*** DAVID SPENCE (Ed.): The European Union and Terrorism. John Harper Publishing (27 Palace Gates Road, London N22 7BW, UK. Tel: (44-20) 88814774 - E-mail: jhpublish@aol.com - Internet: http://www.johnharperpublishing.co.uk ). 2007, 268 pp. ISBN 978-0-9556202-0-1.
In the history of the European project, it is often problems - or even disasters and tragedies - that have given politicians the courage to digress from the complacent paths that sovereign Member States tend to travel down. The myriad of horror, death, destruction and disasters of the Second World War were needed for Schuman and Monnet to take their courage in both hands and produce the 'Declaration' that would lead on to the European Union. The tragedy of war was also needed to ensure their Declaration did not fall on deaf ears. More recently, the mad cow disease scandal was needed to enable Commissioner Emma Bonino to give life, body and substance to an EU consumer policy worthy of the name. 9-11 was required in the United States to get some politicians in the EU to understand that unity is the only way of getting the power required to counter the threat of terrorism …
It is the history of such awareness raising and the first moves to counter the terror threat that are discussed in this book, one of the first (if not the very first) to analyse both the threats posed by modern terrorism and the various instruments available to the European Union to meet them. Under the leadership of David Spence, political advisor to the European Commission Delegation to international bodies located in Geneva, a handful of experts from academia, the police and the institutions make a critical scientific analysis of the responses provided (or half-provided) by the EU and its Member States. The authors study issues like the domestic and foreign policy dimensions of the EU's approach to tackling terrorism, the EU's response to the radicalisation and recruitment of Islamist terrorists, judicial cooperation to counter terrorism, the institutional management of judicial cooperation, anti-terror policy within a truly multilateral framework, terrorism against the backdrop of transatlantic relations, and anti-terror intelligence strategy vis-à-vis respect of human rights. In the preface, Commissioner Franco Frattini is at pains to stress that the European counter-terror strategy is based on the 'absolute primacy' of law and respect for human rights, as set out in the European Charter of Human Rights and the European Charter of Fundamental Rights. There can be some distinctly unpleasant and disturbing practices and trends lurking, however, in the gap between theory and practice, however, which the authors investigate in the book.
In his conclusions, David Spencer comments that 9-11 and the irresistible rise of radical Islam have led European leaders to recognise the need to act at EU level to counter such threats, particularly since EU citizens are calling for such measures. All the same, the dropping of national sovereignty for common security issues continues to meet stiff resistance. No doubt we will have to wait for further disasters until, finally.…
Michel Theys
*** MARKUS GÜNTHER: Europol. Rechtsschutzmöglichkeiten und deren Vereinbarkeit mit nationalen und internationalen Anforderungen. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Schriften zum internationalen und zum öffentlichen Recht" series, No. 68. 2007, 296 pp, €52-80. ISBN 3-631-55710-8.
This law thesis for Marburg University in Germany nearly two years ago makes a highly in-depth study of the difficulties in protecting the individual civil liberties of people in the EU that might arise from the expansion of Europol's activities. Europol was set up by the EU Member States in order to develop common police surveillance methods to deal with the growing threats of international organised crime that extends beyond the borders of any particular country. It aims to provide a surveillance and information exchange system, along with analysis to back national police forces, but such cooperation can go off the rails in many respects, thereby restricting the protection of civil liberties. The long analysis in this book shows how the objections often made to expansion of the Europol system directly impact on national and international systems recently set up to protect individual rights under the United Nations Convention of Human Rights and in cases lodged in Member States' own legal systems. The conclusions show that when it comes to cooperation under Europol, priority is granted first and foremost to the power of countries to launch judicial proceedings rather than respect of the rights of the individuals concerned, which means that it is not always possible to meet the demands for effective protection of individuals' rights set out in either international or national law. The author therefore concludes that there is an urgent need to correct the system to avoid giving another string to the bow of the critics of the European project to enable them to demonstrate that there is a contradiction between the introduction of international cooperation under Europol and the introduction of a genuine system of freedom, security and justice in the European Union.
(GFr)
*** NINA-LOUISA AROLD: The Legal Culture of the European Court of Human Rights. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers (Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, Pays-Bas. Internet: http://www.brill.nl ). "The Raoul Wallenberg Institute Human Rights Library" series, No. 29. 2007, 211 pp, €115. ISBN 978-90-04-16067-5.
The European Court of Human Rights is not as well-known in the EU as the European Court of Justice but is gaining ground on the European stage. Covering an ever greater number of countries (and therefore of people) in Europe, cases can be taken directly to the European Court of Human Rights by individuals under the Council of Europe's European Convention of Human Rights, which is not the case for the Court of Justice. The European Court of Human Rights remains largely unknown, however. The author of this guide aims to shed light on the work of the Court's forty-six judges, looking at how they work together despite coming from often very different backgrounds. Nina-Louisa Arold looks with this in mind at rulings issued by the Court of Human Rights in its first years of permanent activity (the study therefore only covers the 41 judges working back then) in order to determine whether a specific legal culture can be discerned. Divided into six chapters, the book opens with an explanation of the origins and development of human rights in Europe and an explanation of the methodology used in the study. The author then studies the origins of the European Court of Human Rights from its creation to its expansion. The third part of the book explains how the Court operates and is structured. The fourth chapter is a series of interviews with the Court's judges, explaining their legal and political backgrounds and vocations. This is followed by an analysis of the Court's rulings in which the author studies whether the origins of the judges influence the decisions. Nina-Louisa Arold concludes by generally confirming that the European Court of Justice really does have its own legal mentality and the different backgrounds from which its judges are culled therefore do not hinder how the Court operates.
(NDu)
*** SONJA SCHÜLER: Integration duch Demokratisierung? Die Minderheitensituation der Roma in Bulgarien seit 1989. Peter Lang (see above). "Europäische Hoschschulschriften - European University Studies - Publications universitaires européennes", No. 521. 2006, 342 pp, €52-80. ISBN 3-631-54305-0.
Starting from the example of the Roma (gypsies) in Bulgaria, the author aims to raise readers' awareness of the difficult, underprivileged situation facing minority groups in former Communist countries. It is clear that under the Communists, the status of ethnic minorities did not allow them to express their own identity or find a role in social and economic life. Sonja Schüler explains that the collapse of the iron curtain in 1989/90 only accentuated these problems because for vast swathes of the gypsy communities in Eastern Europe, the change of regime actually led to even greater poverty and greater misery, encouraging the development of new types of exclusion that affected them to a greater extent than other ethnic groups. This problem is illustrated in detail through the Bulgarian situation and the analysis leads to a series of recommendations for new policies in education, employment and anti-discrimination. The role of stakeholders outside Bulgaria is also highlighted and, in this connection, the author quotes a comment on the important role played by pressure from the European Union in Romania's and Bulgaria's EU accession talks: "If it were not for the European Union, the governments of these countries would have done nothing for the Gypsies". An interesting illustration of the impact of European unification on those left behind by nationalism …
(GFr)
*** ELISABETH HAUN: The Externalisation of Asylum Procedure. An Adequate EU Refugee Burden Sharing System? Peter Lang (see above). "European University Studies - Europäische Hoschschulschriften - Publications Universitaires Européennes", No. 540. 2007, 130 pp, €25-70.
ISBN 978-3-631-56277-2.
Every year, thousands of people, mainly from Africa, attempt to cross the Mediterranean to find refuge in Europe. These crossings lead to many accidents and tragedies that draw media attention. In 2003, Tony Blair mooted the idea of setting up refugee camps outside the EU, by which he meant in North African countries. A year later, German interior minister Otto Schily backed the idea. In practice, this means that the EU would lease land beyond the borders of the EU on which it would process asylum requests. At first sight, this would be a simple and effective system but Elisabeth Haun argues that in-depth study is required because although most EU Member States back some such solution outside the EU, most organisations oppose the idea. Returning first of all to the idea of burden-sharing so beloved of the European Commission but welcomed in a highly divergent manner by the Member States, the author goes on to look at the strengths and weaknesses of 'external' asylum procedures from the legal, humanitarian and political points of view. Are such procedures effective? Do they guarantee fairness among different countries? At the end of her research, the political scientist author comments that such external refugee camps would not be appropriate from the legal and humanitarian viewpoint, but would be suitable in terms of political utility and, in some circumstances, in terms of economic efficiency. This book is characterised by a desire to be neutral and provides vital information for readers wishing to understand the ins and outs of an external refugee camp system.
(TBa)
*** MERCEDES CANDELA SORIANO, GEORGES DE LEVAL (Eds.): Espace judiciaire européen. Acquis et enjeux futurs en matière civile. Editions Larcier (De Boeck & Larcier, 39 rue des Minimes, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-10) 482500 - Fax: 482519 - E-mail: commande@deboeckservices.com - Internet: http://www.larcier.com ). 2007, 382 pp. ISBN 978-2-8044-2646-0.
Of all the changes that can be put down to European integration, free circulation of individuals is certainly one of the best known and most used. Member States, and Belgium in particular given the role played by Brussels, have experienced an often sustained rise in the number of people from other Member States coming to their country. This mobility encourages a mixing and matching of cultures and other very important exchanges, but also highlights several gaps in the legal system because Member States' legal and administrative systems do not always coincide and can even hinder the free circulation of individuals and businesses. In order to remedy this problem, the EU is trying to establish a European civil cooperation system to improve access to justice, promote mutual recognition of legal decisions and improve convergence in the field of procedural law. Following collaboration among several leading lights in academia, this book describes and analyses the legal tools set up to this end in the domains of competence, mutual recognition and the enforcement of court rulings. After an analysis of the European judicial cooperation framework, the authors study practical problems facing these measures when it comes to implementing them in Belgium, whether in terms of the idea of a place of normal residence, cross-border legal aid or the European transmission of judicial documents.
(NDu)
*** Etat du phénomène de la drogue en Europe. 2007 Annual Report. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (23-25 rua da Cruz de Santa Apolónia, P-1149-045 Lisbon. Tel: (351) 218 113000 - Fax: 218131711 - E-mail: info@emcdda.europa.eu - Internet: http://www.emcdda.europa.eu - Distribution: EU Publications Office - Internet: http: //bookshop.europa.eu). 2007, 95 pp. ISBN 978-92-9168-292-8.
Published in Turkish, Norwegian and all official EU languages, this 2007 Annual Report by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, set up by the EU in 1993 to collect and analyse information on illegal drug use and drug addition, gives an overview of the situation in 2007. It provides reliable, comparable facts and figures, whose scientific nature ensures the highest level of credibility. The Annual Report shows, for example, that Europe is playing an ever increasing role in backing global efforts to reduce drug issues, that risk reduction is an explicit aspect of the EU's approach, services for drug-users are still not properly provided in prisons, the popularity of cannabis seems to have reached a peak but use of cocaine is continuing to rise. Moreover, use of heroin remains stable but use of synthetic drugs is on the rise. The Annual Report also looks at the question of HIV and hepatitis C.
(PBo)