*** CHRISTOPHE BEDIER, MARWAN LAHOUD, CHRISTOPHE KAISER (Eds.): Sécurité intérieure/Sécurité extérieure: la défense à la recherche de nouveaux repères. Editions Publisud (15 rue des Cinq-Diamants, F-75013 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 45807850 - Fax: 45899415 - e-mail: publisud.editions@cegetel.net). "Prospective Stratégique" series. 2006, 270 pp. ISBN 2-86600-927-4.
Does the unpredictability of the threats (of terrorism for the most part) that hang over Europe these days mean that the EU's defence policy should be completely rehashed? There is not the shadow of a doubt about the answer to this question, as far as the authors of this book are concerned. They are all French nationals who believe that our deceptive age calls for increased vigilance and a meshing of security and defence combining more civilian aspects and more 'Europe', as Edwige Avice explains in the introduction. In this connection, they look at questions like how French ideas about defence and security should be adapted, the challenges of domestic security, and the fundamental criteria for a credible defence policy, namely the need to consider security as a whole, the need to define a model of the military in step with geostrategic issues, and consolidating defence industries at EU level.
Despite the promising line of attack, the book soon leaves readers rather unsatisfied, or at least in doubt. When outlining good reasons why the basic shape of a future defence policy should be drawn up by France in common with a small group of friendly countries rather than by France on its own, was it really necessary for Christophe Bédier to feel he had to set the limits of European Union geography in stone and refuse to move in the direction of simple, open political integration in the EU, the geographical limits of which are not very important? At the very least, this question merits proper treatment and not just a handful of lines. Argued differently but no less problematically is the essay by Henri Burgelin with the blunt title: "Is the current EU defence policy an illusion?" Burgelin also believes that there is a gaping contradiction between claiming to set up an EU defence policy while continuing a policy of EU enlargement. But he immediately comments that everything suggests that the choice of many Europeans, and of the US (which is far from indifferent to the outcome of this affair) was made a long time ago - they want a Europe without frontiers and without its own defence system, a short-lived tool of a new, bigger, new world order, and they would prefer this to a Europe which controls its own destiny through strong federal structures. From here, Henri Burgelin spends his time demonstrating that Europeans continue to not want EU defence while continuing to state their plans to have EU defence, describing the common defence policy promised in the Constitution as no more than another style clause for countries carrying out different defence policies which have no intention of changing them in the name of European unity. The author argues that even the 'success' of the founder meeting between France and the UK in Saint Malo in 1998 smacked of formulas and appearances because there is little cause to believe that Paris seriously questioned its plans to boost the EU's autonomy with regard to the United States, or that London has given up its plans to get the EU to share more of the United States' ideas about security and defence. Why is the EU so deeply divided over this? Perhaps because some companies expect above all that the EU will help them gain access to a community which if not universal, is at least Western, while other companies are more concerned that their identity will be dissolved in a global conglomerate and the European Union framework is more likely to allow them to have influence in the world without the danger of drowning in it. Will it be possible to find a compromise between these aspirations in order to allow the birth of a Defence Europe that is more than an enchanting trap? Going by the critical and desolate analysis of Henri Burgelin, it would be best not to bank on it. The bitter souvenir of the European Defence Community should lead one not to set too much store by the possibility of finding a solution from above with the most voluntaristic countries, he adds, going as far as predicting that a defence Europe will only come into being if there were a serious, immediate threat forcing European companies to radically change their attitude. No reason to have any illusions, basically, because this battle is nowhere near being won. All the same, optimists and voluntarists will take heart by remembering that in the past, some scoffed at the very idea that so many European countries could ever have a viable single currency…
Michel Theys
*** FLORINA-LAURA NECULAI: What Would a Federal Europe Look Like? An Envisioning Exercise for the Young Generation. Livre à compte d'auteur (105 rue Keyenveld, B-1050 Brussels. E-mail: bookonfederalism@yahoo.com - Internet: http://www.federaleurope.org ). 2005, 96 pp.
Aimed predominantly at young people, this little book by a young doctoral student in politics who is a member of the Union of European Federalists (which guided her during the time she was supported by the European Commission's youth programme) aims to describe what a federal European Union might look like. To this end, Florina-Laura Neculai chose a highly original route. She presents her ideas in the form of three fictional interviews with equally fictional figures (for the moment at least), the President of the Union, a woman prime minister and a foreign affairs minister. The booklet describes the fundamentals and guiding principles of federalist ideas and launches reflection on what a federally integrated European Union might look like. The English version of the book is available at conferences and can be downloaded (along with other translations) from http://www.federaleurope.org.
(FRo)
*** Guide des politiques communes de l'Union européenne. La Documentation française (29-31 quai Voltaire, F-75007 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40157156 - Fax: 40156991 - Internet: http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr ). "Réflexe Europe" series, No. 15. 2006, 167 pp, €10. ISBN 2-11-006133-2.
The books in this series are generally aimed at officials concerned with EU legislation in their daily work and other people who need to know how the European Union functions. This particular volume, however, is aimed at citizens in general. The EU cooperation section of the French foreign affairs ministry has learned lessons from the French no vote in the referendum on the Constitution and wants to give citizens the chance to get a better idea of what the EU has actually achieved. To this end, this guide describes all the policies of the EU, ranging from the single market to budget resources via the euro, sustainable development, and the area of freedom, security and justice, for example. Each topic is first introduced with a short history. For consumer protection, for instance, the guide briefly explains how this issue, which was not an EU power at the start, became an EU issue with the Maastricht Treaty and the creation of DG Health and Consumer Protection at the European Commission, and is now at the heart of one of the Commission's strategic objectives, namely helping ensure a better quality of life for all. The guide then describes the current situation and describes future challenges. A very useful initiative without the slightest doubt!
(FRo)
*** CHRYSTELLE NOURRY: Le couple franco-allemand: un symbole européen. Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5129842 - Fax: 5119477 - Internet: http://www.bruylantr.be ). 2005, 232 pp, €30. ISBN 2-8027-2138-0.
The author, who has a doctorate in politics, based her thesis, published in this book, on two ideas, namely that the European Union needs a founding myth to consolidate its values; and Franco-German cooperation gave rise to the motor duo of the EU, which can be an accessible and mobilising symbol for citizens of the EU. Does the second idea still hold true in a European Union enlarged to twenty-five Member States? It remains to be seen! Nevertheless, Chrystelle Nourry decided to take a scientific look at Franco-German cooperation, describing it as a show putting the EU on stage. In her approach, she looks back over the process of creating beliefs and images applied to relations between France and Germany and which in the end, she argues, project significance onto the European project. Divided into three parts, the book develops conceptual approaches to the EU in order to discern bilateral practices before examining how they are put on stage (with the complicity of the media) during summits. Not a book to satisfy or illuminate anyone of a decidedly non-scientific bent!
(MT)
*** CAROLYN M. DUDEK: EU Accession and Spanish Regional Development. Winners and Losers. Editions Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes - Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.net ). "Regionalism & Federalism" series, No. 4. 2005, 202 pp. ISBN 90-5201-237-7.
Spain joining the European Community was seen as the best way of consolidating its unfolding democracy and ensuring sustainable economic development throughout the entire country. Twenty years on, all pundits agree that the promises have been met and the Spanish road has led to success. Economic gaps between regions live on, however, despite aid from the EU Structural Fund and the EU Cohesion Fund. According to Carolyn Dudek, deputy professor in politics at Hofstra University, these gaps are due to the continuation of vote-catching practices inherited from the previous political system, along with EU policies that do not always take account of the specific nature of the regions in question. To illustrate this, Carolyn Dudek looks at the regions of Valencia and Galicia. The region of Valencia has the same political bent as the central government (thereby facilitating the granting of EU funds) and industries which do not compete directly with other EU countries, allowing it to reach a considerably high level of economic development. Galicia on the other hand, has a government which does not see eye-to-eye with the national government, and has had to abide by EU production quotas for its biggest industries (imposed on request from older EU Member States in order to protect their own industries when Spain joined the club), which had the effect of strangling Galicia's economy and turning it into one of the great losers of Spain in Europe. The author points out that there are similarities between Spain when it joined the EU and more recent new Member States, for example new democracies, weak economies where agriculture predominates, not to mention corruption. All this, and the standards are set higher for the new Member States than they were for Spain when it joined. The author argues that the Spanish, Greek and Portuguese cases are brimming with lessons for the latest new Member States, which would help the new states avoid the errors of their predecessors.
(NDu)
*** JAMES BARNETT (Ed.): A Theology for Europe. The Churches and the European Institutions. Peter Lang (32 Hochfeldstrasse, Postfach 746, CH-3000 Bern). E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Religions and Discourse" series, No. 28. 2005, 294 pp. ISBN 3-03910-505-1.
When the constitutional treaty was being drawn up, there was a lot of talk of the role of religion and Churches in the European Union. Although it did not mention Christian heritage in the preamble in the end, Christian churches in general have long been in dialogue with the European institutions. The editor of the book, James Barnett, is an Anglican clergyman. He taught religious education at Uppingham, Oxford et Truro, and represented the Archbishop of Canterbury at the Inter-European Commission on Church and School at the Council of Europe. The authors come from the four corners of Europe. Some are religious while others are secular (some are militantly secular). There are two categories of essay, those looking at relations and dialogue between Churches and the European institutions (in the broad sense, including the EU and the Council of Europe), and those discussing theological issues.
(FRo)
*** PIERRE LUNEL: L'abbé Pierre, une vie. Editions No. 1 (31 rue de Fleuris, F-75006 Paris. Internet: http://www.editions1.com ). 2006, 306 pp, €20. ISBN 2-86391-846-X.
Active opponent of all human forms of human misery and the founder of Emmaüs, 'Abbé Pierre' is France's best-known priest. Essayist and novelist Pierre Lunel, President of Vincennes-Saint Denis Paris VIII University, has written a biography of Abbé Pierre based on unprinted work like his diaries and nearly twenty years of meetings and conversations.
(PBo)
*** Revue d'Allemagne et des pays de langue allemande. Société d'Etudes Allemandes (CNRS, Bâtiment 40, 23 rue du Loess, BP 20, F-67037 Strasbourg. Tel: (33-3)88107316 - Fax: 88106482 - e-mail: christiane.weeda@misha.u-strasbg.fr). Jan-March 2006, No. 38/1, 154 pp. Annual subscription: €52 (France), €56 (elsewhere).
The most recent issue of Revue d'Allemagne opens with an article analysing the outcome of the recent general elections in Germany, with Pierre Koenig writing about managing a political crisis. Other essays look at the economic challenges facing Germany and Austria's 'EU destiny'.