*** FRANCOIS-XAVIER PRIOLLAUD, DAVID SIRITZKY: Le traité de Lisbonne. Texte et commentaire article par article des nouveaux traités européens (TEU - TGUE). La Documentation française (29-31 quai Voltaire, F-75344 Paris Cedex 07. Tel: (33-1) 40157000 - Fax: 40157230 - Internet: http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr ). 2008, 528 pp, €21. ISBN 978-2-11-007100-2.
Written by two administrators at the French national assembly who lecture on European issues at the 'Institut d'Etudes Politiques' in Paris (David Siritzky is also a registrar at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg), this book will be a godsend for anyone needing to find their way around the so-called 'simplified' Lisbon Treaty. In the form of a series of amendments to the current EU treaties, namely the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) which it renames the 'Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'), the Lisbon Treaty is basically a continuation of the draft constitution scuttled by the French and Dutch no votes but without the clarity and readability of the constitution and help is therefore required to understand the scope and innovations of the Lisbon Treaty without getting bogged down in an ocean of legal quibbling.
In this godsend of a book, François-Xavier Priollaud and David Siritzky provide remarkable clarity and precision. Their article-by-article commentary on the two updated treaties also provides a consolidated version of them, drawn up using the provisional version published by the Council on 15 April 2008, which is extremely useful in that the official version will not become available until after the Lisbon Treaty comes into force. It has been rejected by the Irish and is still open for adjustments around the margins. In terms of readability, the book is exemplary because the amendments and additions provided by the Lisbon Treaty are printed in blue. To avoid unnecessary complications, the authors did not include the repealed measures. Alongside each article of the treaty, there is a link to the article(s) in the amended treaties and a table of comparisons between the old and new treaties at the end of the book. Each article in the Treaty on the European Union (most of whose measures are new) is subject to a separate commentary, but the treaty on the functioning of the EU is commented on a section by section, chapter by chapter basis, giving the reader a thematic presentation of each policy and institution. The new protocols accompanying the treaty are included and the declarations annexed to the two treaties are either included directly in the relevant articles or at the end of the book, where there is a general commentary on Charter of Fundamental Rights.
To illustrate the useful nature of this book, I will take the example (not a wholly innocent, choice, I admit) of Article 50 of the TEU. This is a new five-point article (therefore printed in blue) in which the EU recognises for the first time the voluntary and unilateral right of any Member State to leave the EU. The authors explain that this shows that the European Union is not a federal state. Instead, it is a federation of sovereign states which retain the option of being free to leave, which attenuates somewhat the statement that the EU is an 'ever closer union of the peoples of Europe' (Art. 1 of the TEU). After explaining how this right to withdraw was controversial and how it is 'virtually unpackaged', the authors point out that the hypothesis of automatic withdrawal in the event of refusal to ratify a treaty by one or more Member States was mooted by François Lamoureux and the authors of the Penelope Project submitted to Romano Prodi, who was President of the European Commission at the time. The writers of the Lisbon Treaty did not include this clause, but the authors argue that the existence of Article 50 clearly opens the door politically to the option, in the event of a refusal to revise the treaties (rejection of the new treaty in a referendum, for example), of a Member State deciding to leave the EU…
Michel Theys
*** BENJAMIN ANGEL, FLORENCE CHALTIEL-TERRAL: Quelle Europe après le traité de Lisbonne? Etablissements Emile Bruylant (67 rue de la Régence, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5129842 - Fax: 5119477 - email: jean@bruylant.be - Internet: http://www.bruylant.be ) et LGDJ (Montchrestien, Lextenso éditions, 33 rue du Mail, F-75081 Paris Cedex 02. Internet: http://www.lextenso-editions.fr ). 2008, 196 pp, €28. ISBN 978-2-275-03335-8.
This book combines reflections by an academic specialist on EU issues lecturing at the 'Institut d'Etudes Politiques' of Grenoble, Florence Chaltiel-Terral, and a Head of Unit at the European Commission, Benjamin Angel (who was a member of the Silguy, Solbes and Almunia cabinets) on the Lisbon Treaty's contributions and the future of the EU's main policies. Entitled 'What future for EU policies?', the first part of the book looks at the question of enlargement, the EU's finances, social Europe, the EU's presence on the world military and diplomatic stage, and energy and environmental issues, concluding with answers to the question of what type of democracy the EU should have. In the second part, the authors look at what the Lisbon Treaty provides, their feeling being that it will make a broadly positive contribution but will only be a 'transitional' treaty calling for more over-arching collective thought on what the future of Europe. The authors then assess the challenges of the French Presidency from a mindset described by the late Bronislaw Geremek in the preface when he writes that the book's message seems to him to be firstly, that people attached to the European project cannot remain passive, well-wishing observers but should, on the contrary, become committed onlookers and demanding, critical partners of the European project. There is no other way to preserve the important gains of this half century of the EU apart from coming up with a valid future plan for it, writes Geremek. Unfortunately, his preface reads today like a final will and testament today…
(MT)
*** JACQUES ZILLER (Ed.): L'Union européenne. Edition Traité de Lisbonne. La Documentation française (see above). "Les notices" series. 2008, 215 pp, €23. ISBN 978-2-11-007121-7.
This large format book is a mine of information and useful explanations about the European project, from its origins until the present day! Various figureheads from French academia and other researchers describe very clearly the 'community of law' that is the Union of European Communities (ranging from the six-country Economic Community to the 27-country European Union, the Lisbon Treaty, the EU institutions, Europe of the regions and local communities, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, European citizenship and the area of freedom, justice and security), the common economic area (the Common Market, the 'four freedoms' and consumer protection), competition policy, Economic and Monetary Union, EU regulations on network industries, the civil service and EU law, Europe and industry) and common policies and challenges (farming and the Common Agricultural Policy, Europe and the United States, blue Europe, regional policy, Europe and climate change, the EU's environment policy, social Europe, healthcare Europe, a stock-take of the Lisbon Strategy, the EU and culture, foreign policy, trade policy, the EU and development aid, defence Europe, and the presence and influence of France in Europe). A very comprehensive book which will be a veritable godsend for many students, who will certainly not be the only readers to benefit from its.
(MT)
*** ELVIRE FABRI, GAETANE RICARD-NIHOUL (Eds.): Think Global - Act European. The Contribution of European Think Tanks to the French, Czech and Swedish Trio Presidencies of the European Union. Fondation pour l'innovation politique (137 rue de l'Université, F-75007 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 47536700 - Fax: 44183765 - email: contact@fondapol.org - Internet: http://www.fondapol.org ) and Notre Europe (41 bd des Capucines, F-75002 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 44589797 - Fax: 44589799 - email: info@notre-europe.eu - Internet: http://www.notre-europe.eu ). 2008, 331 pp. ISBN 978-2-917613-08-5.
The Foundation for Political Innovation and the Notre Europe association have taken the initiative to bring together three reflection groups in a 'Think Global - Act European' project. At this crucial time in the European adventure (the Irish no vote even makes it an existential question), this book of essays makes recommendations to the new threesome of Council presidencies, beginning on 1 July 2008 with France, followed by the Czech Republic on 1 January 2009 and Sweden on 1 July 2009. Looking in turn at various themes connected with the Lisbon Treaty, like democracy and the budget on the one hand, and growth (the Lisbon Strategy, the Common Market, social Europe, and Economic and Monetary Union) and areas like justice, security, sustainable development, the role of Europe in the world, on the other, the authors urge France, the Czech Republic and Sweden to consolidate existing EU policies, bring European solidarity to life and develop a programme to enable the EU to turn into a global player.
(PBo)
*** PIERRE DU BOIS: Histoire de l'Europe monétaire 1945-2005. Euro comme Ulysse. Presses Universitaires de France (6 av. Reille, F-75685 Paris Cedex 14. Tel: (33-1) 58103100). 2008, 249 pp.
The euro has been part of the financial landscape since it was created on 1 January 1999, when the currencies of the eleven countries that joined the euro at the start ceased to exist as currencies in their own right, becoming simply subdivisions of the European single currency. National banknotes and coins remained legal tender in the countries concerned until the introduction of new euro notes and coins on 1 January 2008. This historic event marked the end of a long process of cooperation and conflict, sometimes epic in scale, characterised by crisis, disinformation campaigns, the spreading of rumours and treacherous statements, explains the author. The process is described in a fervent, lively manner by Pierre Du Bois, an eminent professor in the history of international relations at the 'Institut Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales' in Geneva, who died recently and to whom we would like to pay tribute.
The author looks back over the events and crossing of paths that led up to monetary integration in Europe from the end of the Second World War to the present day. A history which experienced several different stages - restoring normal monetary conditions after WW2, an international monetary system underpinned by the US dollar, the formulation of new ambitions for Europe during problems and disorder in the 1970s, drawing up the Maastricht Treaty in a Europe that was being re-united, and the birth of Economic and Monetary Union and the euro. Economic and financial factors gradually crossed paths with national policies and the destiny of figureheads who helped to forge history, alongside tempestuous debates among experts under the watchful eye of the media and public opinion. Based on a wide variety of source material and written in a rigorous pedagogical style, Prof. Du Bois' book is essential reading for anyone interested in the origins of a project that changed Europe and might have huge repercussions on the global economy. An instructive, enlightening essay written in sparkling style and with undeniably successful contents, which cannot fail to become a reference work in the field.
(PMa)
*** ELIN BENGTSSON, CAROLINE BOUDERGUE: "We the peoples of Europe". Les bonnes pratiques qui font l'Europe. Éditions Publisud (15 rue des Cinq Diamants, F-75013 Paris. Tél.: (33-1) 45807850 - Fax: 45899415 - Email: publisud.editions@cegetel.net). 2008, 126 p., 26 €. ISBN 978-2-86600-874-1.
Lively and colourful, this publication thought up by the 'Centre d'Étude et de Prospective Stratégique' provides some examples of best practice implemented by the EU on the ground through the action of ordinary people and non-governmental organisations. Whether in the field of democracy, the environment, culture, health or more besides, talents are put to the use of a Europe being forged in daily life. This book is an antidote to the cynicism of some and is a detailed answer to others who think that Europe stops in Brussels, explains the former President of the European Parliament who is now the president of the International European Movement, Pat Cox, welcoming this new type of political Europe in which people are taking power.
(PBo)
*** L'Europe en formation. Revue d'études sur la construction européenne et le fédéralisme - Journal of Studies on European Integration and Federalism. Centre international de formation européenne (10 av. des Fleurs, F-06000 Nice. Tel: (33-4) 93979397 - Fax: 93979398 - email: europe.formation@cife.eu - Internet: http: //http://www.europeenformation.eu ). 2008, No. 347, 128 pp, €12. Annual subscription: €30.
This review founded by the great European federalist, the late Alexander Marc, is a most pleasant and refreshing breath of fresh air. It has taken on a new, more refined updated format, meaning that the current issue comes as a pleasant surprise, particularly because the articles in it (and in the archives) will be available online in the autumn on the review's website. Jean-Pierre Gouzy looks back at when, at the age of 23, he attended The Hague Congress of 1948. He writes about the beginnings of the movements of players demanding participatory democracy rather than simply representative democracy, because the federalist Proudhon-based and personalist movement suggested sixty years ago in the Ridderzaal that non-parliamentary elements could be freely appointed by big economic, cultural and social organisations as the living force of European countries. Two other essays look at Turkey, with Robin Hagelberg studying the country from the geopolitical angle and Michel Herland from the unusual angle of the theory of justice. Abdelmajid Hallaoui makes a critical analysis of the way the World Trade Organisation operates, calling for it to be dissolved so a new body can be created to ensure better respect of the interests of all countries rather than only the Western world. (MT)