*** CHRISTIAN FRANCK, SANDRA BOLDRINI (Eds.): Annales d'études européennes de l'Université catholique de Louvain 2005-2006. 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 ). "Annales d'études européennes de l'Université catholique de Louvain" series, No. 8. 2006, 304 pp.
ISBN 2-8027-2326-X.
The research in this eighth volume of the 'Annales d'études européennes' published by the European Studies Institute of 'Université catholique de Louvain' (UCL) in Belgium looks at two main themes, the dynamics of political union, legitimacy and identity in the context of the European constitution on the one hand; and Economic Union as it has been constructed in recent months through areas of current events on the other. No less than sixteen very dense academic essays, too dense to be described in brief without running of the risk of betraying the spirit of the research and playing down its utility. For this reason, it is better for a journalist to respect intellectual honesty and simply point out areas of interest to readers …
The economic section of the book opens with analysis of the textile issue, which has been poisoning relations between the EU and China for several months. Hylke Vandenbussche of UCL asks whether the transition period negotiated by Commissioner Mandelson will slow down the inevitable restructuring of EU textile and clothing industry. Frédéric Docquier and Philippe Monfort (UCL) study the EU's new development policy unveiled by the European Commission last year, highlighting the crucial role to be played by education in this connection, drawing attention to the danger of a brain drain following the fostering of human resources in developing countries. Dimitri Paolini (Università degli Studi di Sassari in Italy) looks at the social and economic impact of liberalising the labour market, characterised by a growth in short term contracts. Mark Vercauteren (Tilburg University) looks at the impact on trade, in the Common Market and beyond, of harmonising technical rules and standards for products through mutual recognition or through harmonisation of specific products.
The 'constitutional' issue dominates this book, quantitatively at least. It is divided into three sections. One is made up of essays on legitimacy and identity. Writing about tensions surrounding the definition of democratic legitimacy for the European Union, Prof. Françoise Massart-Pierard (UCL) demonstrates that the European Parliament has decided to act in coalition rather than competing with national parliaments. He shows that the legitimisation process adds connection between democracy and proximity to the connection between democracy and parliamentary powers, thereby justifying the coming onto the scene of local and regional authorities, particularly the Committee of the Regions. Prof. Sten Berglund (Örebro University, Sweden) analyses attitudes to European integration in the light of support for enlargement and how people feel the EU is performing, observing that the countries still in the process of 'state building' that joined the EU in 2004 are less critical of the EU than consolidated countries like the Untied Kingdom, Denmark, Austria and Finland. In two other essays, Sophie Duchesne (Sciences Politiques in France) and Prof. André-Paul Frognier (UCL) carry out further research into support for the European project by assessing European identity, noting the emergence of a category of citizens they call 'Euro-national-locals' combining various attachments in a positive manner, which is winning ground from 'national-locals' and 'Euro-nationals'. The results of the four referendums on the Constitution are studied in another section. Writing about France, Elisabeth Dupoirier (Director of Studies at the 'Fondation nationale des Sciences politiques' in France) diagnoses a form of isolation caused by the hardening of views in France about the 'culture of negotiation and compromise' upon which the functioning of the European Union is based. In the Netherlands, the rejection of the Constitution is due, argues Audrey Rigo (UCL), to lack of information, loss of sovereignty, the cost of the European Union and opposition to the euro. Gabriel Colomé (Autonomous University of Barcelona) dissects the outcome of the Spanish referendum, while Patrick Dumont and Philippe Poirier (Luxembourg University) confirm that most voters in Luxembourg ended up backing the EU policies of their prime minister, Jean-Claude Juncker.
This 'constitutional' section opens with essays on the constitutional treaty itself. Prof. Christian Franck, President of UCL's European Studies Institute, brilliantly demonstrates that its main significance was its consolidation of the political union dimension that emerged with the Maastricht Treaty following tight diplomacy between France and Germany. Philippe de Schoutheete (Director of European Studies at the 'Institut royal des relations internationales' in Belgium) argues that the compromises and solutions provided by the Constitutional Treaty will prevail in the medium-term, but in the meantime, initiatives must be taken in areas of domestic and foreign security and economic governance. In the same spirit, Prof. Tanguy de Wilde d'Estmael argues that the progress achieved in the CFSP and defence will gradually be put into practice no matter what fate is reserved for the legislation signed in Rome. Last but not least, there is a penetrating essay by Paul Magnette, Director of the European Studies Institute at 'Université libre de Bruxelles' in Belgium, on the feeling of crisis, defending the idea that while it is true that the rejection of the European Union is boosted by problems with working out the nature of the EU, action must be taken in the field of civic awareness and socialisation. A very full programme!
Michel Theys
*** METTE EILSTRUP-SANGIOVANNI (Ed.): Debates on European Integration. A Reader. Palgrave MacMillan (Houndsmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, UK. Tel: (44-1256) 329242 - Fax: 328339 - E-mail: orders@palgrave.com - Internet: http://www.palgrave.com/politics/eu/ ). "The European Union Series". 2006, 291 pp, £22-99. ISBN 1-4039-4104-1.
Publications on the European project are legion and tend to outline fashionable concepts, but as Mette Eilstrup-Sangiovanni comments, "while contemporary scholars make frequent reference to classic studies of integration and incorporate key insights from previous works, past theoretical frameworks are rarely explored in any detail". With the result that these publications, based on acceptance of various theories they quote but do not develop to any great extent, make it difficult for readers to get sufficient understanding of the various dominant movements of thought or real understanding of the roots of the ideas set out. This book does a useful job by describing (without claiming to be exhaustive) major theories in their original form which have given rise to debate about the European project, like Altiero Spinelli's manifesto for a free, united Europe. It also discerns changes in the European institutions and their policies, and the big ideas that have influenced them. The book includes various, sometimes contradictory, theories which arose in different periods and with different visions. It starts by looking at the 'pre-theories' of European integration formulated between the two World Wars by authors wanting to suggest possible ways of integrating, going on to consider modern theories and looking towards the future of European integration studies. Mette Eilstrup-Sangiovanni does not restrict herself, however, to providing readers with individual theories on a plate. She comments upon them, sets them in connection with one another, setting them against the general theoretical backdrop and suggests further reading. The editor also brings other concepts into play, culled from other disciplines, like research into international relations and other social sciences. Since, as she explains, "there are many ways to study the EU", the book will help readers understand European integration approaches - an excellent laboratory and fertile ground for studying integration in general - and will be a very useful reference book for anyone interested in the European project or other integration projects round the world.
(FRo)
*** Manifeste pour une Flandre indépendante dans l'Europe unie. Groupe de réflexion "In de Warande" (1 rue Zinner, B-1000 Brussels). 2006, 252 pp. ISBN 90-8679-013-5.
The 'In de Warande' study group is made up of sixteen Flemish media and business representatives. It has published this Manifesto for an Independent Flanders in United Europe (backed up with arguments) calling for Belgium to be split into two independent countries with Brussels as a 'condominium'. An illustration of sub-national regionalism….
(MT)
*** JEAN-FRANCOIS DREVET: Une Europe en crise ? La Documentation française (29 quai Voltaire, F-75344 Paris Cedex 07 - Tel: (33-1) 40157000 - Internet: http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr ). "Documentation photographique" series, No. 8052. 2006, 63 pp, €10-50.
Graduate of an elite French university and high-ranking academic specialising in geography, Jean-François Drevet provides a very clear, reader-friendly introduction to the various arguments doing the rounds about the European project, from 'machine malfunction' to Europe in the world, via the EU such as it is being constructed in terms of territory and policies. The author argues that a serious relaunch is required in the interests of 'solidarity policies', failing which the European Union will be seized by excess free-market ideology and the cheapest budget.
(PBo)
*** L'Europe en formation. Les cahiers du fédéralisme. Centre international de formation européenne (10 av. des Fleurs, F-06000 Nice. Tel.: (33-4) 93979397 - Fax: 93979398 - E-mail: europe.formation@cife.org - Internet: http: //http://www.cife.org ). 2006, No. 3, 87 pp, €11. Annual subscription: €30.
After studying Altiero Spinelli's battle in the previous issue of 'Europe en formation', Jean-Pierre Gouzi looks in this issue at the federalist intellectual and figurehead Denis de Rougemont on the hundredth anniversary of his birth. A short, dense study which will encourage readers to return to the writing of this committed intellectual, who said at the Federalist Congress in Montreux, France, in 1947, for example, that the constitution of a United States of Europe cannot be the work of national governments and parliaments because these institutions' attitude is only designed to express national political life consisting of deliberately seeking solutions that look integrated supra-nationally but which in reality keep decision-making and implementation powers in the hands of nation states. Food for thought in this period of constitutional confusion… There is also a very interesting essay on the Iranian nuclear issue and another on the 'other Islam' (Shiite as opposed to Sunni Islam).
(MT)
*** Politique étrangère. Institut français des relations internationales (Armand Colin, 5 rue Laromiguière, F-75240 Paris Cedex 05. Tel: (33-1) 40466220 - Fax: 40464993 - E-mail: revue@armand-colin.fr - Internet: http://www.editions-sedes.com ). 2006, No. 3, 230 pp. Annual subscription: €75 (France), €115 (elsewhere). ISBN 2-200-92120-9.
This quarterly publication of the Institute headed by Thierry de Montbrial casts a methodical eye over big international issues in the political, business and security domains. There are two interesting dossiers in this issue on war in Africa and the geopolitics of the internet, along with articles on the emergence of China by Hubert Védrine, former French foreign minister; the Palestinian aid issue; Western globalisation strategies; and the hypothesis of Turkey gradually joining the European Union. There is also an article outlining US views of a very European issue, namely the situation in France following the referendum on the European Constitution, described as 'revealing French leadership and the French political system under threat from a serious crisis of legitimacy'. Professor at the national security research department of the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at National Defense University in Washington, Steven P. Kramer diagnoses France as being seriously ill. He argues that in order to avert the end of French-influenced Europe, France should agree to give up more sovereignty if it wants the EU to achieve the big French ambitions for Europe
(MT)
*** CAROLINE DE GRUYTER: De Europeanen. Leven en werken in de hoofstad van Europa. De Bezige Bij (Amsterdam - Internet: http://www.debezigebij.nl ). 2006, 301 pp. ISBN 90-234-1932-4.
Now a journalist in Geneva, Caroline de Greyter was a foreign correspondent in Brussels from 1999 to 2004 and has drawn on her experience to paint a magnificent picture of European life in the 'capital of Europe'. Her book is based on eye-witness accounts by people living in the European village, exploring the family, professional and social motivations of players on the Brussels European stage. She provides pertinent information about the concept of belonging and European identity among the various social groups making up Brussels' 'extra borough'. She objectively and realistically dissects the prejudices about Eurocrats and problems encountered with living abroad, belonging to a language group and integrating into Brussels society. The impact of the EU's decisions and actions on various layers of society is assessed with a detached eye. The book provides an excellent approach to the different perceptions of Europe depending on social strata and culture, and is a marvellous tool for understanding what Europe could become if it continues down the integration path, and what European society might be like in tomorrow's world.
(JPe)