WEEKLY SUPPLEMENT / European library

*** GEORGE A. BERMANN, KATHARINA PISTOR (Eds.): Law and Governance in an Enlarged Europen Union. Hart Publishing (Salter's Boatyard, Folly Bridge, Abingdon Road, Oxford, OX1 4LB, UK. Tel.: [phone] - Fax: 794882 - E-mail: [e-mail] - Internet: http://www.hartpub.co.uk ). 2004, 501 pp, £45. ISBN 1-84113-426-0.

Enlargement of the European Union to ten new Member States potentially lays the basis for a 'stronger and more powerful Europe'. But to this end, European politicians will have to provide it with governance structures adapted to the new body politic that is taking form, in other words functional and efficient structures both at the level of the EU and in its Member States. This is the idea underlying this book by eminent academic from Europe and the United States, who contributed to a seminar in April 2003 to determine whether the criteria had been met to ensure success of enlargement and to detect pitfalls in the process. The analysis is carried out in the light of four major challenges.

What will be the impact of the latest round of enlargement on the legal foundations of the enlarged Europe and the functioning of its institutions? Director of the Walter Hallstein Institute of European Constitutional Law at Humboldt University in Berlin, Ingolf Pernice starts off by noting in his analysis of the draft Constitution prepared by the Convention, that enlargement has made constitutional reform of the EU, awaited for too long a time, an 'absolute necessity'. Joseph Weiler (New York University and College of Europe) then explains that the most recent round of enlargement is itself a constitutional decision, before providing a generally positive answer to the question of whether the unwritten principles of constitutional tolerance and social solidarity on which the EU has been built will support this enlargement's weight in terms both of numbers and diversity. Prof. Wojciech Sadurski (European University Institute in Florence and Sydney University) demonstrates even more clearly, with the Charter of Fundamental Rights in support, that the most recent round of enlargement has consequences both in terms of substance and in terms of the structural aspects of the Constitution. Finally, Francesca Bignami (Duke University) shows that enlargement condemns the constitutionalisation of the EU to be sui generis more than ever, with networks of agencies now being preferred to the top-down regulatory approach, sketching out a process which if attention is not paid, risks weakening the very heart of the EU's objectives.

The second challenge is 'governance of labour relations', a subject introduced by Silvana Sciarra (University of Florence) assessing the convergence perspectives of social regulations based on the Open Coordination Method. Catherine Barnard (Cambridge University) focuses her aim on a rather concerned assessment of the working time directive, in terms of social relations in the United Kingdom. Csilla Kollonay Lehoczky (Central European University) compares the EU's model of governance of social relations (relations between employers and trade unions) with the current experience of the new Member States and their shared Communist past, where 'social welfare seems to be one of the great losers in the transition process'.

Looking at 'governance in the business world', the first essay of the third chapter is by Peter Doralt and Susanne Kalss, both of Vienna University, who show that despite the action of the Court of Justice, the EU is reaching a point of only harmonising the big ideas, leaving the implementation details to national regulators. Stanislav Soltysinski (Mickiewicz University) explains that EU law in this area, and financial market regulations, have allowed the new Member States to make use of this rather rigid structure to set up their own governance structures. Erik Berglöf and Anete Pajuste (Stockholm School of Economics) study the structure of enterprise governance in transition economies, observing a 'strong tendency to property concentration', which some directives are described as contributing towards. Finally, Katharina Pistor (Columbia Law School, like the two editors of the book) analyses the likely impact of the EU acquis on enterprise in the new Member States, which have a very different governance environment past than the prevailing one in the EU.

The final part of the book looks at 'the construction of domestic institutions in the light of EU acquis', in other words, the efforts that have had to be made by the new Member States to join the EU club. Once again, the issue is studied from all angles, but the negative perceptions that people in the new Member States may have of the process are well highlighted in equally high-level essays.

Michel Theys

*** Eipascope. European Institute for Public Administration (P. O. Box 1229, 6201 BE Maastricht, Netherlands. Tel.: [phone] - Fax: [phone] - Internet: http: //http://www.eipa.nl ). 2004, No. 3, 72 pp.

This newsletter, published three times a year by the European Institute for Public Administration, aims to raise public awareness about current European affairs, describing and analysing political and institutional developments and legal and administrative questions shaping the European integration process. Mission fully accomplished with this special issue and its very interesting dossier on the European Institutions between Enlargement and the Constitution. In the introduction, Prof. Edward Best explains with plenty of additional comments the force lines that can be used to properly gauge the institutional changes in the pipeline, namely political design (the permanent tension in the history of the European project between federal and confederal approaches), institutional reform properly speaking (considered in the light, for example, of effective decision-making, institutional legitimacy and the proper representation of Member States), governance (notably from the angle of the connection between institutions and citizens) and finally, the resources available to the institutions to properly carry out their tasks. Having set this backdrop, the Maastricht Institute researchers then look in more detail at the prevailing situation since the most recent round of enlargement at the Council, the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Court of Justice, with a fifth essay looking at the institutional dimensions of the EU's external action. Impossible to do any more in so few pages!

(MT)

*** ALFREDO RIZZO: L'allargamento ad est dell`Unione Europea. Problematiche del Trattato di adesione. Editoriale Scientifica (42 via Generale Giordano Orsini, I-80132 Naples). "Rivista trimestrale della Società italiana per l'organizzazione internazionale" series. 2004, 328 pp, €20. ISBN 88-88321-87-X.

In this academic monograph, the first volume in a new series of the Italian Society for International Organisation (SIOI) attached to the review "La Comunità internazionale", the Accession Treaty for the ten new EU Member States is analysed in depth from a legal point of view. Italian delegate to the Council, the author was part of the group that drafted the Accession Treaties and hence is perfectly qualified to examine first the general measures of the Accession Treaties, including in his reflections institutional reforms and financial issues. He then explains the main derogations to Community acquis negotiated in the field of fundamental freedoms, economic law, fiscal policy, competition, agriculture, the environment, and justice and home affairs. Annexed are highly useful and specialised official documents and internet links on aspects of enlargement from the viewpoint of the new Member States and current candidate countries. A detailed study that will be of delight to specialists.

(PB)

*** CONRAD REUSS: La Hongrie en perspective. Un facteur de modernité dans le bassin des Carpates. L'Harmattan (5-7 rue de l'Ecole-Polytechnique, F-75008 Paris. Tel.: [phone] - Fax: [phone] - E-mail: [e-mail] - Internet: http: //http://www.editions-harmattan.fr ). 2003, 273 pp, €22. ISBN 2-7475-5269-1.

Born in Budapest, but living in the West since the start of the Cold War, Conrad Reuss has never severed ties with his country of origin. The proof of this is this essay, where he reflects and attempts to explain Hungary, a country he describes in the introduction as situated some distance from the Far West, but whose heart has never stopped beating for Europe. A very detailed book to help readers gain greater understanding of this new Member State and the Carpathian Basin where it located, a meeting point of Slav, Germanic and Latin peoples.

(MT)

*** FRITZ BREUSS, EDUARD HOCHREITER (Eds.): Challenges for Central Banks in an Enlarged EMU. Springer (4-6 Sachsenplatz, 1201 Vienna, Austria. Tel.: [phone] - Fax: [phone] - Internet: http://www.springeronline.com ). "European Community Studies Association of Austria", No. 9. 2005, 292 pp, €54. ISBN 3-211-22535-8.

The proceedings of a very high level conference organised in Vienna in February 2004, this book anticipates an announced event, though very rarely spoken about these days - the enlargement of Economic and Monetary Union to various of the countries that came to swell the 'Community club' on 1 May 2004. How many of them will knock at the door of monetary Europe before the end of the decade? Impossible to say at this stage. Only one thing is clear - three new Member States (Estonia, Lithuania and Slovenia) have made a step in this direction by joining the exchange rate mechanism in June 2004, the first indispensable stage for countries wanting to join the single currency. Beyond the question of numbers, one thing is clear and unavoidable - the euro tomorrow will have new European citizens. Hence the interest of this book preparing for the event, and broadly considering the role of monetary Europe in the enlarged EU. Economists and representatives of Central Banks in the eurozone at present and in the future explore topics like monetary strategies up until the replacement of the national money by the single currency, institutional issues connected with the supranational character of the European Central Bank, financial stability and means of surveillance (hot potato in debates these days with the announced reforms of the Stability and Growth Pact), exchange rate strategies during the period between joining the EU and joining the euro, and the monetary implications of the various postures regarding budget policy. As can be seen, this is a very comprehensive book which will answer all the questions of readers interested in monetary Europe in detail or in general.

(MT)

*** STEPHEN BOUCHER (Ed.): Europe and its think tanks: a promise to be fulfilled. An analysis of think tanks specialised in European policy issues in the enlarged European Union. Notre Europe (41 bld des Capucines, F-75002 Paris. Tel.: [phone] - Fax: [phone] - E-mail: [e-mail] - Internet: http: //http://www.notre-europe.asso.fr ). "Etudes & Recherches", No. 35. 2004, 147 pp.

Headed by a young Franco-American, this new collection of essays by the association dear to Jacques Delors' heart (now headed by the man who was his right hand for a long time when Delors was President of the Commission, namely Pascal Lamy) provides a remarkable report on the current situation in think tanks working on European affairs. Based on nine criteria, the researchers have listed 149 think thanks, some 36 of which deal exclusively with Europe. Their missions, activities, resources, strengths and weaknesses and foreseeable future are analysed in detail. From this analysis, the authors attempt to discover whether, as Jacques Delors writes in the introduction, these bodies 'have become vital cogs in the complex mechanisms that public opinion democracies have become these days', and whether in consequence they should rethink the way they operate. At any rate, the study (based on a series of interviews) reveals that think tanks tend to be welcomed by political decision-makers and observers, but have not necessarily been able to set root in the European political process since 'their added value is not clearly perceived; they are seen as moderately useful and often even as elitist'. Clearly, to quote a phrase of Jacques Delors's, it is not certain that they are yet 'architects of a genuine European democracy'.

(MT)

*** LUIGI DANIELE: Diritto dell'Unione europea dal Piano Schuman al progetto di Costituzione per l´Europa. Sistema istituzionale - ordinamento - tutela giurisdizionale. Dott. A. Giuffrè Editore (40 via Busto Arsizio, I-20151 Milan. Tel.: [phone] - Fax: [phone] - Internet: http: //http://www.giuffre.it ). 2004, 284 pp, €17. ISBN 88-14-10859-5.

In this very comprehensive general introduction to EU law, the author (a former official and rapporteur at the European Court of Justice, researcher and professor of law at the Tor Vergata University in Rome Tor Vergata and Trieste University) describes the origins and process of the European project, the institutional system, procedures and forms of legislation in the EU, Community acquis and the sources and the legal implications of EU law. Benefiting from long experience as a practitioner, Luigi Daniele focuses on the EU's judicial system, appeal options and the decisions and rulings of the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg. A classic basic guide, well structured and with plenty of references, for law students and specialist lawyers.

(PB)

*** The EUROPEAN COMMISSION (Official Publications Office of the European Communities, L-2985 Luxembourg. Internet: http: //publications.eu.int) has published the following documents:

*** Régions & communes d'Europe. Committee of the Regions -"Press & Communications" Unit (101 rue Belliard, B-1049 Brussels. Tel.: [phone] - Fax: [phone] - Internet: http: //http://www.cor.eu.int ). February 2005, No.46, 12 pp.

This issue explains the Committee of the Regions full support for a Yes vote for the European Constitution, since in addition to being a democratic pact with citizens, it also grants new powers and responsibilities to local and regional elected officials. This support will be felt in the public information campaign "1000 debates for Europe" for citizens, and "Europe Spring" for secondary school children. In addition to a special section on the Constitution, the review describes the upcoming European summit of the regions and cities, to be held in Wroclav, Poland, on 19-20 May. Poland is where European Regional Policy Commissioner, Danuta Hübner, hails from. She explains how cohesion policy is at a crossroads. The issue ends with opinions expressed by two writers, the first being Claudio Martini, President of the Tuscan Region in Italy and rapporteur on services of general interest, who explains that services of general interest cannot be seen as standard industries, but are an important point in the debate on the model of European society. The other opinion is expressed by Jan Pieter Lokker, provincial deputy in Utrecht (the Netherlands) and rapporteur on the proposal concerning future support for rural development, who writes on the expanding room for manoeuvre in this domain.

*** Agenda Social. DG Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities - Documentation Centre (B-1049 Brussels. Fax: [phone] - E-mail: [e-mail]). December 2004, No. 10, 28 pp.

Agenda Social includes a special dossier on globalisation, which raises two major concerns, namely relocation and uncontrolled immigration. The review explains how the relocation phenomenon may be less negative than it appears, and how migrants can help Europe meet its challenges. The special dossier also outlines the EU's efforts to ensure fair working conditions everywhere in the world, notably by promoting respect of basic labour standards and social dialogue. The review also looks at the Commission's proposals with regard to reforming the working week, and other articles look at social dialogue, a report by the Commission questioning the relevance of the US model for the meeting of European employment objectives, and an article on the Lisbon Strategy.

*** Liaisons sociales Europe. Groupe Liaisons (1 av. Edouard-Belin, F-92500 Rueil-Malmaison. Tel.: [phone] - Fax: [phone] - Internet: http//http://www.liaisons-sociales.com ). February 2005, No. 121, 12 pp, 32 euros. Annual subscription: 867.85 euros.

The main subject of this issue is the desire by big French companies to find a way of setting up global social dialogue. Two types of approach are described. Some companies would approve of extending the European Enterprise Committee to staff in other countries, while others, like electricity giant EDF, would prefer to set up a different body. Another major issue is the controversy surrounding the new directive on equal treatment. Various efforts have already been made to eliminate sexual discrimination at work and the directive aims to combat sexual discrimination in the supply of goods and services. This proposal has found little favour with insurers, who object that it would mean hiking insurance premiums for women drivers or pension insurance for men. Another article looks the Spanish law to tackle violence against women.

*** Gérer & comprendre. Editions ESKA (12 rue du Quatre-Septembre, F-75002 Paris - Tel.: [phone] - Fax: [phone] - Internet: http: //eska.fr ). Annales des Mines, series. December 2004, No. 78, 100 pp, 20.58 euros. ISBN 274720772-2

To mark the twentieth year of the review, the editorial of Gérer & Comprendre expresses New Year's wishes in the form of a credo: "supporting and developing in France and more widely in Europe, research into original and lively management, defending alternative theoretical approaches to Anglo-Saxon approaches ". The review opens with an article by Alain Anquetil, studying the subtle balance between strong ideas and career, or between morals, pragmatism and self-interest. This dilemma, which greatly affects French and European researchers, who are often obliged to take exile and sell themselves overseas, is related to another article on the wall between academia and business in France. Another article analyses fantasy and phobia in English eurosceptic ideas.