*** DANIEL GADBIN, FRANCIS KERNALEGUEN (Editors): Le statut juridique de l'enfant dans l'espace européen. 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 ). 2004, 514 pp., €60. ISBN 2-8027-1886-x
Children today enjoy special attention in most societies. But given that society is changing, the position of children and how they are perceived changes too. We are a far cry, for example, from the image of children during antiquity, who saw the child as the property of his or her father. European structures of society have changed fast over recent decades. With these changes, the notion of the family has changed as well. The role of the family, its composition have undergone profound modifications compared to what they were during the era of our grand parents. Children's status have therefore changed significantly. Birth rates have fallen sharply, “making children both rare and precious”. Almost four out of ten married people divorce in Europe. More children than before are born out of wedlock or are brought up by a single parent. In these mono-parental or differently structured families, the child often provides the only “stable core” of the family set up. The family constitutes the first matrix of child development. It is the family that develops the personality, provides the tools the child acquires, and internalises the rules that turn the child into a fully fledged citizen.
These developments regarding position and perception of the child in the family in our societies is an issue that involves all of us and requires particular political and legislative attention with regard to their crucial function, the harmonious development of our cities and the wellbeing of their citizens. But who is the European child? And what is the European area? In this book, European children are above all children of the European Union, due for a number of different reasons such as the goal of common regulation for this political ensemble and its ability to apply Community norms by the Member States. This leads to the first question: what place do European children have in Community legislation, when this legislation is essentially commercial or social? If in fact, children do gradually find a place in this legislation, it is due to “ricochets from people and the system” due to more uniform view of family rights in Member States; free movement and establishment in a “freedom, security and justice area”. This leads the coordinators of this book to point out the “comparative approach of the features of convergence and divergence of European civil and family law”.
This book, is part of a follow-up to a colloquy and can be read as a comparative study of different family laws in Europe (it of course takes into account international standards such as those of the UN), insofar as they are for the most part structured. It also reveals policy changes and how the definition of society's projects is worked out, as well as society's self-image. We get an outline of the mechanisms of European construction through the process of national legislation harmonisation, which is still very different, particularly as there is a north-south dividing line regarding the concept of child and family. Countries like Sweden traditionally put more emphasis on the child as an individual, whereas France, for example, sees the child mainly as a constituent family part, whose interest prevails.
The book is divided into six main parts: Children's rights in the sphere of influence in fundamental legal system; laws relating to children and the family; law on children and protection of family ties; law on child safety; law and child autonomy and, finally, part of the book focuses on a section on “between protection and repression of children in the European area”. The book also illustrates how the evolution of child related law and families is Europe, as an echo of other international bodies norms on protection of human rights, is moving towards the defence of the child's individual legal rights. This development deserves praise, given that some commentators believe that the status of the child is less enviable than that for the elderly, for example.
Frederik Ronse
*** BERTHOLD RITTBERGER, FRANK SCHIMMELFENNIG: The Constitutionalization of the European Union. Explaining the Parliamentarization and Institutionalization of Human Rights. Institut für Höhere Studien (56 Stumpergasse, A-1060 Vienna. Tel: (43-1) 59991-0 - fax: 59991-555 - Internet: http://www.ihs.ac.at ). "Reihe Politikwissenschaft / Political Science" series, No. 104. February 2005, 34 p., € 6.
Since its creation, the European Parliament has evolved as an assembly with supervisory competencies towards a directly elected legislative body with powers of co-decision over most legislation. Human rights were not originally included in the founding Community treaties but have increasingly serves as references for jurisprudence at the Court of Justice, before finally being codified into the Charter of Fundamental Rights and the draft Constitutional Treaty. The constitutionalization of the European Union is increasingly included in the fundamental norms and principles in the liberal democracies within the institutional architecture of the Union. The goal of the present study is to identify the dynamics and mechanisms of parliamentarianism and the institutionalisation of human rights in the Union. To explain this concept, the authors' starting point is the theoretical texts used for integration. They then add a postulate of “strategic action in a Community environment”, the use by Community actors of the identity of values and standards in liberal democracy, which constitute the Union's ethos when putting moral and social pressure on those opposed to constitutionalization.
(FRo)
*** GUY BRUNET, MICHEL ORIS, ALAIN BIDEAU (Editors): Les minorités - Minorities. Une démographie culturelle et politique, XVIIIe-XXe siècles - A Cultural and Political Demography, 18th-20th Centuries. Peter Lang (32 Hochfeldstrasse, Postfach 746, CH-53000 Berne 9. Courriel: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Population, Family and Society - Population, Famille et Société" series, No. 2. 2004, 428p p.. ISBN 3-03910-220-6.
This book is the result of a colloquy that brought together experts from the academic world specialising in demographics and minorities and presents the different minority groups in their political and cultural context ,while carefully outlining their modes of functioning, definition and influences. The first part looks at the inter-relation between identification, and construction of groups such as minorities, as well as the study of specificity and behaviour peculiar to demographic groups of minority populations such as Jewish communities or native Americans in Quebec, as well as the Roma, Serbs and Albanians. Six other contributions make up the second part of the book, which look at the relationship and interaction between majorities and minorities, illustrating the “sinuous paths between assimilation and integration”. The book finishes with three papers on questions relating to identity reification, though birth into a new communities that have developed out of intense mixing of specific populations (Trieste), the existence of a minority living a subsistence life, marginalised and which is still preoccupied with the question of whether it will have a place in the land of its ancestors (Indians of Central America) and the acknowledgement of immigrants who attempt to get the majority to attempt the “perhaps impossible task” challenge, explain the editors of this book, to get a nationalist ”zero ethnicity” project to emerge. A very comprehensive book on a complex subject!
(MT)
*** BEA CANTILLON, JACQUES VANDAMME (Editors): The Open Method of Coordination and Minimum Income Protection in Europe. Liber Memorialis Herman Deleeck. Acco (153 Brusselstraat, B-3000 Leuven). 2004, 183 pp.. ISBN 90-334-5658-3.
This beautiful book is a testimony to Herman Deleeck by his colleagues. Deleeck was an influential Dutch speaking academic in the social sphere, in Belgium and in Europe. The book exists in Dutch, French and English and contributions focus on a guaranteed minimum wage and Europe's recently acquired instrument for the social dimension, namely, the “Open Method of Coordination”. Contributions then look in turn at a minimum wage in Europe “between subsidiarity and federalism” as well as the “downward race” in the Union from a social point of view and a development that is contested by Pierre Pestiau. Anthony B. Atkinson asks whether the Open Method of Coordination “could lead to a basic income in Europe”, while Jos Berghmans locates it within the context of the European social model. The director of the European Social Observatory, Philippe Pochet explains that this Method is not the ideal instrument for implementing subsidiarity, two other contributions examine, in the light of the implementation deficits in the Lisbon Strategy (Mario Teló.) and the world of the Convention (Jean-Victor Louis). The book is the result of a colloquium and is punctuated by a contribution by Frank Vandenbroucke, former Belgian minister for social affairs and an article by Herman Deleeck himself, when he anticipated the social repercussions of the “great European market without any internal borders” at the beginning of the 1990s.
(PBo)
*** FREDERIC ROBERT: Le télétravail à domicile. De Boeck & Larcier (39 rue des Minimes, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-10) 482500 - fax: 482519 - E-mail: acces+cde@deboeck.be - Internet: http: //http://www.larcier.com ). "Collection de droit social". 2005, 239 pp., € 66. ISBN 2-8044-1726-3.
Teleworking is expanding massively. Frédérik Robert is a lawyer specialising in social law, wrote this very comprehensive book with a theoretical and practical analysis of this new dimension of work (more broadly, “home working”). It also clarifies the legal situation of these workers with regard to Belgian and European social legislation. The book is divided into two: teleworking in its broadest sense and its implications, the home working contract, collective rights at work and the final part on specific questions such as social provision, health and safety, without counting the inspection of home teleworkers. A chapter also focuses on the international mobility of workers with regard to European social legislation and international taxation . The European framework agreement on teleworking, signed by European social partners on 16 July 2002 is examined throughout the book and hence occupies a significant position in the book.
(MT)
*** HELMUT KOZIOL, BARBARA C. STEININGER (Editors): European Tort Law 2003. Springer (4-6 Sachsenplatz, 1201 Vienna. Tel: (43-1) 3302415-0 - fax: 3302426 - Internet: http://www.springer.at ). Collection "Tort and Insurance Law Yearbook". 2004, 493 pp., € 92. ISBN 3-211-21033-4.
This annual directory provides an overview of the recent legislation and jurisprudence on damages and interest in force in Europe. Most of the older Member States are covered, as well as some of the newcomers: Czech Republic; Hungary; Poland; Slovakia and Slovenia. The prevailing situation in Switzerland and Brazil is also examined. Developments in European law are subject to particular attention. The annual directory also includes comparative remarks and an essay on the key problem in this legislation. The reports are the work of the respective legal experts who critically take apart significant legal rulings since 2003, as well as legislative developments this year. Each contribution is accompanied by a comprehensive bibliography.
(LD)
*** JEAN-LUC DE BOISSIEU: Introduction à l'assurance. Acteurs, marché, contrats, technique. Editions L'Argus de l'Assurance (31-35 rue Froidevaux, F-75014 Paris). "Plus" series. 2005, 286 pp., € 35. ISBN 2-247-06175-3.
Who is not insured in today's world? In the European Union nobody or almost nobody. Insurance is part of life but it also comes with a sting in its tail: complex contracts in obscure, technical and poorly accessible language, provide an array of products proposed by many different insurers in a jungle where citizens often end up getting lost. Making insurance accessible to the majority of people, is the aim of this book. SG a the Group of Mutual Insurance Companies, the book's author, explains in simple terms, the workings of the French insurance market, European influences, its leading proponents and the diversity of products, their history and what they will become. The book provides a good introduction, accessible but reliable, to the world of insurance.
(PBo)
*** ALEXIS MOURRE (Editor): Le nouveau droit communautaire de la concurrence. Les droits de la défense face aux pouvoirs de la Commission européenne. Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Bruxelles. Tel: (32-2) 5129845 - fax: 5117202 - E-mail: info@bruylant.be - Internet: http://www.bruylant.be ) et Forum européen de la communication (47 rue Chardon Lagache, F-75016 Paris). "Fondation pour l'étude du droit et des usages du commerce international" series. 2004, 240 p., 45 €. ISBN 2-8027-2001-5 et 2-908274-10-8.
This book brings together the initiatives proposed in a colloquium organised in 2003 by the national French committee for the International chambers of Commerce and the French corporate legal experts association. Modernisation of Community competition law has strengthened the investigatory powers of the Commission, which called on participants to look at how they could protect corporate rights. What is the role, in this new context, of national jurisdiction and the Tribunal of First Instance? What protection for confidential professional secrecy when the Commission is able to interrogate company personnel? These are some of the questions answered in this concise and comprehensive book, which also looks at mergers, the suppression on preliminary authorisation in law on illegal cartels and procedural decentralisation.
(LD)
*** EUROPEAN COMMISSION (Official Publications Office of the European Communities, L-2985 Luxembourg. Internet: http: //publications.eu.int) has published the following documents:
*** Environment for Europeans. Environment DG - Communication Unit (200 rue de la Loi, B-1049 Brussels. fax: (32-2) 2969560 - E-mail: envinfo@cec.eu.int - Internet: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/environment/ mailingregistration/main/mailing_reg.cfm). June 2005, No. 20, 16 pp..
Summer is very pleasant in many aspects but it is also the season of high ozone levels and pollution in our cities. Almost 400,000 Europeans die prematurely every year because of air pollution. Environment for Europeans themes provides an article on the fight against atmospheric pollution and shows how despite improvements in European legislation, a lot remains to be done. Transport is one of the biggest culprits for damaging greenhouse gas emissions, harmful to health too. This theme is examined in two articles focusing on car and aeroplane transport. A two person journey by plane to New York from London produces as much green house gas as the use of a private care over a whole year. There is another article on European forests, in light of their ecological and economic role. Other contributions look at implementation of Community laws on the lessons to be drawn from the tidal wave in South East Asia last December.
*** Südosteuropa Mitteilungen . Geschäftsstelle der Südosteuropa-Gesellschaft (49 Widenmayerstrasse, D-80538 München. Tel: (49-89) 21254-0 - fax: 2289469 - E-mail: suedosteuropa-gesellschaft@t-online.de - Internet: http://www.suedosteuropa-gesellschaft.com ). 2005, No. 2, 104 pp. 10 euros. Subscription: 50 euros.
The central theme of this issue is the identity crisis in south east European countries. The first thing that comes to mind in the lamda citizen when we discuss identity in the Balkans is national or ethnic identity - Albanian, Croat etc. or religious but identity crises are more complex. They involve notions of social status, pro or anti western discourse and different notions of “being European”, which is interesting to tackle at this current moment when the prospect of Union enlargement is being sketched out towards these countries. The first contribution looks at the general question of identity in the Balkans. This is followed by pro and anti western characteristics, the perception of Europe. There are also contributions on the link between religion and nations and finally the case of construction of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and the situation of the Aromans. The usual sections Forum, Avis et Recensions conclude this edition.
*** Economia Exterior. Estudios de Politica Exterior SA (49 Núñez de Balboa, E-28001 Madrid. Tel: (34-91) 4312711 - fax: 4354027 - E-mail: suscriptiones@politicaexterior.com - Internet: http//http://www.politicaexterior.com ). Spring 2005, No 32, 196 p. 13 euros. Subscription: 93 euros.
This issue of Economia exterior focuses exclusively on Turkey in the perspective of opening accession negotiations with this country to the European Union Around twenty contributions look at the different political, geostrategic and economic aspects of the question. They illustrate how Turkey, an even more so since ht consecutive upsets following 11 September, had become a crucial piece in the Union's political and strategic approach in which the Union, confronted by demographic problems, the youth of the Turkish population could respond. The contributions also examine different relations with Turkey's Islamic neighbours and prospects for energy supplies in the context of the main routes for supplying oil and gas come from important reserves in this country.
*** Africa. World Africa News (209A av. Louise, B-1050 Brussels. Tel.: (32-2) 6474836 - fax: 6479347 - E-mail: worldafricanews@yahoo.fr). April 2005, No. 2, 96 pp. 3.50 euros. Subscription: 35 euros.
This section usually provides articles on European themes. However, we have chosen to mention this new publication because of the obvious fact of certain themes being of primary interest to Europe and that he editorial team has the firm intention of building bridge between the two continents and the quality and variety of the articles allow for a welcome window on this too often neglected continent to be opened. Subjects include negotiations of the economic partnership agreements between the Union and ACP countries, the USD 55bn in the Bouteflika plan for Algeria, the thousands of African footballers in European clubs, urban violence in Johannesburg, Abidjan and Kinshasa or disarming the militias in the Great Lakes region.