture and education, whether inter-university cooperation in higher education, aid for film-making or the Culture 2000 programme. A central pull-out provides a guide to big issues covered by DG Education and Culture, listed thematically.
*** Rivista di studi politici internazionali. (40 Lungarno del Tempio, I-50121 Florence. Tel: (39-55) 666384). January - March 2005, No. 285, 192 pp. Annual subscription: 62 euros.
The year 2005 was decreed the year of EuroMed cooperation, rendered tangible in particular by the partnership established by the Barcelona Declaration in 1995. Seven authors have written essays (several in French) on the connections between the twenty nations bordering on what is still "mare nostrum" (Our Sea, the Mediterranean) and the body of civilisation linking up Mediterranean countries. The review also looks at Iran as a nuclear power, Pope Pius XII's role in saving tens of thousands of Jews during the Second World War, and the Holy See's activities today to promote peace throughout the world.
*** Economia Exterior. Estudios de Politica Exterior SA (6 Padilla, E-28006 Madrid. Tel.: (34-91) 4312628 - Fax: 5777252 - E-mail: revista@politicaexterior.com - Internet: http://www.politicaexterior.com ). 2004 - 2005, No. 31, 218 pp, Annual subscription: 93 euros.
This issue looks at the battle for European competitiveness, and more specifically Spanish competitiveness. It asks whether the strength of the Spanish economy in recent years has solid competitive foundations and good governance, or rather reflects a series of happy coincidences. Spain joining Economic and Monetary Union, the macro-economic upturn and the liberalisation of a series of industries have given Spain a boost in world trade. But the current competition climate demands a boost to education, a flexible labour market, skill from the administration and innovative activity, if the current good situation is to continue. The review contains more than a dozen articles taking an in-depth look at these issues.
*** BEI Information. European Investment Bank (100 bd. Konrad Adenauer, L-2950. Tel: (352-43) 791 - Fax: 7704 - E-mail: info@eib.org - Internet: http//http://www.eib.org ). 2004, No. 118, 24 pp.
The EIB's newsletter provides a report on the Investment Forum for New Member States, countries for which the EIB has long been the biggest source of finance, totalling nearly EUR 27 bn. It also looks at the interaction between the European Parliament and the EIB over the Lisbon Process, the European Investment Fund's initiative to provide the required start-up capital for technology transfer, and the impact of EIB investment in air transport. Other articles look at a series of EIB interventions in the world, such as a loan for building a second Panama Canal.
*** Élan. FEC (17 place Saint-Étienne, F-67081 Strasbourg Cedex. Tel: (33-3) 88353620 - Fax: 88379983 - E-mail: fec.strasbourg@wanadoo.fr). December 2004, 32 pp, 7.50 euros, annual subscription: 29 euros.
In this issue, Algerian-born Malek Chabel, a writer, psychoanalyst and 'grey matter' at the European Commission, argues the case for a Mare Nostrum, the Mediterranean. He also looks at the bi-annual Mitteleuropa Fair, a bridge to the cultures of Central and Eastern Europe, where writers, musicians and other artists from Central and Eastern Europe (occasionally further afield). Other articles consider childhood, the role of Yiddish, and cultural activities in the Alsace region.