*** GUY VERHOFSTADT: Les Etats-Unis d'Europe. Editions Luc Pire (37-39 quai aux Pierres de Taille, B-1000 Brussels. E-mail: editions@lucpire.be - Internet: http://www.lucpire.be ). "Voix politiques" series. 2006, 69 pp, €11. ISBN 2-87415-609-4.
It isn't often that we come across a book by a serving prime minister. Prime ministers have plenty of other ways to put their ideas across, to encourage people to support their views and political programme. After the French and Dutch no votes on the European Constitution and against the backdrop of the deafening silence of the 'refection period', Belgian Liberal prime minister Guy Verhofstadt felt the need, however, to write a book in Dutch, also available in a French translation (with an English translation on the way), as a 'manifesto' sketch out the skeleton of a European project that would once more be attractive to young people. His aim is eminent and worthy of respect. Jacques Delors, who remains a key reference in such matters, had no qualms about describing the book's author as a true fighter for the United States of Europe, who has provided an important contribution to the debate on the future of the European Union. No doubt he has, or rather, we'll see. Because this rather unusual author's ideas may ruffle a few feathers, hovering somewhere between dream and frustration, between a welcome utopia and expressions of impotence.
Like all his peers, by nature Guy Verhofstadt is both player and thinker. This type of man and women is judged on their deeds at pretty regular intervals. But occasionally, reading the book, one wonders whether the player and thinker actually permanently cohabit in Verhofstadt, and whether sometimes one completely dominates to the extent of hiding and destroying the other. The author has clearly done a lot of thinking and pondering. But what will the player side of him do with all this in the future? When it comes to action, will Verhofstadt apply all the operational political consequences by calling a spade a spade in the future, when there are the predictable blockages and slippages in his European work, in other words calling a gravedigger of Europe a gravedigger of Europe?
Player-thinker Verhofstadt does this implacably, unlike most European politicians, who do not dare call a spade a spade while still in office. For example, Verhofstadt criticises those national political leaders who see the EU as little more than a fig leaf to hide their own failures. He admits that the European Council has become an arena where you fight to win points in the interests of your own country and don't really take any account of the general interests of Europe. His courageous plain speaking is welcome too when he criticises Nicolas Sarkozy for wanting in Verhofstadt's opinion to create a "directoire" of big Member States out of the ashes of the Constitution. More fundamentally, Guy Verhofstadt has the huge merit of openly admitting, without doublespeak, that the European Union has always been a battleground of two antagonistic views, the 'intergovernmental view' that gives national interests more than their fair share; and 'federal Europe' whereby the European Union cannot only be a group of Member States, but also a group of citizens. Two schools of thought which, when it comes to social and economic affairs, bring countries seeing the EU as basically a free trade zone face to face with countries wanting to make the European Community a genuine political union. Verhofstadt says this is the only explanation of the battles surrounding the Financial Perspectives. He observes that the differences between the two groups seem to have become irreconcilable, and this contradiction is currently paralysing the EU. The diagnosis cannot be argued with, following the running aground of the constitutional flagship. But why make this diagnosis so late in the day? Wouldn't it have been better for a lucid European head of state to have rung the alarm bell much earlier and hence avoided the insidious slipping off course of a European project so distorted from within for such a long time, and also nowadays by more and more Member States? In a somewhat demagogic manner, Guy Verhofstadt slams the EU for losing itself in futile action often seen as irritating red tape, like regulating the dimensions of egg-laying areas for factory farmed hens, or the ingredients of strawberry jam in European breakfast directives, but surely this is Verhofstadt adding his voice to the cacophony of some Anglo-Saxon media? More importantly, surely here he is taking the easy line of making the European institutions and 'Brussels' responsible for things he himself is responsible for as head of state of one of the twenty-five EU member countries and therefore, in fine, a true joint holder of supreme power in the European Union?
Guy Verhofstadt passionately explains that these days, the idea of a United States of Europe is the only option for the old continent. Letting the EU shrivel away into a free trade zone, he writes, would condemn it to sink into the oblivion of globalisation. In order to move forward, the Belgian prime minister sets out 'five missions for a new Europe', namely a socio-economic government and strategy; a wave of new technology; an area of greater justice and security; and a genuine European diplomatic corps and a genuine European army. In the same spirit, he calls for a new type of funding for the European Union, the opposite of 'fair returns', and for the European Commission to be finally recognised as what it really is, a 'government'. Some plain speaking and clear ideas! And as long as Jean-Claude Juncker is not the only one to heed the call, this could lead to a United States of Europe (the eurozone) surrounded by a confederation of states, an Organisation of European States. This is no doubt the good fight to be fought from now on. But Guy Verhofstadt should be aware that the most important thing at this stage is not whether the battle is won or lost in the long-term, but rather that it is fought! By him in any case…
Michel Theys
*** JEAN-VICTOR LOUIS, THIERRY RONSE: L'ordre juridique de l'Union européenne. Helbing & Lichtenhahn (Geneva), 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 ) and LGDJ (Paris). "Dossier de droit européen" series, No. 13. 2005, 458 pp. ISBN 2-8027-2019-8 and 3-7190-2273-0.
At first sight, this detailed and explanatory book on the EU's legal system is a different kettle of fish from Guy Verhofstadt's book. The authors Jean-Victor Louis, emeritus professor at the Université libre de Brielle's (ULB), and Thierry Ronse, science researcher at the ULB's European Studies Institute, describe the characteristics of EU law from the beginning of the European Communities until the constitutional treaty. Apart from the fact that both authors are Belgian, the book also echoes Guy Verhofstadt's in terms of subject matter. In the preface, they point out the disappointment that very soon emerged after the first round of enlargement: "It became very clear that these days, Member States didn't all share the same view of the object of the European project. The Danish authorities had won their citizens over to voting for accession by stressing that the point of the treaties was to organise economic cooperation rather than moving in the direction of political integration. The United Kingdom was holding back the approximation of legislation and opposed various policies"… One cannot put it in better words - the worm has been in the fruit of the European Community for a long time! Urgent reading for people asking what to do after the no votes rejecting the Constitution…
(MT)
*** ACHILLE ALBONETTI: L'Italia, la politica estera e l'unità dell'Europa. Edizioni Lavoro (25 via Lancisi, I-Roma. Internet: http://www.edizionilavoro.ir ). 2005, 215 pp, €12-50. ISBN 88-7313-137-9.
In the preface, renowned essayist Sergio Romano puts Achille Albonetti among the "great artisans" who have made a huge contribution to building a united Europe, despite not being politicians, people like Robert Marjolin, Emile Noël, Etienne Hirsch and Italians like Roberto Ducci and Renato Ruggiero. Albonetti believes in the primacy of foreign policy when it comes to building a European Union with its own views to assertively express in the world's business. After analysing attempts in the past (and why they failed), he calls for a new, ambitious initiative requiring as its highlights a European energy policy and a relaunch of European defence policy on tangible foundations by jointly constructing the next fighter plane, a European tank (to replace the four currently competing with one another) and even a group of European nuclear submarines because in the author's view, true power cannot exist without nuclear weapons.
(FR)
*** L'entreprise & l'homme. Revue de l'ADIC. Association Chrétienne des Dirigeants et Cadres (8 av. K. Adenauer, B-1200 Brussels). 3rd quarter, 2005.
Although rather late, this issue of the ADIC's review, with a dossier on 'Europe in the intensive care ward', is worth reading because the main articles are still relevant - like former Belgian prime minister and former Vice-Chair of the European Convention, Jean-Luc Dehaene MEP writing on the long-term prospects of enlargement of the EU; the President of the European Investment Bank, Philippe Maystadt, writing on the constitutional draft (a copy and paste?); and Philippe de Buck of UNICE writing on the key concept of change. Is Europe in the intensive care ward? Paul Collowald says: "Yes to a Europe that works, No to a broken-down Europe".
(MG)
*** FRANCIS SNYDER (Ed.): Enlargement and the New Europe after 2004 / L'élargissement et la nouvelle Europe après 2004. Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5129842 - Fax: 5119477 - E-mail: info@bruylant.be - Internet: http://www.bruylant.be ). "Travaux du CERIC" series. 2005, 334 pp, €55. ISBN 2-8027-2129-1.
It is a fact that the round of enlargement of the European Union in May 2004 changed things for old and new Member States and the European Union itself (along with surrounding countries). This book of essays in English or French looks at some of the changes made by enlargement in edited and sometimes not properly proofread versions of articles by young researchers and postgrad students from the four corners of Europe and beyond for the third international meeting of young researchers, an annual conference 'which seeks to bring together the most promising young scholars in specific fields of European Union law'. The dozen contributions are divided into three sections: the impact of enlargement on EU policies; the impact of EU policies on new Member States; and managing new borders. The way these interesting articles were selected means that they come under the general heading but are not necessarily directly connected with one another.
(FRo)
*** ANTOINE DUQUESNE: Plus d'Europe, mieux d'Europe. Pourquoi ? Groupe Alliance des Démocrates et des Libéraux pour l'Europe (rue9G157, rue Wiertz, B-1047 Brussels. Tel: (32-2-): 2847216 - Fax: 2849216). 2005, 36 pp.
With a preface by Jean-Marie Cavada urging readers to be deeply European, in other words to be 'brokers of hope', this little brochure by former Belgian interior minister, Liberal MEP Antoine Duquesne, considers how the Constitution can be relaunched and thereby the European project as a whole. With constant concern to express gentle, human pedagogy, Duquesne (currently fighting against severe illness) also outlines ideas about how to relaunch the Lisbon Strategy.
(MT)
*** Michel Debré, un réformateur aux Finances 1966-1968. Editions du Comité pour l'histoire économique et financière de la France (Ministère de l'Economie, des Finances et de l'Industrie, Paris). "Histoire économique et financière de la France" series. 2005, 194 pp, €15. ISBN 2-11-094802-7.
Historians and former colleagues of the first French head of government under the 'Fifth Republic' period of French history in the last century look in this book at the work of Michel Debré when he headed the French Economy and Finance Ministry. As René Groussard explains, the book sheds light on a much more complex character than people generally want to admit, along with the extent to which the European dimension played a part in the work of this historic Gaullist, allergic to any form of supra-nationalism.
(PBo)
*** Europe's World. Europe's World (Bibliothèque Solvay, Parc Léopold, 137 rue Belliard, B-1040. Tel: (32-2) 27387592 - Fax: 27391592 - E-mail: subscription@europesworld.org - Internet: http://www.europesworld.org ). Spring 2006, 181 pp, €12. Annual subscription: €33.
Giles Merritt's new review (in English) aims to rise above national issues to launch European debate on key issues. To this end, it has commissioned experts and decision-makers "who have something to say about where Europe should be going". The people "who have something to say" in this issue include Guy Verhofstadt, Elmar Brok, Franz Fischler, Yves-Thibault de Silguy, and José Maria Aznar (writing on security).
(FRo)
*** GERMAN SOLINIS (Ed.): Construire des gouvernances: entre citoyens, décideurs et scientifiques. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes - Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.net ). 2005, 288 pp. ISBN 90-5201292-X.
Ten political scientists, sociologists, anthropologists and lawyers from the UNESCO programme 'Most' dealing with social transformation, look at combinations of science and policy in this book to discover viable forms of governance. The first part focusses on the territorial dimension on which governance of analysed challenges is based, for example urban governance as reinvented in three cities in Burkina Faso, and governance in humid zones. The second part of the book focusses on the importance of stakeholders in the field.
(PBo)