*** SYLVIE GUILLAUME, JEAN GARRIGUES (Eds.): Centre et centrisme en Europe aux XIXe et XXe siècles. Regards croisés. Presses Interuniversitaires - Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. e-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Cité européenne" series, No. 37. 2006, 288 pp. ISBN 90-5201-317-9.
François Bayrou will not be an option in the second round of the French presidential elections this year but he will remain a key player all the same. As he said on the eve of the first round of voting, there is at last a centre ground in French politics which is strong, broad and independent and crosses partisan borders. Hence the utility of this book following an international conference in Paris a couple of years ago. The authors describe the centre of politics and centrism in France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, the United Kingdom and Italy. The study covers two centuries and is divided into four sections - centrism in liberal groups in the nineteenth century, centrism in left and centre left parties in the twentieth century and in liberal groups in the twentieth century. This line of attack helps readers understand the weight of political culture in each of the countries studied and distinguish between centrist 'moments of time' which sometimes coincide (but are often not synchronised), like the 'Third Force' in Italy and France after the Second World War. Overall, comments Serge Bernstein of the Political Studies Institute in Paris, the book reveals the existence at European level of permanent centrist strands and parties, politicians and aspirations in public opinion over two centuries.
In a way, new proof of this can be offered for France, a country where, as the editors explain, expression of a clash in political culture prevails with left pitched against right, little representation of management reformism and where the diabolisation of free market ideas became acute in the twentieth century. This meant that the centre suffered from a negative image and the unflattering concept of the swamp. Are things changing following the outcome of the first round of the presidential elections? In her introduction to the fourth part of the book, Sylvie Guillaume discerns a recent 'recentering' of political life, taking the edge off the left-right divide and reining in the conflict culture since the 1980s. Is the change a historic one? In reality, the 'centre' is probably still in great flux. President Giscard d'Estaing, following in the wake of Antoine Pinay who put forward solutions that were neither left nor right, explained one day that the spirit of the time was the spirit of reality. He added that the centrist spirit was the difference between an ideology and an analysis of reality. These days, the former Chairman of the Convention is supporting Nicolas Sarkozy… However, noting that 'consensual niches' exist on Europe, on the institutions and even on controversial issues like reforming the pension system, Sylvie Guillaume notes a move towards a re-centering of politics and political speak which could bring France closer to other liberal democracies more characterised by the culture of negotiation. This will need to be checked out in the 'third round' and in the years to come.
Michel Theys
*** GILLES LE BEGUEC, FREDERIC TURPIN: Georges Pompidou et les institutions de la Ve république. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes - Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.net ). "Georges Pompidou - Archives" series, No. 1. 2006, 281 pp. ISBN 90-5201-056-0.
In this book, two historians describe the backdrop and main speeches in which Georges Pompidou discussed the Fifth Republic in France and its institutions from 1962 to 1973. They draw attention to the advantages of taking an overview of all the speeches and public thought of a major politician guided by great awareness of the weight of his responsibility in history.
(PBo)
*** PASCAL GRISET (Ed.): Georges Pompidou et la modernité. Les tensions de l'innovation - 1962-1974. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes - Peter Lang (see above). "Georges Pompidou - Etudes" series, No. 2. 2006, 315 pp. ISBN 90-5201-329-2.
Following on from a conference in Paris in March 2005 organised by the Georges Pompidou Association, a combination of academic analysis and eye witness accounts, this book paints a picture of France at the end of the post-war boom. It explains how the innovations that rocked French society at the time meshed with the desire of President Pompidou to guide them - innovations like the advent of mass tourism, the rise of private car ownership, joining the information age, and May 1968 and the arrival of hippy and 'ye-ye' culture.
(PBo)
*** GRAHAM WATSON: The Power of Speech. Leadership Speeches 2002-2006. Bagehot Publishing (Bagehot's Foundry, Beard's Yard, Langport, Somerset TA 10 9 PS, UK). 2006, 269 pp. ISBN 0-95-457454-0.
"All Liberals are leaders" … This is the title of the first speech in this book. The author, Graham Watson, has been the leader of the Liberal Democrat Group at the European Parliament since 2003 during a period of huge transformations and doubt about the European Union, which expanded from fifteen to twenty-seven member states and witnessed the French and Dutch voters saying 'no' to the constitutional treaty. This is the subject of the current volume - revealing the life of the EU and the European Parliament as seen through the prism of the speeches of one of its standard-bearers, the leader of the third biggest political group, Graham Watson. He starts by hoping to avoid the 'look at me' factor or rather, the 'listen to me' factor which could so easily be associated with this type of book. The Power of Speech is a compilation of Graham Watson's speeches from 2002 to 2006, selected by Christine Gilmore, throughout Watson's career, illustrating the position of the liberal movement in Europe and the world during this time. It also looks at key issues in the EU like enlargement, freedom and security and Europe's role in the world. Ranging between a very recent period of history, a selection of the huge range of subjects the EP has been working on (the EU's relations with its neighbours and the United States, the economy, citizenship, etc) and expression of liberal viewpoints in speeches to the Liberal Group at the EP and other parliaments in Europe, the speeches are easy to read and bring the work of the parliament to life. Fortunately, Graham Watson is not prone to lengthy, flowery prose along the lines of Fidel Castro and as the head of a political group, he is well aware that he has to capture his listeners' imaginations, titillating their curiosity, as illustrated by the title of one of his speeches, 'Building the EU is like making sausages.' (FRo)
*** JEAN-MARIE PALAYRET, HELEN WALLACE, PASCALINE WINAND (Eds.): Visions, Votes and Vetoes. The Empty Chair Crisis and the Luxembourg Compromise Forty Years On. Presses Interuniversitaires - Peter Lang (see above). "European Policy" series, No. 34. 2006, 339 pp, €34-90. ISBN 90-5201-031-5.
This book and the research project preceding it arose from a conversation between Etienne Davignon and the President of the European University Institute in Florence, Yves Meny. It provides very useful explanations of the 'empty chair crisis' caused by France on 1 July 1965 which, forty years on, is still in the minds of players on the European stage. N. Piers Ludlow of the London School of Economics describes the 'Luxembourg Compromise' as a 'famous gentlemen's agreement' but former European judge Pierre Pescatore says it was a 'so-called agreement', yet despite the length of time that has elapsed since then, it is anything but hackneyed, hence the utility of looking in detail at its impact on the European Community. In the preface, Etienne Davignon points out (he was Head of Paul-Henri Spaak's Cabinet back at that time) that the compromise was not included in 'Community acquis' in the form in which it was submitted to the countries of the first round of enlargement, but it led the member states to feel that they had an implicit right of veto - although they used it very rarely. The former Vice-President of the Commission talks of 'the exception that proves the rule', namely the announcement by Margaret Thatcher that the United Kingdom would withdraw from decision-making until a satisfactory solution was found to the budget question, which led the Commission and the Belgian Presidency of the time to decide on agricultural prices by qualified majority voting, rejecting the 'vital interests' mentioned by the British delegation. The roots of the empty chair crisis, the crisis itself and the negotiation of an exit strategy are studied first. The authors go on to place the trial of strength against a broader backdrop, the launch of the Kennedy Round and tension between France and NATO. The third part of the book looks at the aftermath of the Luxembourg Compromise. One of this book's value-addeds is that it combines the work of historians given access to new archives with the work of scientists and figures from the period (and the following years) like Etienne Davignon and Pierre Pescatore, who was at that time the Secretary General of the Luxembourg Foreign Affairs Ministry. (MT)
*** YANN-SVEN RITTELMEYER: Les sommets restreints et l'Union européenne. 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://www.librairieharmattan.com ). "Inter-National" series. 2006, 132 pp, €12-50. ISBN 2-296-01147-0.
An extended thesis for the 'Institut d'études politiques' of Robert Schuman University in Strasbourg, this book analyses the small meetings which have always prevailed in the European project since the launch of mini-summits by France and Germany in the early 1960s and extended (as the author forgets to mention) to the three Benelux countries. The omission is no doubt due to the fact that Yann-Sven Rittelmeyer believes mini-summits are inevitably connected with the question of leadership and therefore with leadership action by big countries, with discussions with 'small' and 'medium' countries being no more than 'defensive' as far as he is concerned, faced with the threat of a 'Directoire' of governing countries being established. In this spirit, he comments that mini-summits have been mushrooming since the last big round of enlargement but as far as effectiveness is concerned, he feels that only the attempt to build three-way leadership with the United Kingdom is relevant, with the war in Iraq soon turning this into a pipe dream (even though, observes the author, it was the 'big three' that are managing the Iran issue on behalf of the EU). Yann-Sven Rittelmeyer concludes by recognising with Ferdinando Riccardi that if the Community Method works, there is not really any real danger of a 'directoire' but the practice of mini-summits, and therefore the 'intergovernmental method', is relevant as long as a variable, protoform leadership that adjusts as necessary (as seems to be the case) is in place with various strategic countries gravitating around the Franco-German core.
(PBo)
*** PASCAL FONTAINE, HENRI MALOSSE: L'Europe de A à Z. 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 ). 2006, 318 pp. ISBN 2-8027-2322-7.
Pascal Fontaine - who used to work with Jean Monnet at the European Parliament and is a reputed author of books popularising the European Union - and Jean Malosse - who lectures on European issues at the Robert Schuman University in Strasbourg (France) and, more importantly, is a very active member of the European Economic and Social Committee - are the perfect couple for writing a simple, informative book on Europe. 'L'Europe de A à Z' takes the form of an alphabetical lexicon (with a list of contents and glossary of the many abbreviations and acronyms) of some 150 to 200 European terms, devoting from a dozen lines to one or two pages to each. There is a very succinct description, for example, of the twenty-seven EU member states and their role in the EU (date of accession, number of seats in Parliament, etc), and entries on "Bolkestein", "CFSP" and 'demographics', for example, explaining population ageing, family policy under the Lisbon Strategy, etc. The book does not only provide very detailed information on particular issues but can also be used as a way for newcomers to get to know the European landscape and as a handbook for all and sundry.
(FRo)
*** DANIEL GUEGUEN: Lobbying européen. Europoltique (66 av. Adolphe Lacomblé, B-1030 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 7377700 - Fax: 7326757 - E-mail: subscriptions@europolitics.info) & Librairie Générale de Droit et de Jurisprudence (31 rue Falguière, F-75741 Paris cedex 15. Tel: (33-1) 56541600 - Fax: 566541649 - E-mail -info@eja.fr). 2007, 140 pp, €50. ISBN 2-930409-07-X.
Daniel Gueguen comments that the European Union is omnipresent legislatively, with the recognition of lobbyists as compulsory interlocutors and considerable room for manoeuvre making Brussels a lobbying paradise. This must make the author a very happy man because he has been lobbying in the capital of Europe for three decades. The book focusses determinedly on lobbying in Europe with the author providing a wealth of information and advice drawn from his long years of experience on the tools of the trade and strategies used by lobbyists to successfully represent interests, ranging from advice about how to speak and write to a description of the various types of coalition via the different types of action appropriate in different parts of the legislative process and typical information days. The book also describes in huge detail the panorama of types of lobbying, from professional associations to NGOs, providing on each information drawn from the author's knowledge of the field, like the pros and cons of various types of structure, and the impact of different sized organisations and how they are managed. The book is supplemented by diagrams and tables of the main European associations, for example, and assessments of the effectiveness of professional associations. The book also describes changes in lobbying in general. One does not become a lobbyist by reading books, of course, but this is certainly an extremely useful back-up tool for people representing different interests in Brussels. It is also a vital source of first-hand information for people asking questions about the work of lobbyists, so often shrouded in an air of mystery.
(FRo)