*** GENEVIÈVE VINEY, BERNARD DUBUISSON (Eds.): Les responsabilités environnementales dans l'espace européen. Point de vue franco-belge. 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 ). "Bibliothèque de la faculté de droit de l'Université catholique de Louvain" series, No. 45. 2006, 910 pp, €125. ISBN 2-8027-2139-9.
Environmental responsibility in the European area has been growing in importance and relevance for several years now. As Prof. Philippe Brun (of the University of Savoie in France) explains at the start: "the scale and the seriousness of the damage that human activity is capable of causing to the natural environment is so very clear today, along with the considerable potential repair costs". The issue is far more complex than might appear at first sight. As the same writer adds, it is logical for solutions to be sought at EU rather than strictly national level, so legal policies tend to be determined by economic considerations, making it just as logical for this book to take the same supranational approach. It is part of a programme of some fifteen years of collaboration between the 'Centre de droit des obligations' at the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium and the 'Centre de recherches en droit privé' at Paris I University. This cooperation usually focuses on contract law, but this time both research centres studied environmental liability because the issue was well up on the EU agenda (a directive was adopted in April 2004). From 2003 to 2005, each university designated a team of ten researchers to work with other European legal experts - the French team was headed by the director of the Centre, Geneviève Viney, and the Belgian team by the director of the Belgian centre, Bernard Dubuisson.
This is an ambitious undertaking because there is a constellation of sparse rules and a profusion of legal tools which can be used in the field of environmental liability and preventing damage to the environment. This profusion certainly does not promote efficiency or comprehensive coverage either. It is no accident that the title of the book mentions environmental responsibilities in the plural because they are evolving and range between civil liability applied to the environment and more specific responsibility for the environment. The book alternates between French and Belgian reports, aiming to unveil the nature of environmental responsibility and how it is formed from the substratum of civil liability. The authors start by setting out the foundations of environmental responsibility, where areas of civil liability are useful but not sufficient, before addressing the question of cause - not always easy to demonstrate - and explaining the notion of ecological damage and repairing ecological damage, often difficult to assess in terms of finance given the nature of the beast. It then looks at measures of collective interest and specific laws in the domain, for example, of nuclear waste and marine pollution (legislation which usually has theoretical foundations and focuses liability on operators). The next essays look at insurance and other compensation funds, which can be years in advance of legislation. Since the damage caused by pollution has the characteristic of not respecting borders, as Bernard Dubuisson explains, the book also looks at aspects of international private law and EU Directive 2004/35/EC, the culmination of work by authorities which have studied the consequences of damage more than national and international legislators. The directive makes progress in terms of prevention, but seems wholly characterised by a meshing (of confusion?) of the legal logic of liability and the economic logic of imputing environmental costs, explains Philippe Brun. The directive actually manages to outstrip some of the limits of civil liability, but may not be so successful in reconciling the disparity between the various rules in force.
The book is written by experts in civil law, EU law and economic analysis of law. Each discipline fills gaps left by others, like when Bernard Dubuisson explains that whatever its merits, economic analysis of law is still open to criticism on one point - by justifying and basing rules of law on economic calculations, it tends to overshadow the underlying moral values. Since the legal field is not hermetically sealed, reflection on the foundations of environmental liability is affected by dominant economic ideas and, to paraphrase Xavier Thunis, the crucial question is to find criteria for allocating liability and loss which are ethically fair, economically effective and socially acceptable. This complexity leads Bernard Dubuisson to observe that more than ever these days, environmental law is becoming the domain of specialists and environmental liability does not escape from this rule.
Frederik Ronse
*** KEVIN MARECHAL, VERONIQUE CHOQUETTE: La lutte contre les changements climatiques. Des engagements internationaux aux politiques régionales. Centre de recherche et d'information socio-politiques (Crisp, 1A place Quetelet, B-1210 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2110180 - Fax: 2197934 - Internet: http://www.crisp.be ). "Courrier hebdomadaire" series, No. 1915. 2006, 46 pp. €6-90.
Following the 1992 Earth Summit and the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, combatting climate change has become a priority for all industrialised countries. Belgium is no exception and the European carbon trading system (for trading emissions quotas) laid down targets in 2005 for cutting greenhouse gas emissions. New policies have been set out, adapted to the economic and institutional nature of the country, at both regional and federal level. The authors of this Crisp weekly newsletter analyse the development of these Belgian policies in the light of the economic, geopolitical and institutional factors underlying the negotiations. After describing the political, scientific and economic background to these policies, the authors explain how power is shared among federal levels and the regions, and the National Quota Allocation Plan. They then explain how the process of deciding upon climate policy in Belgium does not only depend on Belgium-specific issues, but also relies on traditional modes of economic thought, thereby demonstrating the importance of connections between researchers and decision-makers. The fourth part of the book explains the challenges for Belgium in the upcoming negotiations on climate policy beyond 2012. (NDu)
*** MARIE-LUCE DELFOSSE, CATHERINE BERT: Bioéthique, droits de l'homme et biodroit. Recueil de textes annotés internationaux, régionaux, belges et français. Editions Larcier (39 rue des Minimes, B-1000 Brussels. Internet: http://www.larcier.com ). 2005, 555 pp. ISBN 2-8044-1715-8.
This impressive collection of annotated and coordinated essays covers international law (with both universal and regional scope) and French and Belgian laws on the connection between human rights and bioethics. Does the sheer scale of writing in this connection demonstrate the new character of this connection? On the contrary, right from the preface, Dr. Englert, former President of Belgium's 'Comité consultatif de bioéthique', is at pains to stress that there is nothing new under the sun. While Hippocrates thought it was good to ban euthanasia (saying he would never give anyone poison if they requested it and would never suggest any such thing), it's because people were already carrying out euthanasia back in those days, he explains. A useful reminder which also leads one to realise that there is rarely anything new about questions in this field either but each epoch and culture approaches them with the tools available in that time. The authors are both lecturers at the University of Notre-Dame de la Paix in Namur (Belgium), and they have usefully collected together the legal texts from a specific time and place, contemporary European civilisation, but have also, more importantly, compared and contrasted them with other cultures and other continents (America, Africa and the Arab and Muslim world). For each subject, they have provided official legislation and bioethical documentation in the form of complementary texts and documents and bibliographical references. As Prof. Englert explains, this helps us gain greater understanding of the need for a cross-disciplinary approach for such subjects, and the reflection that has gone into producing the texts covered in the book. The first section looks at 'general legislation' setting out significant human rights for bioethical issues, while the second section looks at how human rights affect the condition of patients. Six specific issues are then studied - the use of parts of the human body and products made from the human body, experiments on human beings, research into human cloning and embryos, treatments for sterility, genetic information and tests, palliative care and euthanasia. This reference book will be of interest to the general public as well as experts in the field. (MT)
*** FERNANDA RODRIGUES, TICU CONSTANTIN, AUDY VAN DEN HOVEN, MARIA HELENA NUNES: European Perspectives on Poverty and Poor People. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.de ). "European Social Inclusion - Sozialgemeinschaft Europa" series, No. 14. 2005, 220 pp. ISBN 3-631-51471-9.
According to the definition used by the Council in 1984, poverty is the situation of people, families and groups whose social, cultural and economic resources are so restricted that they are excluded from living a life considered acceptable by society. This type of poverty is well and truly present in Europe. This book, by a team of Portuguese and Romanian lecturers and researchers, is part of the European Masters study programme entitled "European Perspectives on Social Inclusion". Following a brief description of the tools used in the study, it describes poverty as a multi-dimensional social problem, and goes on to set out the factors underlying social injustice, which takes the form of growing social inequality against the backdrop of globalisation. Inequality which has to be combatted as a 'civil imperative' and which has become an ethical question, explain the authors. The book then describes how the theories of social intervention have evolved, from their origins to the current influences of neo-liberalism via the welfare state. The last two chapters give a more detailed picture of poverty in the EU and the measures set up to deal with it, along with future trends. Aimed at students on the European Masters programme in social and educational issues, the book describes and comments upon the different theoretical perspectives on the subject and develops a critical overview of current poverty reduction policies. The book is bilingual, English and Portuguese. (FRo)
*** KLAUS SIEVEKING: ECJ Rulings on Health Care Services and Their Effects on the Freedom of Cross-Border Patient Mobility in the EU. Zentrum für Europäische Rechtspolitik an der Universität Bremen (Universitätsallee, GW 1, 28359, Bremen). "ZERP-Diskussionspapier" series, No. 3. 2006, 29 pp, €8
The free circulation of individuals in Europe and the connected social security and healthcare issues have led the European Commission to unveil a new strategy to facilitate access to healthcare in other countries. Rulings of the European Court of Justice have given new social security rights to migrant workers and have had a considerable impact on national governments, insurance and healthcare professions. In this book, Klaus Sieveking identifies the changes made by Court of Justice case law in terms of European citizens and how these changes have been implemented at national level, focussing on Germany in particular. After describing the general landscape, the author outlines legal measures ensuring the freedom of circulation of individuals in Europe, before reviewing the healthcare system in various countries and the principle of solidarity that prevails in the EU. The third part of the book identifies problems arising from the principle of territoriality and more particularly problems related to the non-existence of borders (in theory). The fourth part examines various rulings of the European Court of Justice. The author ends by commenting on the impact this new case law will have and the future perspectives for the European Commission in this connection. (NDu)
*** ANGELIKA BUCERIUS: Die Rentensysteme in Polen und Ungarn. Peter Lang (see above). "Europäische Hochschulschriften - Publications Universitaires Européennes - European University Studies" series, No. 3118. 2005, 468 pp. ISBN 3-631-52876-0.
One of the biggest challenges facing the 25 EU Member States is how to fund their pension systems. Taking the example of Poland and Hungary, this study analyses how countries of central and Eastern Europe have attempted to overcome the problem through a sharp drop in standards of living, while recognising the demands imposed by joining the European Union. It also takes a more general look at how pension provision can be adapted. Both countries opted for partial privatisation of the state pension systems at the end of the 1990's. The author analyses the background and impact of these reform strategies to determine whether Poland and Hungary's pension systems will be able to meet current and future challenges. (CDi)
*** Gérer & Comprendre. Editions ESKA (12 rue du Quatre-Septembre, F-75002 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 42865573 - Fax: 42604535 - E-mail: eska@eska.fr - Internet: http: //http://www.eska.fr ). "Annales des Mines" series, No. 85. 2006, 84 pp, €23. Annual subscription: €89. ISBN 274721109-6.
The issues covered in this issue include the sidelining of staff and Renaud Logan's success story. (FRoCC)