*** ANTONIN COHEN, ANTOINE VAUCHEZ (Eds.): La Constitution européenne. Elites, mobilisations, votes. Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles (26 av. Paul Héger, CP 163, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 6503799 - Fax: 6503794 - E-mail: editions@admin.ulb.ac.be - Internet: http: //www-editions-universite-bruxelles.be). "Etudes européennes" series. 2007, 298 pp, €25. ISBN 978-2-8004-1387-7.
Much ink has been expended on the European Constitution from the time of the Convention to the French and Dutch no votes and the ink is still flowing plentifully, as this book testifies. The undeniable and hugely beneficial originality of the book is the fact that the authors, all distinguished representatives of academia, refused to look back and make a retrospective diagnosis along the lines of an autopsy, as the editors explain in the introduction, because their aim was not to draw the lessons of the 'constitutional moment' or to decide on its positive or negative contribution to European integration, but rather to use this episode as a starting point to assess the current transformations in the European project and the transnational dynamics at play. By taking this different type of viewpoint when observing the Convention and the European institutions, of course, but also the various social landscapes in different member states as affected by the dynamic of the politis-icising of Europe, they reveal hitherto unknown facts throughout the three parts of the book (on the genesis and structuring of the Convention; the challenges and controversies surrounding the constitution; and electoral and activist involvement) about how the European project is currently evolving.
Antonin Cohen (senior lecturer in politics at the 'Université de Picardie Jules-Verne' in Amiens, France) and Antoine Vauchez (head of research in politics at the CNRS and member of the 'Centre universitaire de recherche sur l'action publique et le politique' in France) explain from the start that the chapters of the book will combine to show that Europe is not a social continuum but rather a mosaic of social areas which, although inter-dependent, are still generally autonomous from one another. Moreover, the relative disconnection of European and national levels is shown by the lack of interest at national level in the Convention's work - even among 'Eurosceptics' and 'anti-globalisation activists' - and by their centrality in the ratification referenda which means, as Cohen and Vauchez point out, that much of the prominent sections of debate about the European Constitution arose less from shared interest in Europe and its future than from a truly sectarian and national dynamic of being interested in the issue against the backdrop of fanning the sites of interaction into a tragic drama as is typical of election campaigns. Eurosceptic groups have turned criticisms of the EU into their signature tune and Simon Usherwood of Surrey University shows that they kept very quiet during the time of the Convention and it was only when the political battle moved to national level that they intensified their debate and transnational mobilisations. The same goes for the anti-globalisation, 'another world is possible' activists in France. Eric Agrikoliansky (Université Paris Dauphine) argues (with evidence) that their mobilisations were less the natural extension of a long-standing interest in European issues (which is only a skin-deep interest) than the product of a type of 'national' political conversion by a section of this nebulous movement when it was experiencing its first defeats. The same also goes for the French Socialist Party and stubborn Catholics, with everything confirming the comment by Eric Agrikoliansky that it is not so much centripetal forces which draw people towards Europe than the centrifuge of national areas sending activists out to the European Union on the institutional margins. On the other hand, Xavier Landrin (Université Paris 10 - Nanterre) shows that the Laeken Declaration can only be explained as the product of a type of interdependence that put the Belgian government at a crossroads of certain social challenges and forces (in the national, transnational and EU domains) which it had to come to terms with in order to make a success of 'its own Presidency'.
Impossible to list all the other observations in this short review so I will choose a selection, like the fact that the difference between distinct "levels of government" is no longer of the moment when it comes to qualifying the European project because the politicising of Europe, in other words the mobilisation of citizens around European issues (Cohen and Vauchez ask whether it is impossible to consider that while favouring the European project, some voters do not agree with some of the directions the EU is currently moving in?), is shown throughout the book as the product of a process of opening up and widening sites of interaction to merge with other areas (national-EU and political-social), a process which has been gathering pace over the past fifteen years. In other registers, the authors shed light on the particular, or even decisive, proximity among academic circles (particularly those centering on the European University Institute in Florence) with EU political and administrative areas. This has led to the emergence of a series of forums (expert committees, think tanks, 'kern', workgroups, intergroups, etc) where 'double agents' who are half experts and half politicians, hold sway, as these informal forums escape from 'intergoveernmental' and 'institutional' analysis but are places where political formulae are devised that are capable of organising the governance of Europe. Yves Buchet de Neuilly (Université Lille II) moderates this somewhat by pointing out that the Convention Presidium did in fact play the role of a pre-Intergovernmental Conference… Grippingly interesting, this book, from the first to the last page.
Michel Theys
*** PASCAL DELWIT, PHILIPPE POIRIER (Eds.): Extrême droite et pouvoir en Europe - The extreme right parties and power in Europe. Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles (see above). "Science politique" series. 2007, 336 pp, €25. ISBN 978-2-8004-1388-4.
A collection of articles by specialists from European academia, this book assesses the breakthrough of far right parties or populist right wing parties in various countries in Europe, namely Germany, Slovakia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Norway and Switzerland. Also, more importantly, it analyses the underlying criteria and the impact of the new situation in recent years of some of these far right and populist right parties coming to power. Via case studies and comparisons, the authors provide scientific answers to questions replete with meaning for democracies in Europe - do these parties want to come to power and/or are they split over the issues? Do these parties become less extreme when they become part of a government? Are the parties punished or rewarded in the following elections? Do the issues championed by these parties percolate down into democratic parties? Is the far right's contribution decisive in certain domains close to its heart? Is it better to embrace the far right or smother it? One contribution is of particular interest - an essay by Philippe Poirier (who lectures in the history of political ideas and European politics at Luxembourg University) on the influence wielded by these new far right and populist right parties on the European Union's political system from 1979 to 2004.
(MT)
*** ANA MAR FERNÁNDEZ PASARIN: El neoinstitucianalismo como instrumento de análisis del proceso de integración europea. Institut Universitari d'Estudis Europeus (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici E-1, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona. Tel: (34-93) 5812016 - Fax: 5813063 - E-mail: iuee@uab.es - Internet: http://www.uab.es/iuee ). "Quaderns de treball" series, No. 46. 2006, 29 pp, €6.01. ISBN 84-95201-18-6.
The idea behind the Quaderns de treball series is to stimulate debate and scientific exchanges about the outcome of research in the domain of European affairs. In this issue, a young political scientist (with degrees from the 'Universités libre de Bruxelles' and the autonomous University of Barcelona) looks at the case study of the European Union, a new type of political body which does not meet the criteria for a typical national state or for a conventional international organisation, and therefore raises two fundamental questions for political scientists. The first is how this process impacts on the State, and the second is the political basis of the EU. The study analyses the two currents that existed in the theoretical 'corpus' of the 1950s, the neo-functionalist interpretation and the intergovernmental interpretation, and also looks at the conceptualisations engendered by the new wave of building Europe from the mid 1980s onwards, including neo-institutionalism. The author starts by briefly re-examining the postulates of neo-functionalism and intergovernmentalism, but Ana Mar Fernández Pasarin then concentrates above all on neo-institutionalism, aiming to shed light on the structuring nature of the EU institutions.
(JPe)
*** SANDRA BOLDRINI: La Commission européenne. 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, No. 1942. 2006, 44 pp, €6-90.
Many observers have the feeling that the European Commission has been slowing down in recent years and has shifted from a leadership role to a position of retreat. Why is this? Has the Commission fallen victim to changes in the balance of power within the European political and institutional system? Is the Commission flagging? Has it been pushed off side or at least relegated to the role of a jaded go-between? The author, a young assistant in political science at the 'Institut d'études européennes' at the 'Université catholique de Louvain' in Belgium, attempts to provide answers to such questions by examining the arguments for and against. The first part of this CRISP newsletter looks at the Commission as a player in the EU political system, studying its powers, how it is structured and how it operates. The second part looks at the period in recent years where the Commission has been in flux, from the Rocco Buttiglione affair to the constitutional treaty crisis, examining changes in the European political and institutional system and considering the impact of these changes on the Commission itself and on the Community Method in general.
(MT)
*** STEVE JACOB, FRÉDÉRIC VARONE, JEAN-LOUIS GENARD (Eds.): L'évaluation des politiques au niveau régional. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes - Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Action publique" series, No. 1. 2007, 218 pp, €24-90. ISBN 978-90-5201-324-4.
The essays in this book originated at a scientific conference organised as part of the Prospective Research for Brussels programme funded by the Brussels-Capital Region. The assessment of public policies is flavour of the month, a kind of leitmotif of public action that aims to be modern and modernised, explain Jean-Louis Genard and Steve Jacob. While such assessment is very popular, there are still plenty of questions raised about how to actually apply it in practice. For example, should a policy be examined as a whole or divided into constituent parts? Who should actually assess it, within an organisation and outside? To answer these questions, the book gathers case studies of different bodies - such as Flanders, the French-speaking Community of Belgium and Quebec - to compare experiences and discern the principles of a successful assessment. The first essay looks at assessment of the European Union's regional policies by the EU itself, a pioneer in some ways of the process in Europe. The book also includes other types of essay. For example, the chapter on assessing housing policy in Brussels is more an interesting assessment of the housing policy than a study of the assessment process itself, but other essays take more of a theoretical overview describing, for example, the role of assessment in the growth of territorial governance in recent years and factors required to develop assessment capacity.
(FRo)
*** 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 ). 2007, No. 1, 98 pp, €11. Annual subscription: €30.
This issue of the federalist review founded by Alexandre Marc includes an article by Jean-Pierre Gouzy on the genesis of the Treaties of Rome, while Jean-Jacques Rey, President of the Monetary Panel of the European Economic Cooperation League and former Director of Belgium's national bank, considers the possible emergence, less extravagant than it might appear at first sight (although it is unlikely to be seen for a while yet) of a 'global currency'.
(MT)
*** ShiftMag. Europe talks to Brussels. Ascii Communication (270 av. de Tervueren, B-1150 Brussels. Tel.: (32-2) 2355644 - Fax: 2355699 - E-mail: communication@ascii.be - Internet: http://www.ascii.be ). 2007, No. 1, 24 pp.
A European affairs communications company has launched this new quarterly publication (the first issue looks at nationalism and identity in Europe) to enter dialogue with citizens, who are invited to contribute to the review at http://www.shiftmag.eu.
(MT)
*** ERRATUM: In the English and Italian versions of European Library 9474/743 dated 24 July 2007, an unfortunate error slipped into the review of the book 'An Introduction to European Foreign Policy', which suggested that the author was the leader of the British Conservative Party, David Cameron. Readers will no doubt realise that the real author was Fraser Cameron, who is mentioned in the review three times…