*** ELIE BARNAVI: L'Europe frigide. Réflexions sur un projet inachevé. André Versaille publishing house (Centre Dansaert, 7 rue d'Alost, B-1000 Brussels. Internet: http://www.andreversailleediteur.com ). "Enjeux du XXIe siècle" series, No. 21. 2008, 162 pp, €12-90. ISBN 978-2-87495-020-9.
This short book is steeped in intelligence and refreshing wisdom in these times of one crisis after another, including the crisis of the EU indulging in a round of Irish spleen. It is dedicated to the memory of the great European and excellent friend, Bronislaw Geremek of Poland, which gives an idea of the spirit of the book. The author, Elie Barnavi is emeritus professor of history of the modern Western world at Tel Aviv University, who can only understand the European vicissitudes of the present by trying to set them against the backdrop of the long human adventure that marked the European continent. Like the illustrious late Geremek, the man who is now scientific advisor to the Museum of Europe dips into this perception in the course of a lengthy experience of strongly feeling he belonged to the revolutionary turning point that that is the European integration process. And it is like a jilted lover that he attempts in this brilliant, deeply personal and human essay "without oratorical precautions or any concern for political correctness, with the freedom of thought and tone that alone can ensure the ethics of deep convictions and political irresponsibility," to identify the languishing sickness that the European project is suffering from, exposing the roots of it and fingering those responsible. A jilted lover, certainly, but not the sort of man to give up easily, he suggests various areas of reflection in order to bypass this 'frigid Europe' of ours, namely a "lively, but cold and distant, reality," which "no longer inspires desire in its citizens and barely inspires desire in its lovers either".
The author starts by decrypting "the state of crisis" generated by the French and Dutch no votes, where he notes that he considers the attitudes of French sovreigntists to be more honourable than the attitude of Laurent Fabius and what he claimed was his "plan B": "how can such a brilliant man not understand that this posture would confine him in a niche from which no national destiny could ever emerge?" he asks treacherously. He explains next that the last round of EU enlargement revealed an identity crisis that Europe has become starkly aware of, before going on to discuss the relative controversy about 'Christian roots' in a dispassionate manner and "the tools of a historian". Tools that enable this former Israeli ambassador to Paris to write: "Yes, Europe has been Christian, and one would condemn oneself to understanding nothing about what it used to be and what it has become if one stubbornly removes from its history such a vital element of its identity". He adds that secularism itself is part of the Christian heritage, as is freedom of conscience, which started as "the business of Christian humanists, Erasmus, Castiglione et al, sickened by the acrid stink of autodafés". No doubt this will not find favour among some in the secular movement, who are answered in advance by this question: "In the name of what archaic concept of history do people imagine that honestly stating what has been shall determine forever what one is or describe what one wishes to be?"
Elie Barnavi therefore gives us 'his' truth, and it is a truth that may set some readers' teeth on edge, in which the elegance of his writing never masks the raw truth of his convictions. He talks, for example, of a "civilisation that does not know itself," unveiling the historical whys and wherefores, foundations and innovations of this civilisation - rationality, freedom, secularity, solidarity, equality, democracy ("a democratic culture cannot be cobbled together in a few years and cannot be exported in the hold where fighter planes keep their bombs," he observes), patriotism, and diversity, on whose account some people tend these days to "throw themselves into the arms of demagogues who constantly trash the nation in the interests of a parochial nationalism which may be regional but is for all that, no less aggressive, xenophobic and, at the end of the day, dangerous these days than its national version". There follows a dazzling argument in favour of the building of the European Union's frontiers "where history meets geography," therefore excluding in the author's eyes Russia and Turkey (with regard to Turkey, "the leaders of Europe have demonstrated irresponsibility," he asserts), along also with Israel as well, even though "Zionists fled Europe in order to take it with them more strongly". Immigration, relations with countries around the Mediterranean Sea, multiculturalism versus diversity, the ambiguous role of Europe in the world due to its incompleteness from the political, diplomatic and military viewpoint ("Disunited and weak, like a rich, benevolent but toothless NGO, its adversaries will walk all over it and it will be ignored by its partners and regarded as small fry by its US ally," warns the author) are other subjects covered by the author in the same spirit of total freedom, which is constant food for thought, often winning the argument.
To sum up, Elie Barnavi develops "seven action principles to create Europe once and for all": accepting the world the way it is in order to get it to change ("Standing in the way of unification of Europe under the pretext that it is being created in the mould of liberalism is not only refusing to look economic reality in the face (economic reality is stone deaf to the words spoken by Attac), but it also leaves the way clear for ultra-liberalism," a comment that is so significant in this period we are living through); understanding Europe as it is, in order to be able to better unify it (the author says the conditions for the United Kingdom to be "reintegrated" back into Europe are in place); admitting that Europe in the current form is incapable of making a single step forward, in order to make progress through strengthened cooperation; "ceasing to turn Europe into an absurd creature - in order to get it to finally go through the sacred door of politics" and spare oneself from appearing like an "often ridiculous and sometimes nasty nitpicker"; giving Europe a soul "in order to win over the soul of its citizens," which happens notably by use of the symbols erased by Tony Blair with the complicity of his peers on the European Council who, in this manner, "proved that all of them together could not match the weight of a London tabloid"; defining European rules of conduct "to ensure that the European project does not pass into female hands" (sic), which happens in the author's view by leaving the club of countries which cannot or will not comply to its rules. Finally, "in order for Europe to quite simply be," making Europe into a grand ambition again, which requires a return to the ideal that "is not there to be achieved but to provide a meaningful horizon," and hence through a return to the agenda of the "Founding Fathers' federal project".
Michel Theys
*** BRUNO LIEBHABERG: Rénover la gauche en Europe. Pour une gauche réformiste européenne. Éditions Luc Pire (37-39 quai aux Pierres de Taille, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2108950 - Fax: 2108959 - Internet: http://www.lucpire.eu ). 2008, 123 pp, €14. ISBN 978-2-507-00152-0.
In this book, two and a half dozen Belgian and European leading politicians, trade unionists and academics look at how the descent into electoral hell experienced by the Left almost everywhere in the European Union can be halted. Following on from a seminar organised by the "Gauche réformiste européenne" reflection group, the book is instructive in that it casts a critical eye over some views expressed by Socialists and other Social Democrats who, heirs to the past, are out of step with contemporary society. Speaking with different accents at times but always converging with one another, the authors call for a renewal of "progressive thought" in order to lay the bases for a "new social pact" in Member States and also at European level: "If Europe does not engage more determinedly in the preparation of this pact, European peoples will turn away from the European project. An era of massive political instability with disastrous economic and social consequences would then unroll," explains Bruno Liebhaberg in the introduction. Liebhaberg, who used to work in Jacques Delors' cabinet, chairs "Gauche réformiste européenne". He adds that "by its attitude, notably to public services, the current European Commission is taking a huge risk in this connection". The current global financial and economic crisis is no doubt shaking up some old dogmas, including among EU Commissioners. At any rate, it makes the appeal of several authors even more audible for ever greater numbers of people, including in leading circles, when they write that "politics has to reinvent itself where the market economy has falsely claimed the right to rule the world". The crisis confers absolute relevance to Bruno Liebhaberg's regret that "one had to wait for banks to go bust and for stock markets to enter meltdown before tighter regulation of financial intermediaries became more acceptable, corresponding to the unlimited creativity of these intermediaries". For parties on the Left, the crisis has something positive in it - it has also shaken up what has been the dominant "pensée unique" for two decades, as long, that is, as these parties on the Left do not get sucked back into their old archaic ways.
(PBo)
*** The Federalist. A Political Review. Edif (8 Villa Glori, I-27100 Pavia. Internet: http://www.thefederalist.eu ). 2008, No. 1, 94 pp. Annual subscription: €35 (Europe), €50 (elsewhere).
This issue of the publication close to the Movimento Federalista Europeo has a strong economic bent because, as the introduction explains, globalisation has brought politics to the forefront and Europe was the only body capable (as long it has the political courage to make progress) of paving the way for a world government. The same theme reappears in a study of Altiero Spinelli's ideas on the European socio-economic model. Another article looks at the current changes, particularly in France, in reflecting on how Europe can ensure its security and freedom of action.
(MT)
*** The Federalist Debate. Papers on Federalism in Europe and the World. Einstein Center for International Studies (26 via Schina, I-10144 Turin. Tel/Fax: (+39-011) 4732843 - Email: federalist.debate@libero.it - Internet: http://www.federalist.debate.org ). 2008, No. 2, 64 pp. Annual subscription: €15.
The editorial at the start of this issue of this well-known federalist publication invited Europe (back in the summer), when the international financial crisis was only beginning, to resolutely take the initiative to gain control over globalisation run riot by managing it using federal institutions that should be set up as soon as possible at global level. Member of the Union of European Federalists and President of the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti in Italy, Alfonso Iozzo recommends here that an international 'Community' for the environment and energy be set up with powers inspired by the powers of the European Coal and Steel Community. On the monetary front, in order to 'guarantee the balanced development of globalisation,' the columnist recommends that the Europe of Eurogroup puts the stability of the euro at the disposal of the international community, particularly Asian countries, to put a stop to the unilaterally egotistical appetites displayed by the United States in its management of the dollar. If the European Union 'were able both to promote and itself take the first steps on the road to a solid international currency, this would be the clearest demonstration that, if Europeans unite, they can make an enormous contribution to the creation of a more peaceful world,' writes Alfonso Iozzo, urging the President of the European Commission to be the person coming forward with initiatives (comments that will not find favour with the current President in exercise of the European Council, Nicolas Sarkozy). Continuing in the same vein, Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, president of the "Our Europe" group set up by Jacques Delors, invites readers to think about internationalisation, taking account of the fact that the rules have to come from a solid political sphere. The special dossier in this issue looks at the state of the European Union of the Lisbon Treaty vis-à-vis the federal model, with essays from the chair of the European Parliament's Constitutional Committee, Jo Leinen, and erstwhile European Commissioner Peter Sutherland.
(MT)
*** LUCIO LEVI: Federalist Thinking. University Press of America (4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706, USA. Tel: (1-800) 4626420 - Internet: http://www.univpress.com ). 2008, 160 pp. ISBN 978-0-7618-3922-4.
Lecturer in politics and comparative politics at Turin University in Italy, Lucio Levi is one of the greatest specialists and contemporary federalist activists. He works within both the Union of European Federalists (UEF) and the Global Federalist Movement, and edits "The Federalist Debate" review. Here, in the English translation of a book initially published in Italian ("Il pensiero federalista"), he explains the foundations and gradual assertion of federalist thought. Prof. Levi starts by looking at what was sparked off by Hamilton, Jay and Madison's publication "The Federalist" and the ensuing Philadelphia Convention. He explains that 'only with the Constitution of the United States does the history of federalism begin'. The initial formulation of various essential elements of federalist theory as a global political project is to be found in the writings of Kant, like his ideas for lasting peace that the author considers in order to draw out the 'federalist component of the French Revolution'. Prof. Levi then considers federalism and the criticism of the limits of the national state in the 1800s in the light of such matters as Proudhon, Frantz and Seeley, along with the Italian Risorgimento. The last two chapters look at the crisis of nation states and the question of European unity against the backdrop of the First World War and various federalist bodies since the Second World War (the crisis in the institutional approach, integral federalism as an ideology and global federalism). Crucial reading for anyone who does has not rejected federalism out of hand for ideological reasons!
(MT)
*** 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. 348, 160 pp, €12. Annual subscription: €30.
This issue of the review set up by Alexandre Marc, the high priest of integral federalism, opens with an editorial linking up a major topical issue, the integration of markets, with the big institutional question facing the European Union since the Irish rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, noting that suitable responses can only be provided at the level of strong European political governance. Alongside the usual columns, there are three studies on European concerns of huge interest, namely sustainable development (Hartmut Marhold, director of the 'Centre international de formation européenne' explains its integration potential), energy policy in the light of the provisional entry into force of the treaty of the Energy Charter, and policy in respect of past events.
(PBo)