*** EDOUARD ORBAN: Service public ! Individu, marché et intérêt public. Editions Syllepse (69 rue des Rigoles, F-75020 Paris. E-mail: edition@syllepse.net - Internet: http://www.syllepse.net ). "Le Présent Avenir" series 2004, 148 pp., €18.20. ISBN 2-84797-087-8.
The question of “public service” is central to the European debate. Between supporters of unrestrained neo-liberalism, for whom the laws of the market are sufficient for regulating economic activities, and the partisans of an omnipotent and omnipresent welfare state, there are a whole range of positions and degrees. A graduate who specialised in analysing work situations and also Senior Associate Lecturer at the department of ergology at the University of Provence, Edouard Orban, studied and took apart a difficult report, which unites, brings together and opposes three poles of service activities: difference; management and v alues of common value. In other words: the individual; the market and the public interest. Each opposes the other, but if one of them begins to dominate, then the “risk of totalitarianism appears” to rear its head economically or politically.
His study comes at a time when the “denunciation of the state” is emerging and strong tendencies to reduce the parameters of public service in the name of free competition and the virtues of the market are prevalent As a counter clerk himself at the French post office, the author, has accompanied some of the other public service agents in their activities. On a daily basis, the postman or counter clerk at the post office are feeling the pressure from the three poles of service: “postmen and counter clerks alike are unceasingly torn between transgressing regulation on meeting the demands of customers and strictly applying regulation that guarantees equal treatment, education and civic rights, as well as the reminder of common values that go beyond their particular interests”. The public services have several functions, for example, that of ensuring equality and fighting against discrimination, of contributing to social cohesion etc. In certain cases, it is an instrument of protection against the all powerful state, which justifies in a certain way the particular status of its employees.
Privatisation of the services, sometimes resembles confiscation. Edouard Orban points out that public services have been a harbinger of innovation and adaptation. He also explains that privatisation sees the transfer of profits to the private sector, which has not contributed to their production. At the same time, economic reality imposes a continuous debate on the question of public interest. Liberalisation has allowed for progress in telecommunication network and the debacle on the British railways demonstrates the complexity of choices on offer. The notion of a monopoly that should be defended when it is involved in assuring the distribution of water to all on a fair basis but goes against the public interest when it is applied to the media for which pluralism is essential.
The subject is a burning issue, as, notes, Orban, European construction encourages a trend to a “generalised withdrawal of the public sphere in favour of the private sector”. Faced with the rise in the commercialisation of services, there is a resistance to be organised. Above all, new standards of evaluation are needed, new criteria of social and political profitability. Of prime importance too is the need to question the notion of general interest and, as the author underlines, “organise a public service with the market, reconsider offers and parameters of public service with regard to the user; ask questions about the place for democracy; discuss funding for new regulatory bodies; indicate the limits of notion of universal service, at the same time as possibilities for extending it, which it can do and tackle the issue of statutes for personnel etc”. The author concludes with the following hypothesis, “the fewer public services there are, the more they will be needed and the more we will talk about them”.
Régis Verley
*** OLIVER TREIB: Der EU-Verfassungsvertrag und die Zukunft des Wohlfahrtsstaates in Europa. Institut für Höhere (56 Stumpergasse, A-1060 Vienna. Tel.: (43-1) 59991-166, -175 - fax: 59991-171, -555 - E-mail: library@ihs.ac.at - Internet: http: //http://www.ihs.ac.at ). "Reihe Politikwissenschaft - Political Science Series" series, No. 99. 2004, 38p, €6.
Although criticism is being voiced in the left-wing parties in certain countries about the Constitutional Treaty of the Union, this study on the social dimension of the Constitution presents a positive account and is both extremely interesting, balanced and even optimistic on the future of social protection at a Community level. Olivier Treib is a researcher at the Higher Education Institute of Vienna in Austria, and explains the gist and content within the social aspects of the Constitutional treaty. He reveals the conflicts and position of the representatives of the governments and parliaments in the “Social Europe” group at the European Convention, where only a small minority of British and German Conservatives blocked progress in the social arena, progress which was sought by most Convention Members.
The author considers that the current Constitution being ratified, despite everything, is an excellent basis for gradual development of the Union's social dimension, thanks to the Charter of Fundamental Rights, including social rights and future judgements of the European Court of Justice, which result from it. Treib concludes with a criticism of the open coordination method, which he considers as a means of reducing the heterogeneity of social protection in different European countries and which is unable to improve social policy in Member States of the Union. This study is both concise and dense but, nevertheless, demonstrates that social policy is not the poor relation that some would have us believe at this stage of European construction.
(PB)
*** GERDA FALKNER: Kontinuität und/oder Wandel ? Zahlen und Fakten zur EU-Sozialpolitik. Institut für Höhere Studien (see address attached). "Reihe Politikwissenschaft - Political Science Series", No. 100. 2004, 66 pp, €6.
In this brief but very concentrated study, Professor Gerda Falkner introduces and summaries the work of three researchers from the Higher Education Institute of Vienna on European social policy and the problems of applying it in the EU15 . The author sheds light on the issues tackled and the main conclusions of these three doctoral theses. It focuses on working conditions, European directives aiming to establish minimum standards which, according to the researchers, have had a positive impact on, even if they result from “soft law”, which for the Union is a “third way” between non-intervention and complete harmonisation. The final conclusions of this group of researchers working under the supervision of Professor Falkner will be published by Cambridge University Press this year. This Institute of Vienna publication already offer an insight of them, which will constitute an interesting reference for researchers in the area of Community social policy and those analysing the theoretical implications of the specific method of European integration in the social arena.
(PB)
*** GERDA FALKNER: Neues Regieren und Soziales Europa. EU-Mindestregulierung und Soft Law in der Praxis. Institut für Höhere Studien (see address attached). "Reihe Politikwissenschaft - Political Science Series", No. 98. 2004, 18 pp., €6.
In this brief but very concentrated study, Professor Gerda Falkner from the Higher Education Institute of Vienna, analyses developments in Community legislation on social issues . Going beyond the myths and abusive simplifications, she presents a realistic panorama of the European Union social dimension and clarifies legislative activities with a firm backup of statistics and instructive graphs, as well as clear conclusions. A good introduction to Union social policy and recommended reading for all those looking for solid arguments to oppose polemical criticism according to which the Union does too much or too little in the social area.
(PB)
*** MAGNUS SVERKE, JOHNNY HELLGREN, KATHARINA NASWALL, ANTONIO CHIRUMBOLO, HANS DE WITTE, SJOERD GOSLINGA: Job Insecurity and Union Membership. European Unions in the Wake of Flexible Production. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes - Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.net ). "Work & Society" series, No.42. 2004, 202 pp.. ISBN 90-5201-202-4.
This is a collaborative production from European researchers. It is a comprehensive study, that clarifies the ever increasing problem of job insecurity and illustrates the scale of this problem and its consequences for those suffering from it and for those who can play a role in the context, such as trade unions. The prevailing situations in Belgium, Italy, Netherlands and Sweden are the focal point of these scientific reflections.
(PBo)
*** EUROPEAN COMMISSION (Official Publications Office of the European Communities, L-2985 Luxembourg. Internet: http: //publications.eu.int) has published the following documents:
*** Air passenger rights. DG Energy and Transport (B-1049 Brussels). 2005, 2 pp.
Travelling in an aeroplane is often a stressful experience, frequently amplified by incidents such as long delays or losing one's luggage and the subsequent complications. This pamphlet informs air passengers of their rights and synthesises the Union's range of measures for guaranteeing passenger fair treatment. It outlines a certain number of points, such as refused embarkation, cancellations, long delays, loss or destruction of luggage and injuries. A chapter also focuses on package tours, which have very much been in vogue in recent years. This pamphlet also directs the passenger to the competent authorities in the event of complaints and provides the addresses of the Commission's services dealing with the matter.
*** BEUC en bref. Bureau Européen des Unions de Consommateurs (36 av. de Tervuren, bte 4, B-1040 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 7431590 - fax: 7402802 - E-mail: consumers@beuc.org - Internet: http://www.beuc.org ). December 2004, No. 50, 12 pp.
The European Consumers Bureau, whose activities are partly funded out of the Union budget, represents the interests of consumers at a European level. Its information brochure examines the problems of interest to all citizens as consumers. It looks at, for example, interior air fresheners, which, far from purifying the air, pollute it and exude allergic, toxic and indeed carcinogenus substances. It also examines the problem of cadmium batteries. The BEUC is also dissatisfied with the amended proposal on consumer credit, which aims to prevent debt. It gives a favourable welcome to the proposal on enriched foods, those that are often the subject of more marketing considerations than nutritional information. The brochure o illustrates BEUC's agenda and a list of the different positions it has taken and its press releases.
*** Paneuropa-Deutschland. Paneuropa-Union Deutschland e.V. (17 Dachauer Straße, D-80335 München. Tel: (49-89) 554683 - fax: 594768). 1st quarter of 2005, No. 1, 36 pp., 3 euros, subscription: 30 euros.
Paneropa-Deutshland begins with an editorial by Dirk Herman Voss, vice president of Paneuropa-Union Deuschland, and tackles the question of Turkey's place in European policy. However, the publication also looks at the ideological struggle of Rocco Buttiglione for a different European policy of family and childhood, the division of between the Trans-Atlantic and Pro-European partisans as well as the airbus project (it also examines the "technological testament" of Franz Josef Strauss, project initiator). The president of Paneuropa, Alain Terrenoire, also launches an appeal for Europe to remain at the avant-garde.
*** Rapport from the international body for the control of stupéfiants - 2004. United Nations-Centre international de Vienna (Bureau E1339, B.P. 500, AU-1400 Vienna. Tel: (43-1) 26060 - fax: 26060-5867 - E-mail: secretariat@incb.org - Internet: http://www.incb.org ). January 2005, 108 pp. ISBN 92-1-248131-0.
This report is divided into three main chapters. The first deals with integration of strategies for reducing supply and demand. Demand for drugs stimulates supply, which in turn creates demand. Governments cannot therefore focus their efforts on supply alone but also on sustainable prevention action. The second chapter describes how the international system for controlling drugs works. It also examines the treaties and inter-governmental cooperation and studies the availability of drugs for medical purposes, as well as mechanisms for preventing drugs being hived off by illegal networks. The final part presents an analysis of the world situation in the different geographical zones. It shows how Afghanistan remains a hot-spot and that a concerted effort needs to be made, especially in the area of tackling HIV infection through injections.
Reviews in brief
*** Japan Echo. Japan echo Inc. February 2005, Tokyo. This magazine examines the issue of Japanese youth who are cutting themselves off from society and the job market. It also looks at Japanese and UN relations, as well as trade and tax issues. *** Asia-Pacific Perspectives: Japan+. Jiji Gaho Sha. February 2005, Tokyo. This monthly magazine loos at Japan's place a player and in the cultural and social sphere in the Asian Pacific. The main subject in this issue deals with changes in farming. Other papers look at science and design.