*** SUSANNE MUNDSCHENK, MICHAEL H.STIERLE, ULRIKE STIERLE-VON SCHÜTZ, LULIA TRAISTARU (Eds.): Competitiveness and Growth in Europe. Lessons and Policy Implications for the Lisbon Strategy. Edward Elgar Publishing (Glensanda House, Montpellier 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 ). "INFER Advances in Economic Research". 2006, 261 pp.. ISBN 1-84542-662-2.
Competitiveness and growth in Europe have almost become an obsession for European decision-makers, who recently established what was to go on to become one of the EU's main flagship enterprises, namely the Lisbon Strategy, with the aim of promoting competitiveness and growth. Drafted at a time of optimism in Europe with growth looking like it was about to pick up and recently established Monetary Union hinting at better economic integration, the Lisbon Strategy gave itself the task of turning the European Union into the most competitive knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. It was expected to fill the gap between the United States and the EU, whose GDP per inhabitant had been stagnating at around 70% of the United States' GDP per inhabitant since the beginning of the 1970s. The ultimate aim was to increase standards of living in the EU through sustainable growth. The Lisbon Strategy was supposed to make progress in three areas at once, namely economic growth, social cohesion and environmentally sustainable development. The mid-term review of progress was particularly disappointing. As Adriaan Dierx and Fabienne Ilzkovitz point out in their essay on the pertinence of the Lisbon Strategy in terms of breathing life into the EU economy, 'It has been impossible for the European Union to make simultaneous progress in raising productivity and employment.' They explain that worse than that, it will be difficult to make progress in terms of economic growth, social cohesion and respect for the environment without focussing on one of the three aspects to the detriment of the others. They add: 'The launch of the Lisbon Strategy was mainly a political achievements, without prior academic involvement or a coherent economic underpinning'.
This book aims to contribute to the debate, provide a coherent structure for the Lisbon Strategy and see how Member States, which have responsibility for putting it into practice, can act to speed up the convergence process of the less developped Member States, increase productivity through better functioning of the markets, and (another modern mantra) fostering innovation and the marketing of innovation. The editors explain that 'recent growth theories suggest that government policies may play a role in fostering efficiency and growth,' but it is also true that 'government failure in design and implementation of growth enhancing policies might prove to be counterproductive given insufficient information, thus compounding existing market failures'. Which makes it all the more important to understand the ins and outs of the Lisbon Strategy that the Member States are supposed to put into practice.
The first part of the book looks at the general challenges facing the European Union when it comes to competitiveness and growth. The authors go on to determine the consequences of the Lisbon Strategy and the main challenges facing it. For example, two European Commission officials, Adriaan Dierx and Fabienne Ilzkovitz, outline the basic features of the Lisbon Strategy and explain why an overarching structural reform strategy is needed. They also assess progress to date and call for a slimming down in the number of aims being pursued in order to focus effort on economic growth. Other essays in this section of the book look at the information and innovation section of the Lisbon Strategy, comparing different countries' experiences. The third part of the book, 'Research Lessons and Policy Implications for the Lisbon Strategy', considers the accuracy of comparisons between the European Union and the United States. It looks at how the institutions impact on employment levels, makes the case for greater flexibility on the labour market and takes a close look at the role of innovation, R&D and education, with the arguments backed up by a wealth of statistics and diagrams, with some essays being commented upon by other authors. This is a very comprehensive study. As the book explains, 'The Lisbon Strategy is more than a series of market reforms that are limited to the economic domain. Rather, the Lisbon agenda foresees structural reforms in the economic, social and environmental policy domains'. Frederik Ronse
*** RALF MICHAELS: EU Law as Private International Law? Re-conceptualising the Country-of-Origin Principle as Vested Rights Theory. Zentrum für Europäische Rechtspolitik (ZEP an der Universität Bremen, Universitätsallee, GW 1, 28359-Bremen). "Diskussionspapier" series, No. 5. 2006, 51 pp, €8.
As the author points out at the start of the booklet, lawyers specialising in international private law and lawyers specializing in EU law, have worked for a long time in glorious isolation from one another. This mutual ignorance is less and less sustainable these days given the growing intrusion of EU law on international private law. The principle of the 'country of origin', which has led to such raising of drawbridges and had an impact in the French and Dutch 'no' votes, for example, is encroaching on international private law, for which it constitutes a challenge. The principle of the country of origin is similar in many ways to another theory, often shot down in flames, the vested rights theory. The authors feels that comparing and contrasting the two theories and criticism of them will enable readers to learn more about both theories and thereby about European international private law. The booklet starts by explaining the similarities between the two theories and then goes on to explain why, despite the similarities, the criticisms levelled against the vested rights theory hold little water with regard to the principle of the country of origin. The author concludes by explaining how tension between the two types of law is useful for formulating EU international private law. (FRo)
*** STEEF M. BARTMAN (Ed.): European Company Law in Accelerated Progress. Kluwer Law International (P.O. Box 316, NL-2400 AH Alphen aan den Rijn. E-mail: sales@kluwerlaw.com - Internet: http://www.kluwerlaw.com ). "European Company Law" series, No. 1. 2006, 174 pp. ISBN 90-411-2529-9.
There is no doubt in Steef Bartman's mind that the European Union's economic integration will continue even faster, bringing with it greater need for harmonisation of company law, particularly in terms of the rights of shareholders, cross-border voting at AGMs, enterprise governance and restructuring. As an introduction, the author dissects the EU merger and acquisition directive, which after nearly two decades of prevaricating may well prove the best option for upwards harmonisation of takeover bids in the EU. Beate Sjåfjell also studies the merger directive, examining it in greater detail from the viewpoint of shareholders. But the book also covers other aspects of EU company law, from a general standpoint, looking at the origins and future prospects of enterprise governance codes, the role of the Commission in harmonising legislation and competition between Member States' legislations; and covering more specific areas like managing conflicts of interest in EU legislation, reform of EU law to adapt to European law, and the way the legal format of European companies (Societas Europea) impacts on companies in the financial sector. The book is the first in a series of practical guides for practitioners, ensuring the subject under discussion does not degenerate into a theoretical exercise lacking in tangible utility. (FRo)
*** FRANCOIS COUTURIER: L'avenir sans complexe. La France face à la rupture de son modèle économique. Editions Publisud (15 rue des Cinq-Diamants, F-75013 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 45807850 - Fax: 45899415 - E-mail: publisud.editions@cegetel.net - Internet: http://www.publisud.fr ). "Prospective stratégique" series. 2006, 165 pp. ISBN 2-86600-939-8.
Management guru François Couturier starts off by explaining that European industry in general and French industry in particular are 'restricted by globalisation' because Member States are like aging empires, living off interest payments, with more and more of their revenue coming from wealth produced in foreign climes. Against this backdrop, the book invites readers to re-think the aims and objectives of French society (and European society) when faced with the challenges of globalisation, calling for consideration of the relevance of current labour market legislation and foreign investment policy. Another view of the matter. (MT)
*** NADIA CHEBEL-HORSTMANN: La régulation du marché de l'électricité. Concurrence et accès aux réseaux. L'Harmattan (5-7 rue de l'École-Polytechnique, F-75005 Paris. E-mail: harmattan1@wanadoo.fr - Internet: http://www.librairieharmattan.com ). "Logiques juridiques" series. 2006, 501 pp, €40. ISBN 2-296-00984-0.
For a very long time, the generation, transport and distribution of electricity was in the hands of national monopolies, until EU Directive 96/92 on liberalisation of the electricity market threw the cat amongst the pigeons. Alongside questions of energy independence and national sovereignty, liberalisation of the electricity market raises a number of issues and problems. A 'network' industry par excellence, the transport and distribution of electricity are areas of huge concern because both rely on infrastructure whose duplication by competitors is economically unviable. The book opens with the comment that where EU bodies aimed to establish an electricity market, national authorities wanted to update a service provided to the public (a public utility). Given this lack of coherence among EU priorities and Member States' priorities, Nadia Chebel-Horstmann explains in great detail how electricity transport and distribution in France have gradually been restructured - between desire to introduce competition and the notion of public service - to allow new competitors onto the market. She also explains how the new competition operates and how it is monitored. The book is derived from a thesis on the legal system governing access to electricity networks in France, presented by Nadia Chebel-Horstmann at Panthéon-Assas Paris 2 University and also at Leiden University in the Netherlands. 'France' may have disappeared from the title, but the book remains focussed on France nonetheless. It is a useful reference book all the same for readers interested in the details of how the EU opened up the electricity industry to competition. As the author explains, the anomaly and specific nature of the electricity business means that it requires the coexistence of monopoly activities and competition. (FRo)
*** ROLAND BIEBER, FRANCESCO MAIANI, MARIE DELALOYE: Droit européen des transports. Helbing & Lichtenhahn (8 Elisabethenstrasse, CH-4051 Basel. Tel: (+41-61) 2289070 - Fax: 2289071 - E-mail: info@helbing.ch - Internet: http://www.helbing.ch ). "Dossier de droit européen" series. 2006, 413 pp. ISBN 3-7190-2197-1.
Mobility has always been an important factor in human development, and these days, efficient means of transport are more essential than ever. The transport industry is not only vital for the functioning of other areas of the economy but is also a big industry in itself, contributing nearly 10% to GDP in industrialised countries. It also has a huge impact on the environment, however. The European Union has included transport in EU policies ever since the Treaty of Rome and the original objectives (integration and liberalisation of the market) have been supplemented these days with considerations of security issues, environmental protection and social and economic cohesion. Over the years, transport in the EU has become more intense but progress used to be 'desperately slow' in the words of the European Commission (quoted by the authors). This book admirably fulfils its task in a comprehensive, reader-friendly manner, clearly describing European transport law, so vital yet generally so little understood. To this end, the book is divided into two sections. The first deals with the legal framework (general EU legislation affecting transport and specific transport laws) and the broad outlines of EU transport policy. The second part looks more specifically at different modes of transport (the EU driving licence, for example, along with haulage tax, river cabotage, technical standards for oil tankers, air traffic control, etc), and the fostering of combined modes of transport (road and train, road and waterways etc) and the EU transport infrastructure policy. There is a chapter on bilateral transport agreements with Switzerland, a country whose geographical proximity to the EU gives it special weight in the EU transport system.
(MEr)
*** ANDRE PRUM, YVES POULLET, ETIENNE MONTERO (Eds.): Le commerce électronique en droit luxembourgeois. Commentaire de la loi (modifiée) du 14 août 2000 relative au commerce électronique. De Boeck & Larcier (39 rue des Minimes, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-10) 482619 - Fax: 482750 - Internet: http://www.larcier.com ). 2005, 694 pp, €125. ISBN 2-8044-1955-X.
Detailed research by the 'Laboratoire de Droit Economique', describing Luxembourg's e-commerce legal system in detail, comparing and contrasting it with EU law and the legislation in other European countries. (PBo)