*** ATTILIO STAJANO: Research, Quality, Competitiveness. Springer Science+Business Media (233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA. Internet: http://www.springeronline.com ). 2006, 456 pp. ISBN
0-387-28741-8.
It is a fact universally acknowledged that globalisation and innovation have swept aside traditional structures. Meaning that competitiveness is key. It is well known that competitiveness requires innovation, which in turn requires research. But it is also common knowledge that the European Union is finding it difficult to drag itself up to the level of international competitors like the United States and Japan. The EU does, however, lead in various high tech industries which have been going for quite a while and where quality is more important than price. 'The superior quality of European products and services can make them competitive despite the high labour costs and standard of living within the EU15,' explains the author at the outset. All the same, he adds that the new engine of growth is information and it is therefore important for the EU to take advantage, through the Lisbon Strategy, of the opportunities provided by the information society. But benefits will only be felt in the long-term, so 'these actions should be carried out as soon as possible before the positioning of the European economy is irremediably compromised by the aggressive presence of other actors'.
Before taking the reader down the road of research and competitiveness, Prof. Attilio Stajano first provides the necessary stepping stones for sound understanding by outlining the most important parts of the European Union. His pedagogical concerns are nothing new - he has drawn on his lectures on EU research policy in recent years at the universities of Atlanta, Bologna and Ferrara. The first of the book's three sections surveys the different stages of the European project, describing the EU institutions and reviewing major topics like enlargement, expenditure, Economic and Monetary Union and competition rules. The section on the founding of the European Union and how it has evolved over time, is clear and to the point, describing matters such as the content and role of the various treaties and paying particular attention to the draft constitutional treaty. Like many of his peers, the author seems to be rather over-confident about the constitutional treaty actually getting adopted. When writing the book, the author had no doubt that the draft put forward by the Convention would be agreed upon. For this reason, the following chapters on the EU institutions and their action explain the situation as it actually is and how it would be if the constitution came into force. The chapter on enlargement is not restricted to describing the ins and outs of the matter, but also provides a general description of the geography, recent history, culture, politics and economy of the ten new EU Member States and the three would-be new EU members. Like the rest of the book, this is backed up with tables and pertinent illustrations.
The second part of the book studies competitiveness in the EU. It opens with a description of the general characteristics of EU Member States, like demographics and GNP. For obvious reasons (delays in collecting statistics), not all of this includes the new Member States. Attilio Stajano pays particular attention to Italy (as in other parts of the book), but this slant does not overshadow the rest in any way. There are also studies of competitiveness and quality in the EU economy. Detailed, relevant, richly illustrated, with many comparisons both within the EU and outside, this part of the book is more technical from an economics point of view than the previous section. Again, Italy is used as a case study.
A separate book within the main book, the third section details the EU's technology and research policy and its funding for R&D and technology. The author explains that the EU's research policy only accounts for a small fraction of the research carried out in the European Union. 'EU research has the objective of achieving industrial competitiveness and contributing to other EU policies. It does not include R&D aimed at enlarging the knowledge of mankind or R&D actions that, in the spirit of subsidiarity, are conducted under national budgets and address country-specific objectives'. This book describes the EU's framework programmes, the underlying ideas and topics covered by them. It also describes the role of entrepreneurs, university cooperation and innovation, focussing on the information society.
One might almost be tempted to say that Attilio Stajano, who was a European officials for thirteen years and also has two decades of experience in ICTs, has provided the reader with three books in one since each section is a self-contained unit. But the author has managed to connect the three and readers will agree with his assertion that the book was aimed primarily at 'teachers of courses on EU research and technology policy and on the policy for sustainable development of the EU economy… Other categories of potential readers are economists and policy-makers interested in competitiveness, and industrial and academic researchers who are planning to submit research proposals for Community funding under the framework programme.' The book comes with a CD-ROM of additional reading matter, statistics and links.
Frederik Ronse
*** DONATO MASCIANDRO (Ed.): Handbook of Central Banking and Financial Authorities in Europe. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited (Glensanda House, Montpelier Parade, Cheltenham, Glos, GL50 1UA, UK .Tel: (44-1242) 226934 - Fax: 262111 - E-mail: info@e-elgar.co.uk - Internet: http://www.e-elgar.com ). 2005, 566 pp, £125. ISBN 1-84376-789-9.
The big bang or deregulation of the financial markets has brought in its wake a redefining of the role and objectives of monetary authorities round the world. Central banks have gained more independence and have been given the main task of ensuring price stability since separate bodies have been given responsibility for regulation and financial supervision in many countries. The organisation and regulatory and financial supervisory processes are in flux, hence the utility of a book on the issue. The author is a member of the Paolo Baffi Centre at Bocconi University in Italy, and also a member of the economics, mathematics and statistics department at the University of Lecce (also in Italy). To write this handbook, Donato Masciandro commissioned a team of leading European banking and financial experts. The book is divided into three sections. The first three chapters look at how central banks, guarantors of financial stability, interact with one another. They also study the current process of transferring responsibility for banking supervision to financial services authorities. In other words, what responsibility do central banks have when responsibility for supervising financial institutions is transferred to financial services authorities? The eleven chapters making up the second part of the book take a more practical look at the same issues in ten EU countries. Most of the authors of these case studies are members of the financial services authorities concerned and can therefore speak with direct authority and in the light of experience. The first chapter of the third part of the book explains how these supervisory bodies are linked up in the country in question and also at European level. Nina Moss, international coordinator of the Kredittilsynet in Norway, explains the highly complicated structure and procedures of European cooperation and coordination bodies and the problems arising from the ever increasing number of changing acronyms that have to be learned by heart. The principal topic of the three articles in the final part of the book is how regulation and supervision interacts at EU or federal level and national level.
(NDu)
*** MARKUS ELLER, PETER HAISS, KATHARINA STEINER: Foreign Direct Investment in the Financial Sector: The Engine of Growth for Central and Eastern Europe. Europainstitut, Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien (39-45 Althanstrasse, A-1090 Vienna. Tel: (43-1) 31336 - 4135 - Fax: 31336 - 758 - E-mail: europafragen@wu-wien.ac.at - Internet: http: //fgr.wu-wien.ac.at/institut/ef/home01en.html). "EI Working Papers", No. 69. 2005, 46 pp, €7-20.
Foreign direct investment (fdi) is seen as one of the best ways of ensuring sustained economic growth in the least developed parts of the world. The rising levels of fdi in the financial industries of less developped countries tend to corroborate this point of view. Countries in central and Eastern Europe, where capital investment is rare, productivity is low and banks are inefficient, believe the same thing - seeing fdi as a key part of the solution to their economic woes. This book examines the impact of fdi in eleven central and East European countries from 1996 to 2003. It aims to provide empirical information about fdi in the financial sector of each of the studied countries and to establish a new model of the relation between foreign banks and economic development as part of a structural and econometric model combining two trends in economic research, namely growth due to fdi and growth due to finance.
(NDu)
*** STEFAN VOGENAUER, STEPHEN WEATHERILL (Eds.): The Harmonisation of European Contract Law. Implications for European Private Laws, Business and Legal Practice. Hart Publishing (Salter's Boatyard, Folly Bridge, Abingdon Rd, Oxford, OX1 4LB, UK. Tel: (44-1865) 245533 - Fax: 794882 - E-mail: mail@hartpub.co.uk - Internet: http//: http://www.hartpub.co.uk ). "Studies of the Oxford Institute of European and Comparative Law", No. 1. 2006, 259 pp. ISBN 1-84113-591-7.
In the introduction, Stefan Vogenauer likens EU contract law to a phantom. He writes that there was a degree of unity in Europe in contract law from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries, but the emergence of national codes of law led to segmentation in contract law, although there has been a slight emergence of harmonisation in recent years. But can EU contract law actually be pinned down? And is there any need for it anyway? To set the backdrop, the book starts by assessing the current situation and outlines the arguments for and against greater harmonisation of contract law. This shows, for example, that countries' laws tend to be unsuitable for covering growing international business and often conflict with burgeoning EU law. The authors go on to study how the UK, Germany and the Netherlands deal with the problem of conflicting legal systems. Germany and the Netherlands recently rehashed their non-criminal laws (the Netherlands began the process in 1947 and more or less concluded it in 1999!), which can provide useful information about the challenges harmonisation might face. The editors also explain the attitude of business with, for example, the results of a survey by consultants Clifford Chance of companies with cross-border business. The book also covers other aspects, like the use of standardised wording in contracts, or whether the European Commission has any legitimacy to intervene in such matters. It raises the question of how the power of countries intermeshes with the power of the European Commission, and the balance to be struck between centralisation and uniformity in the EU on the one hand, and tolerance of diversity and respect for local autonomy on the other.
(FRo)
*** DANYEL REICHE (Ed.): Handbook of Renewable Energies in the European Union. Case studies of the EU-15 States. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen, Switzerland. Fax: (41-32) 3761727 - Internet: http://www.peterlang.de ). 2005, 330 pp. ISBN 3-631-53560-0.
All you need to know about how the old Member States are approaching renewable energy can be found in this updated handbook, first published four years ago (previous editions updated it to cover the ten new EU Member States in the same way as the old). The editor is a researcher at a university in Berlin. Danyel Reiche has commissioned fifteen detailed case studies, describing and explaining change on the renewable energy front and assessing the feasibility of projects currently being carried out or planned for the future. Each chapter is structured in the same way, making it easier to compare and contrast. They start with the definition of renewables used in the country in question, a description of energy policy and the main players, and information about how renewable energy is promoted, barriers to it and criteria for success. The cherry on the cake is a series of practical information, websites, the addresses of relevant associations and journals…
(LD)
*** ANDRE SCHNEIDER: L'après-pétrole en Europe. Délégation pour l'Union européenne de l'Assemblée nationale (Boutique de l'Assemblée nationale, 4 rue Aristide Briand, F-75007 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40636121 - Internet: http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr ). "Les rapports d'information de l'Assemblée nationale" series, No. 2839. 2006, 101 pp, €5. ISBN 2-11-119922-2.
Why is it absolutely necessary to boost energy efficiency? Is the EU better placed to implement energy efficiency measures than the Member States? How to make the best choice? These three questions serve as the backbone to this newsletter, written as the French national assembly's contribution to the European Commission's Green Paper ahead of drafting a new energy efficiency action programme in the EU. It goes without saying that with the price of a barrel of oil going through the roof and the gradual using up of all the world's hydrocarbons, not to mention the greenhouse effect and the subsequent disasters due to climate change, one cannot continue to hide one's head in the sand. The great merit of this book is that André Schneider has managed to describe the main challenges in a very reader-friendly manner.
(PBo)