*** STEVEN BLOCKMANS, ADAM LAZOWSKI (Eds.): The European Union and Its Neighbours. A legal appraisal of the EU's policies of stabilisation, partnership and integration. T.M.C. Asser Press (Cambridge University Press, The Edinburgh Building, Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 2RU, UK. Tel: (44-1223) 312393 - Fax: 315052 - Internet: http://www.cambridge.org ). 2006, 653 pp, £85. ISBN 90-6704-225-0.
The European Union's relations with its neighbours are complex, involving traditional issues of countries' foreign policy and other issues more connected with the specific supra-national characteristics of the EU, not the least of which are questions relating to the EU's nature and purpose. The million dollar question in the EU's enlargement success story is where the line should be drawn, explain the authors humorously at the outset. While large-scale aggression against any member state seems unlikely, the EU must all the same cope with an array of threats of various types and degrees from its neighbours like frozen or ongoing conflicts, environmental damage, threats to energy supplies and so forth. Through enlargement, these threats to the EU have actually grown in scale due to closer geographical proximity.
The book's editors are from old and new Europe (Blockmans from the old and Lazowski from the new) but they share a vision of a strong EU which is currently redefining its position in the wider European continent and de facto in the world at large, explains Frans A. Nelissen, Director of T.M.C. Asser Institute in The Hague (the Netherlands), where Steven Blockmans is a researcher in EU law, focussing on foreign relations, enlargement and constitutional law. He is also a consultant on resolving legal issues surrounding the application of EU law in the new member states and candidate countries, working for the European Commission and various Dutch ministries, not to mention his role as a trainer of legal staff in new member states and candidate countries. A specialist in EU law and international public law, Adam Lazowski lectures at Westminster University's School of Law in the UK, following a stint at Warsaw University and T.M.C. Asser Institute. He has contributed to EU law training programmes for lawyers in several new EU member states. This marriage of theory and practice, which also appears in the careers of many of the fifteen authors who contributed to the book, is reflected in the book's design. As Frans A. Nelissen explains in the preface, Blockmans and Lazowski selected a methodology mid-way between a manual (necessarily involving precision and simplicity) and critical academic analysis.
The first part of the book analyses the dynamic of EU enlargements in general, forming to an extent the critical academic analysis mentioned by Frans A. Nelissen, taking an in-depth look at the consequences of the rounds of enlargement and, more particularly, the EU's foreign relations. These relations are managed using a series of tools because, as Blockmans and Lazowski explain, through differentiation and diversification the EU seems to be trying to find ways of better managing its interests and desires against the backdrop of the opportunities, threats and/or challenges posed by specific neighbouring countries and groups of countries. After a brief overview by the editors, Andrea Ott and Ramses Wessel pick apart the way the EU's 'external relations' system is made up, a complex, multiform system based on several levels of power. Kirstyn Inglis looks at the criteria that have to be met by countries wanting to join the EU, which are certainly an effective lever for wielding influence. She reviews the various accession criteria and different types of compliance, including new criteria like the EU's absorption capacity and safety clauses. She also looks in detail, of course, at Turkey and Croatia, discusses the accession of Romania and Bulgaria (up until the end of the accession negotiations) and raises the question of whether EU enlargement has become a political imperative that even takes precedence over preparation of candidate countries. The second part of the book looks in detail at each neighbouring country or group of countries (like the European Economic Area and the 'mini-countries'), studying in more detail the very different relations between the EU and each of its neighbouring countries. The book is comprehensive, clear and well-structured, enabling readers to easily find information of special interest to them in the field of the EU's foreign relations, an area which has become more complex since the recent rounds of enlargement, bringing the EU closer to troubled regions with which engaging in normal relations requires a fine degree of political finesse.
Frederik Ronse
*** MARIE-FRANCOISE LABOUZ, CHRISTIAN PHILIP, PANAYOTIS SOLDATOS (Eds.): L'Union européenne élargie aux nouvelles frontières et à la recherche d'une politique de voisinage. Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5129842 - Fax: 5119477 - Internet: http://www.bruylant.be ). 2006, 224 pp, €40. ISBN 2-8027-2236-0.
A little over two years ago, the European Studies Centre at the law faculty of Jean Moulin University Lyons in France and the Jean Monnet Chair of the law faculty of Versailles-Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines University in France organised a policy-oriented conference on the new borders of the enlarged EU and a new EU Neighbourhood Policy whose legal and institutional bases have to be adjusted to match the need for a newly formed innovative common foreign policy. This book gives an account of the conference where academics and decision-makers built up a picture in successive layers of the two-faced Janus-like new EU Neighbourhood Policy - facing EU neighbours which are non-European in nature, (Hervé de Charrette, former French foreign minister, sticks Turkey in this category on the grounds that the European Council took an unreasonable decision with regard to Turkey in his view) and facing European countries (in the Balkans) which have a legitimate hope of being able to join the EU and are currently aware that they have to wait. An intelligent book on a dossier where the jury is still out…
(MT)
*** FRASER CAMERON: An Introduction to European Foreign Policy. Routledge (2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN, UK. Tel: (44-1264) 343071 - Fax: 343005 - Internet: http://www.tandf.co.uk ). 2007, 255 pp, £19-99. ISBN 978-0-415-40768-7.
The book reviewed at the start of this European Library looks at the EU's relations with its neighbours in the widest sense. Here, Fraser Cameron looks at a much more specific but related and connected issue, the European Foreign Policy (the common foreign and security policy, CFSP, in EU jargon). The policy has its roots in the 1992 Amsterdam Treaty, which had the aim of affirming the EU's identity on the international stage. To use the terms of the day, some saw the EU as an economic giant but a political dwarf whose weight on the global stage did not match either its ambitions or its potential (if its member states all pull in the same direction at least). David Cameron points out, however, that the EU does play a key role on the international stage as the world's biggest contributor of development aid, for example, and in an increasing number of peace-keeping and stability missions. The author clearly explains how the EU has gradually changed in this connection, by gaining greater awareness of the futility of a foreign policy not backed by a minimum of military might. He guides readers through the labyrinth of the EU's foreign policy, often the scene of battles for influence both within and between the EU institutions and with the member states, which remain the true masters of the CFSP. The author explains the different mechanisms and how the different bodies work, from the Presidency of the Council to the EU's military committee. He explains that the EU has developed a range of new institutions for the CFSP over recent years which were too complicated (due to the pillar system) but the system does work and can credit itself on a number of successes. Cameron then discusses foreign relations, subdividing the subject by type (development policies, peace-keeping, counter-terrorism, etc) and geographical region (relations with the United States, the Balkans, Turkey, the Neighbourhood Policy and Asia). In the interests of clarity, each chapter is structured the same way and starts with a short summary. Fraser Cameron demonstrates huge knowledge of the field and clearly understands the difference between what is written on paper and how things actually pan out in the field.
(FRo)
*** Nos attentes d'Europe. Pour une relance citoyenne de l'Europe politique. Initiative Citoyens en Europe (12 rue Mouton Duvernet, F-75014 Paris. Internet: http: //http://www.initeurope.org ) and Causes Communes (30 av. Jef Lambeaux, B-1060 Brussels. Internet: http: //http://www.lautresite.com ). 2007, 108 pp.
This publication contains what can be described as no less than revolutionary ideas. At the start, it is wholly refreshing because the book reports back on a conference organised by two bodies representing fringes of civil society in Belgium and France which have resolved not to suffer the consequences of the 'no' votes on the constitution by simply joining the ranks of the maudlin. In order to find ideas again which make sense and are audible and can therefore mobilise people throughout Europe, the authors and participants try to understand Europe the way it is dreamed of by people outside the EU, sharing Europe the way it is dreamed of by some people in Europe who continue to carry the idea of Europe, and discerning expectations of Europe in France, whether coming from yes or no voters. But this is not the most important part of the book! Starting from the too often ignored principle that there cannot be representation without contribution, Initiative Citoyens en Europe and Causes Communes call for direct European taxes in order to be able to participate in European political choices so that the choices better reflect the priorities and concerns of Europeans. Not being able to levy European taxes themselves, the two organisations suggest that people pay a voluntary tax to the Commission, to a 'United European Solidarity Fund'. They explain that by paying a euro a month into the fund, the aim is to enable millions of Europeans to take part in direct dialogue with Europe. This is like a kind of European civil disobedience! And what if, while the Europe of different countries simply commits itself to making more and more compromises, this was Europe of the citizens on the move?
(MT)
*** CECILE BARBIER: La ratification du Traité établissant une Constitution pour l'Europe. Centre de recherche et d'information socio-politiques (1A place Quetelet, B-1210 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2110180 - Fax: 2197934 - Internet: http://www.crisp.be ). "Courrier hebdomadaire" series, Nos. 1939-1940. 2006, 73 pp €12-40.
In this CRISP weekly newsletter, Cécile Barbier, research director at the 'Observatoire Social Européen', briefly explains the different stages and ingredients of the constitutional saga. She starts by explaining the backdrop to the successes and weaknesses of the draft constitutional treaty before looking at the ratification procedures. She then dissects the pause for reflection in the light of solutions put forward by the European Parliament, the Commission's 'Plan D', the call for a 'Europe of Results', the search for new consensus over enlargement and the gradual emergence of civil society in the debate. She then reviews and analyses ideas put forward in the most recent stages of the pause for thought to get out of the constitutional deadlock. The book provides user-friendly milestones.
(MT)
*** SALVATORE CARRUBBA, FLAVIO CAROLI: The Art of Liberty. A bold liberal roadmap unwittingly illustrated by 50 artists. Mondadori Electa SpA (Milan. Internet: http://www.librimondadori.it ). 2007, 275 pp.
This beautiful book is an English translation carried out under the aegis of the alliance of liberals and democrats for Europe party at the European Parliament of a book in Italian written in 2004 by a historian and a journalist. The idea of presenting various aspects of liberal culture through the 'unwitting' illustrations of various artists tickled the fancy of the President of the ALDE Group, Graham Watson, who wrote the introduction and describes the book as bearing witness to the sheer scale and flexibility of liberal thought along with the endurance of its basic principles. Structured as a kind of dictionary in fifty chapters, the book illustrates and comments on concepts running through liberalism (and those it opposes) through the work of grand artists like competition through Rembrandt's drapers, citizenship with the three flags of Jasper Johns, conformism with a salon scene by Pietro Longhi, the Enlightenment with a portrait of Diderot, equality with Brueghel's Triumph of Death, globalisation with an unusual Degas picture (a cotton traders' counter in New Orleans), the individual with one of Giacometti's skinny silhouettes, irony with a smiling portrait by Antonello da Messina, and the open society with the 'Effects of Good Governance' by Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Ingres' portrait of Emperor Napoleon is a clear representation of power. More subtly, there is a Japanese watercolour of the 17th century suggesting protectionism and a Greek Paestum fresco representing responsibility. The separation of power among church and state is represented in an abstract oil painting 'in pieces' by Lucio Fontana, and relativism in the 3 May 1808 Executions by Goya (the painter was given the task of painting a heroic picture but shows nothing but fear and desolation). The dictionary ends with Liberty herself, as depicted by Eugène Delacroix in l830. You don't have to be a liberal to enjoy this carefully and cleverly designed book, all of which deserves a mention.
(LG)