*** CHARLES ZORGBIBE: Histoire de l'Union européenne. Editions Albin Michel (22 rue Huyghens, F-75014 Paris. Internet: http://www.albin-michel.fr ). "Europe" de la Fondation Robert Schuman series. 2005, 403 pp, €21.50. ISBN 2-226-15865-0.
Convinced (and rightly so!) that the true European challenges - particularly those connected with the Constitution - cannot be explained without referring to the history of 'this fantastic European construction', the Robert Schuman Foundation headed by Jean-Dominique Giuliani has picked just the right moment to launch its new series with what looks like a brilliant and detailed book (by a French national) on the resistible rise of the European Community. Charles Zorgbibe being a Frenchman is no handicap, on the contrary, this lecturer at the Sorbonne, former dean of the Faculty of Law at University Paris-Sud and then rector and chancellor of Aix-Marseilles Universities, gives precedence to French viewpoints, but with the clear desire to enrich, complement and fill gaps in the picture of the European adventure of the past fifty years. Mission accomplished in even greater measure since behind this Frenchman hides a European whose ideas respect the facts but are characterised by an independent mind.
After a summary of the 'time of the precursors' and the 'first structures', the author arranges the book in four sections. The first looks at the birth of the Communities, from the Schuman Plan to the Treaties of Rome. He starts of by reminding us of something that is not remembered often enough (some even go as far as lying about it), namely that the vast political idea implied in the Schuman Declaration, called for the achievement of the first tangible foundations of a European federation vital to preserve the peace. To be linked with a diatribe by Ferdinando Riccardi on the 'botched burying of the European Coal and Steel Community by the Prodi Commission in 2002: "Virtually nothing about the political significance of this first step. A mean and utilitarian presentation. The objectives of Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman and those who followed them in neighbouring countries, were more connected with politics, civilisation and ethics than with the economy… It was a crazily ambitious initiative …". Charles Zorgbibe then recounts the controversy around the European Defence Community (did you know, for example, that Germany's military involvement in the Atlantic Alliance was negotiated at Petersberg Castle, the same castle that would give its name to 'missions'?), management of the Treaties of Rome and the withdrawal of the United Kingdom, tempted by free trade ideas which have the 'disadvantage of being purely economic', and 'could not form a genuine political process - unlike the Common Market, under the discipline of the existence of a common external tariff and transcended by the drafting of common policies' (food for thought at a time when the Common Agriculture Policy and regional policy are facing a new Inquisition ?). The book then looks at the Gaullist movement's criticisms of supranationality, the 'Fouchet Plan' (and the ambiguity of the Dutch view, there being a 'constant gap between the federalist affirmations and the nationalist behaviour of the Dutch government - which argues for supranationality without ever being genuinely prepared to go beyond purely economic institutions promising free trade', not to mention the fact that The Hague would fight, when the executives were merged, to have two Dutch people in the executive that would become the merged Commission), the 'empty chair crisis', French criticisms of Atlanticism, and negotiating the first round of enlargement. In this connection, Charles Zorgbibe points out that the six Member States of the time decided in theory in 1970, in the words of Belgian minister Pierre Harmel, "that the candidates accept treaties and their political aims", so the negotiations "can only cover the establishment of transitory measures and not changes to existing rules".
In the second part of the book, the author sheds light on the political development of the Communities, from the start of Political Cooperation (the intergovernmental cooperation system set out in the Davignon Report adopted in Luxembourg on 27 October 1970 did not 'go as far as foreseen in the Fouchet Plan') to connections with ACP states, via electing the European Parliament by universal suffrage, plans for political union (the Tindemans Report, the Dooge Report and the Spinelli Plan) and relations with the Eastern Europe of the day. The third part closely examines moving from the Communities to the European Union (the Single Act, the Maastricht and Amsterdam Treaties, the Nice Treaty, with particular attention to the international status of the EU). The last part looks at the future of the EU, a Union which, as the author explains, is 'seeking its frontiers'. He also comments on the work of the Convention, and the organising of citizens' powers and rights as foreseen in the European Constitution. The last part includes three scenarios being studied by the author even before the French and the Dutch voted 'No' to the Constitution (which didn't prevent him from slamming the attitude of Fabius and Pervenche Berès, the latter for changing sides 'a few weeks after denouncing the bitter-sweet leftism that rejects the European Constitution'). The first scenario is of institutional stabilisation in the form of a 'Swiss Europe' (Charles Zorgbibe sees no shortcomings in this). The second is of a slow decline in the EU, leading to the formation of an institutional monster, a new Holy Empire, or even 'implosion, no less'. The third is the re-formation of a political Union by a crystallising core, aware that the British idea has triumphed these days. Would this come about? Hmmm…
Michel Theys
*** GUY MILTON, JACQUES KELLER-NOELLET, AGNIESZKA BARTO-SAUREL: The European Constitution. Its origins, negotiation and meaning. John Harper Publishing (27 Palace Gate Road, London N22 7BW, UK. Tel: (44-20) 88814774 - e-mail: jhpublish@aol.com). 2005, 177 pp. ISBN 0-9543811-6-5.
With a preface by Javier Solana, this well-structured book explains clearly and in detail how the European Constitution was drawn up. The three authors were perfectly placed to observe the Constitution's gestation and understand how it evolved over time. Currently Deputy Director General at the Secretariat General of the Council, French national Jacques Keller-Noëllet has been involved in all the changes to Treaties since the Single Act, working for the various Secretary Generals. After working in foreign relations for the same institution, former British diplomat Guy Milton was in fact a member of the Secretariats of both the Convention and the following Intergovernmental Conference. Polish national Agnieszka Bartol-Saurel was the only new Member State representative on the Convention's Secretariat, and later became the first national of a new Member State to be appointed as an official at the Secretariat General of the Council, where she initially followed the Intergovernmental Conference. Hence we can see that the authors know what they're writing about and this is felt right from the very first pages of this book, which starts with a useful, well-documented, brief reminder of the historic origins of the Constitution for Europe, from Italian poet Dante Alighieri's vision back in the thirteenth century to the ideas of Schuman and Monnet that were put into practice. With a fine independence of mind, they then look at the Convention's innovative approach, and then describe the ins and outs of the negotiating process and explain how the initially very divergent views of the different Member States were gradually reconciled in many areas. The authors conclude by assessing the extent to which the Constitution can (could?) contribute to the European Union's stability and improve the life of its citizens.
(PBo)
*** Constitution européenne. Comparaison avec les traités en vigueur. Service des Affaires européennes du Sénat (Paris). 2004, 436 pp, €9-50. ISBN 2-11-111902-4.
Written before the results of the referendums, this book is nonetheless perfectly relevant and useful. Firstly, because nothing allows one to be certain at this stage that the European Constitution will not actually come into force in the end, fully or partially. Secondly, because if it is scrapped, that would not signify the end of the history of the European project, and a day will come when European leaders will get back to work on it, whether in the form of a Treaty or a Constitution, without being able to ignore what was dreamed up at the beginning of this century. In which case, this book by the European Affairs Department of the French Senate will be of use to them because it covers all the articles of the Constitutional Treaty, commenting on each and highlighting changes made with regard to earlier Treaties. Wherever the diverse nature of changes made and the technical nature of the subject matter justify it (as with the common trade policy, for example), the actual wording of the Constitutional measure in question is provided for the reader. The book also comments on the thirty-six protocols annexed to the Constitution, highlighting the contribution of each protocol. Only the text of the most interesting protocols is actually printed. Declarations providing useful information about various articles of the Treaty are listed and commented upon.
(PBo)
*** RENAUD DENUIT: Nietzsche-à-Nice. Petit traité de logique européenne. Editions Mols (Belgium. E-mail: mols@skynet.be). "Autres sillons" series. 2005, 159 pp. ISBN 2-87402-072-9.
After the holidays, when all things European seem gloomy or even tormented, this little book provides an ideal cordial of reasons to be cheerful. Like a delectable breath of fresh air to revive flagging spirits whose logic currently condemns them to contemplate the rock of Sisyphus. Because one can fall victim to either Syclla or Carybdis, Europe runs the danger of flirting with the Constitution only to fall back into the Nice Treaty. Renaud Denuit explains that the Nice Treaty, born from a "coïtus interruptus" in Amsterdam on institutional issues and 'desperately chaotic' negotiations where there were too many variables and an absence of objectives. This sets the tone. Is it Denuit himself writing? Probably, but he also lends his pen to Friedrich Nietzsche, calling him to answer to history and defend the ruling princes' pettiness and yellow livers. Like the ones the German philosopher slammed between 1883 and 1888 when he was finishing off 'Zarathustra' in the city of Nice as it happens, stating for example that: "Thanks to the morbid alienation that crazy nationalism has introduced and is still introducing among European peoples, thanks also to money-grubbing, short-term vision politicians who dominate today with the nationalist wing and have no idea about the extent to which the disunity policy they are practising can only be an interim policy - thanks to all this and many other things impossible to tell today, the most convincing signs are being neglected or deliberately deformed and rendered deceptive, yet they still express Europe's desire for unity". Those of the year 2000 do too, on the hundredth anniversary of Nietzsche's death - people who 'in a potent atmosphere of mistrust and mediocrity' prepared a self-disabling system without saying they were doing so, because 'what difference does it make, building a gas factory that will be totally inoperable in the long-term - I see and foresee this - as long as the nationalist halo is saved for today". Nietzsche/Denuit adds, commenting on the formation of the final compromise: "The more I see them at work, the more I am convinced that this is Europe as it was at the end of the nineteenth century, I see it unfold before my very eyes, bustling with activity to ensure the perpetuation of its being"… Profound in terms of ideas yet light-hearted in tone, pertinent and impertinent, this little book is in a world of its own, as is its author, a philosopher by training, an erstwhile talented journalist, who is today at official at the European Commission and a poet in his free time. A stroke of genius, using this latest book to encourage readers to constantly question the European project. As is neatly explained in the preface by Quentin Dickinson, Director of European Affairs at Radio-France - while Europeans have been able, 'without any real precedent… to act in the space of barely two generations to tame chaos", they now need to 'channel hopes".
(MT)
*** YVES DELOYE (Ed.): Dictionnaire des élections européennes. Editions Economica (Paris). "Etudes politiques" series. 2005, 705 pp, €47. ISBN 2-7178-5056-4.
According to the French author Albert Camus, "badly naming things adds to the world' misery". No doubt this is why dictionaries were invented… I pay tribute to the twenty-four authors who, under the leadership of Yves Déloye, Professor at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques in Strasbourg, compiled this encyclopaedic yet user-friendly tome. One hundred and forty articles by eminent specialists cover the major aspects of this vast subject matter. There are also various maps of the electoral results of 2004.
From A ("Abstention") to V ("Vote sanction"), the book reviews the whole panorama of European parliamentary life (both institutions and practices) in short descriptions and, where appropriate, criticisms, bibliographic references and references to other articles. All in a style accessible to citizens both in the form of voters and simply as readers.
My attention focussed on articles on "Eurobarometer" (Bruno Cautrès), "Opinion publique européenne" (Jean-Baptiste Legrave) and "Symbolique" (François Foret). The first highlights the value of the Eurobarometer polls, now being copied around the world. The second criticises the use (and abuse) of the idea of European public opinion, a statistical construction and/or an ideological projection. The third usefully highlights the weakness of the EU's symbolic repertoire.
In short, reading these articles - and many others, like the ones on national legislation and practices or on political parties - at the current stage in the uncertain process of ratifying the draft Constitutional Treaty, will provide useful background knowledge to current European events.
(J-RR)
*** The EUROPEAN COMMISSION (Official Publications Office of the European Communities, L-2985 Luxembourg. Internet: http: //publications.eu.int) has published the following document:
*** Proposition de la Commission relative au 7ème programme-cadre recherche. 2005, 116 pp. ISBN 92-78-40300-8
The Lisbon Strategy's aim to make Europe the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010 is based on the triangle education, innovation and research and technology. The 7th Framework Research Programme for 2007-2013 is vitally important in terms of achieving this objective. After a brief description of the (simplified) legal framework for FP7, the document details the Commission's proposals in terms of targets, operating mode, and financial and human resources. FP7 will be divided into four specific programmes - cooperation (on nine major topics, both internationally and within the EU), ideas (support for researchers' ideas), personnel (professional support for researchers) and capacity (supporting big projects).
*** Revue du Marché commun et de l'Union Européenne. Editions techniques et économiques (3 rue Soufflot, F-75005 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 55426131 - Fax: 55426139- E-mail: editecom@starnet.fr - Internet: http: //http://www.editecom.com ). June 2005, No. 489, 60 pp. Annual subscription €202.
This issue's articles look at two main topics - macroeconomics and the EU's external relations. The first is studied in articles on relaxing the Stability and Growth Pact, and the European Central Bank, which in seven years of existence is not felt to have achieved the credibility of the Bundesbank (its model). There is more information about foreign relations, with articles on Turkey's recognition of the Republic of Cyprus, required for Turkey to join the EU but which take some time to achieve. The review also looks at the first ten years of the Barcelona Process and the first year of the European Agency for External Borders Customs, and counter-terrorism in Europe.
*** Europe infos. Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Communities - Catholic European Study and Information Centre (42 rue Stévin, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2350510 - Fax: 2303334 - E-mail: debbichi-ocipe@tiscalinet.be). June 2005, No. 72, 12 pp. Annual subscription: 27 euros.
Europe Infos welcomes the European Commission's Action Plan for Freedom, Justice and Security, paving the way for greater juridical cooperation and paying particular attention to children's right. There is then an article calling for energetic application of measures to raise the quality of education in Europe. Another article, entitled 'A memory to be reclaimed' stresses the importance of the memory and awareness of peace, such as we have enjoyed for the past six decades, and also memories that the end of the Second World War was followed by the launch of another type of tyranny in the countries of Eastern Europe.
*** Parität EU- Jahresreport. EU-Repräsentanz der Paritätische Wohlfahrtsverbandes (159 rue Belliard, B-1040 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2381000 - Fax: 2381009 - E-mail: eu.bruessel@paritaet.org). 2005, No. 2, 54pp.
This second report of the year by Paritätische Wohlfahartsverband reports (in German) on various European policies. This issue opens by looking at the social policy agenda for 2006-2010, and then fifteen articles on social policy, health, economic policy and institutional affairs.
*** Ökoenergie. Ökosoziales Forum österreich (13 Franz Jozefs-Kai, 1010 Vienna. Tel: (39-1) 53307970 - Fax: 533079790 - E-mail: info@oesfo.at - Internet: http://www.oesfo.at ). June 2005, No. 59, 32 pp.
This magazine about renewable energy highlights the importance (generally underestimated and under-exploited) of renewable energy for the economy. The industry could provide jobs and help relieve the economy of the growing burden of rising fossil fuel prices. The review makes a decidedly disappointing (to say the least) assessment of CO2 emissions in terms of the Kyoto Protocol targets. There are a number of articles on combatting climate change, biomass and projects underway like building bioethanol factories.