*** BERTRAND VAYSSIERE: Vers une Europe fédérale ? Les espoirs et les actions fédéralistes au sortir de la Seconde Guerre mondiale. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes - Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.net ). "Cité européenne" series, No. 36. 2006, 416 pp. ISBN 90-5201-079-X.
If Agence Europe's European Library were to award prizes for the best European book of the year, this book would definitely be one of the works nominated, with a strong chance of winning the prize. It is the extension of a doctoral thesis, however, and such documents do not often have general appeal, even when brilliantly argued, as in this case, at Mirail University in Toulouse, France. But Bertrand Vayssière. the author, is cast from the intellectual mould of historians who have decided to clarify an event in history with all the rigour of history and political science methodology, as Prof. Bossuat approvingly writes. His comments are demonstrated with dazzling relevance throughout the chapters of this book. At times, the reviewer even found himself gobbling them up quite literally… This is also because the areas of European history and thought described in the book stand at the heart of the unprecedented experiment that now takes the name 'European Union'.
At the start of the preface, Gérard Bossuat points out that the author has put forward a convincing explanation of what underlay the federalists' experiment, managing to unravel the ball of contradictions at the heart of the European movement, which is no mean feat! As part of the resistance to the rise in totalitarian regimes and later Nazi expansion, people started calling for a third way, a federal Europe. There were the arguments by Altiero Spinelli, for example, whose work runs through this book, with Spinelli's 'Ventotene Manifesto' a clandestine publication joining the ranks of other anti-conformist writings by figureheads in the 1930s, like Alexandre Marc's no-holds-barred federalism. Convergent but, in terms of doctrine, already divergent voices. The Italian inheritor of the US 'founding fathers' Hamilton and Madison defends 'constitutional' federalism (a battle he would pursue until the end, as can be seen from his 'Draft European Union Treaty' adopted by the European Parliament in February 1984), namely that the formation of European civic awareness can only arise if an institutional framework is established in advance. Extreme federalism aims for radical reform of social and society models within each of the European societies called upon to gradually converge. This second school of thought would dominate during the Second World War, leading to a Resistance Europe and a European Union of Federalists in 1946, a coalition of different federalist energies, taking action in favour of a 'third force' Europe. The Cold War would soon relegate this aim to the status of a pipe dream, particularly because the reformed states would muzzle the Council of Europe without encountering any opposition, with the active complicity of the 'allied enemies' on the UEF (unionists led by Winston Churchill). Whereupon the Spinellists charged into the breach left by the Monnet-Schuman plan for a functionalist, supra-national Europe, before throwing their full weight behind the battle of the European defence and political communities. The '30 August crime' would be their swan song. The current constitutional debate demonstrates, however, the utility of revisiting their battle. Urgently, thanks to this book…
Michel Theys
*** XAVIER FRAUDET: France's Security Independence. Originality and Constraints in Europe, 1981-1996. Peter Lang (32 Hochfeldstrasse, Postfach 746, CH-3000 Bern 9. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "European University Studies - Europäische Hochschulschriften - Publications Universitaires Européennes" series, No. 530. 2006, 275 pp. ISBN 3-03911-141-8.
Francois Mitterand was President of France from 1981 to 1996, during a period of change for Europe and the collapse of the red menace. How did France view its security and foreign policy independence (and Europe's independence for that matter) at that time? Did it follow a 'Gaullist' policy? Where did it situate itself in terms of North America and the EU? These issues are covered by historian Xavier Fraudet in his book on France's desire to be a power and its anxiety to defend 'cultural exceptionism': 'It is not a surprise after all because France is a power, Europe should also be this power through which France would express her own,' writes the author. The book opens with chapters on the formation of French identity and the French view of the EU. This section also covers Francois Mitterand coming to power, quite an event at the time, partly because there were several Communist ministers in his Cabinet, and Mitterand's commitment to the EU. The author then looks in more detail at France's European policy in terms of its positioning vis-à-vis NATO, new events in Eastern Europe, and France's role in foreign and security policies in Europe: 'France has been the most vocal supporter of a 'European security identity' within the framework of the European Community,' after having been the gravedigger of the European Defence Community in the 1950s. The last chapter highlights the cultural influence of France, a bastion which has now found a new defender in Xavier Fraudet. He describes that despite its fears at times, France is clearly not ready to become one in a series of average, mediocre countries …
(FRo)
*** MICHAELA SEIFERT: Die Durchführung des Gemeinschaftsrechts durch die Europäische Kommission als Teil europäischer "Gesetzgebungstätigkeit". Aktuelle Rechtslage und Modell der Europäischen Verfassung. Europainstitut, Wirtschaftsuniversität Wien (39-45 Althanstrasse, A-1090 Vienna. Tel: (43-1) 313364135 - Fax: 31336758 - E-mail: europafragen@wu-wien.ac.at - Internet: http: //fgr.wu-wien.ac.at/institut/ef/publicat.html). "EI Working Papers", No. 72. 2006, 75 pp, €7-20.
This report by a researcher at Vienna University's European Institute studies the tricky issue of the theoretical limits to European Commission powers when it comes to legislation and the frequent decisions taken by committees meeting behind closed doors. Theoretical postulates are accompanied by illustrative examples like reactions to the mad cow disease crisis and the scrapping of the moratorium on the use of genetically modified organisms. The author argues that the GMO issue is extremely relevant when it comes to the role and interaction of the European Parliament and European Commission under the European constitution. The author notes that even if the draft constitution is revised, it is unlikely to resolve the incoherent nature of the set-up governing the implementation system…
(CDi)
*** PIERRE BRECHON: Comportements et attitudes politiques. Presses universitaires de Grenoble (BP 47, F-38040 Grenoble cedex 9. E-mail: pug@pug.fr). 2006, 189 pp, €15. ISBN 2-7061-1360-X.
More than a student handbook and less than an expert treatise, this book is a perfect guide for readers interested in elections, voting and in a word, citizenship,. User-friendly and aimed at a French audience, written by a renowned political science expert, a professor at Grenoble University in France and President of ARVAL ('Association de recherche sur les systèmes de valeurs'), much of it is given over to comparative studies of political behaviour and attitudes in countries other than France, namely the United States and the United Kingdom. Politicisation, participation and political leanings are studied, both in terms of how they are established and their current manifestations. There is an excellent study of the proper use of opinion polls, but one might regret that no mention is made of the use of the international and diachronic comparative studies produced by the European Commission in its Eurobarometer polls for more than thirty years now.
(J-RR)
*** GERARD DRUESNE: Droit de l'Union européenne et politiques communautaires. Presses universitaires de France (6 av. Reille, F-75014 Paris. Internet: http://www.puf.com ). "Droit fondamental" series. 2006, 633 pp, €48. ISBN 2-13-055800-3.
Not many books reach their eighth edition, but this one does, illustrating continued interest in the book. Former President of Nancy II University in France, now director of the European Institute for Public Administration in Maastricht, the Netherlands, the author starts by looking at the legal system governing the European Common Market, going on to review freedom of circulation, competition rules and harmonisation of national legislation. Gérard Druesne then gives a detailed and systematic description of the EU's policies, finishing with trade relations with non-EU countries.
(PBo)
*** CHRISTINE KADDOUS, FABRICE PICOD: Union européenne - Communauté européenne. Recueil de textes. Stämpfli Editions (1 Wölflistrasse, Postfach 8326, CH-3001 Bern. Tel: (41-31) 3006311 - Fax: 3006688 - E-mail: info@staempfliverlag.com - Internet: http://www.staempfliverlag.com ) and Editions Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5129842 - Fax: 5119477 - Internet: http://www.bruylant.be ). 2006, 1,102 pp, CHF 73-25. ISBN 3-7272-9486-8 and 2-8027-2313-8.
Designed to meet the needs of students of European law, this collection of what the two leading legal experts (Christine Kaddous is director of Geneva University's European Legal Studies Centre and Fabrice Picod is professor at Université Panthéon-Assas in France) consider to the essential institutional legal texts and areas of substantive law, starts off with the full Treaty on the European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, and the various protocols annexed to them. Although it has not come into force, the Treaty establishing a constitution is reproduced in part because it is a fundamental text without any equivalent in the European construction process, note the authors. The book then looks at legislation according to subject matter - institutional issues, European citizenship, free circulation of individuals, fundamental laws, free circulation of goods, competition, Economic and Monetary Union, and the area of freedom, security and justice. All legal texts are printed in their 'consolidated' form. The book includes an alphabetical index.
(PBo)
*** ALAIN MONNIER: Démographie contemporaine de l'Europe. Evolutions, tendances, défis. Armand Colin (21 rue de Montparnasse, F-75006 Paris. Internet: http: //http://www.armand-colin.com/ ). "U" series. 2006, 416 pp. ISBN 2-200-26354-6.
Lecturer in European demographics at Paris X University Nanterre and at the demographics institute of Paris I University, Alain Monnier provides a fascinating reading in this book of the demographic history of Europe in the geographical sense of the word (including Russia), assessing the challenges posed to the European Union by the emergence of a demographic regime associating very weak growth or a declining population with a sharp ageing of the population. In a detailed but user-friendly manner, the author provides milestones and vital explanations for understanding the radical changes in European population since the end of the Second World War, from the renewing of family models to the deep decline in fertility rates, via the successes in tackling mortality and fluctuations in immigration. How can the falling birth rates be explained? Are they irreversible? Is there a limit to how far life expectancy can be extended? How will the EU's population change over the next twenty-five years? Are we moving towards a labour shortage? Can immigration be a solution? The author provides detailed answers to these questions, arguing that the Commission's Green Paper on demographic change and inter-generational solidarity sets out areas which could lead the EU to innovate to meet the demographic challenges, like introducing measures to make it easier to reconcile work and private life to enable young couples to have as many children as they want without having to give up their jobs; determined immigrant integration policies and anti-discrimination measures; new forms of workplace organisation to cater for the needs of every age of worker and allow older people to work up to and beyond the retirement age; and ways of looking after old people that strike a balance between the family, social services and institutional care… An 'ambitious programme' with the key question today being, the author explains, whether it will move beyond the Green Paper stage and mere intellectual speculation…
(PBo)
*** JACQUES DUPÂQUIER, YVES-MARIE LAULAN (Eds.): Peut-on se satisfaire de la natalité en France et Europe? L'Harmattan (5-7 rue de l'Ecole-Polytechnique, F-75005 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40467920 - Fax: 43258203 - E-mail: diffusion.harmattan@wanadoo.fr - Internet: http: //http://www.editions-harmattan.fr ). "Questions contemporaines" series, No. 15. 2006, 215 pp, €19. ISBN 2-296-00956-5.
The proceedings of a conference organised a year ago by the 'Institut de Géopolitique des Populations' in France, raising both an alarm call and a call for action. An alarm call because the participants regret the demographic decline that can be seen in France and in Europe more generally, describing it as suicidal in the long-term, hidden by the official birth rate figures which do not distinguish between the number of children born in France to French mothers (1.7 per woman on average) and the number of children born in France to African and Turkish women (3.4 per woman)… This leads the authors to issue the warning that the falling birth rates are increasing migratory pressure and leading at the end of the day to the question of how to integrate immigrants. These observations are explained from various angles, with the authors calling for a call for action in the form of a lively argument for the launch of an ambitious, regenerated, family policy.
(PBo)