Favourite EU books – mission impossible?

Cosmetic Uprise – UK and the EU had hardly returned to the Euroblog scene, when Mia Välimäki asked for the moon with regard to the European Union - a good read that doesn’t preach or teach: EU literature (23 October 2010).

This seemingly simple question was provocative and difficult enough to elicit comments from Eurogoblin, Gawain Towler and Nosemonkey, some of the best known Eurobloggers.

The question is relevant, but the replies are far from conclusive, so join the discussion on Cosmetic Uprise if you have ideas.

Four favourites

The question felt intriguing enough, so I fell into the trap as well; stopped for a minute to search my memory and to pick a few favourites from my bookshelf. Obviously, the legal stuff came nowhere near what Mia was looking for. The books had to be of general interest, so I thought about what I had enjoyed reading. Here is my reply:

Mia V,

As others have said, you didn’t ask for much, did you? But you left a back door open, by not explicitly requiring books in English.

It would be hard to describe them as “thrilling” or not trying to “teach”, but here are a few I have enjoyed.

Gerhard Brunn: Die Europäische Einigung von 1945 bis heute (republished by http://www.bpb.de)

Marie-Thérèse Bitsch: Histoire de la construction européenne – De 1945 à nos jours (Editions Complexe)

Bino Olivi & Alessandro Giacone: L’Europe difficile (Folio histoire in French; original in Italian)

Luciano Angelino: Le forme dell’Europa – Spinelli o della federazione (Il melangolo)

The morning after

This following morning an additional book has surfaced in my mind (despite much legal text):

Daniele Pasquinucci: Progetti di Costitutizione Europea – Dall’Assamblea “ad hoc” alla Dichiarazione di Laeken (Edizioni Unicopli)

I then remember that this autobiography is worth reading:

Jean Monnet: Mémoires 1-2 (Le Livre de Poche)

All in all, if not EU the institution, then at least European integration has produced a few memorable books for me. Notably, those mentioned were all written in another language than English.

If I want something inspiring in English, my mind travels to the other shore of the Atlantic: the Declaration of Independence, the Philadelphia Convention, the Constitution of the United States of America, and especially:

James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and John Jay: The Federalist Papers (various publishers)

It is hard to beat the Federalist’s mix of vision, courage and wisdom.




Ralf Grahn


P.S. Fondation Robert Schuman – Le centre de recherches sur l’Europe – describes itself in English as: the French think tank on Europe. The Schuman foundation publishes interesting reports and thoughts in French and English. If you haven’t done so, you should subscribe to its newsletter in French, English, Spanish or Polish.

EU Lisbon Treaty implementation: Slowly into practice

By now, many Europeans know that the EU Treaty of Lisbon (OJEU 9.5.2008 C 115) enters into force on 1 December 2009. However, the flurry of activities to take the first decisions to get the treaty up and running obscures the fact that many adjustments take effect only after transitional periods and that a number of new procedures have to be put into place before they become living law.

(At the end of this blog post we look at some French books on the Lisbon Treaty.)

Jean-Luc-Sauron offers us an opportune reminder of the gradual coming into effect of the Lisbon Treaty, on Diploweb, the French web site for geopolitics:



Jean-Luc Sauron: Le traité de Lisbonne : un traité à effet retardé ? (Diploweb.com, La revue géopolitique, 22 November 2009).


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Sauron’s article is a detailed but short compilation of the Lisbon Treaty provisions with “delayed action”, a handy reference for serious students.


Books on the Lisbon Treaty (in French)


Since the literature on the Lisbon Treaty is still small and the standard books on EU law and politics have not yet fully integrated the amendments of the reform treaty, I take the opportunity to remind readers of the general introduction written by Jean-Luc Sauron: Comprendre le Traité de Lisbonne (Gualino éditeur, 2008). The book offers an overview of the changes as well as the preliminary consolidated texts of the provisions.

Another introduction for the (more) general reader is Étienne de Poncins: Le traité de Lisbonne en 27 clés (Éditions Lignes de Repères, 2008).

A more detailed book, for teachers and students, is François-Xavier Priollaud & David Siritzky : Le traité de Lisbonne (LaDocumentation française, 2008).





Ralf Grahn



P.S. Do you find EUSSR myths fascinating? Are we EU citizens worth a better European Union? Read some or all of the 481 Euroblogs aggregated on multilingual Bloggingportal.eu. On most of the blogs you can comment and discuss our common European future.

Der Vertrag von Lissabon

Klemens H. Fischer has published his latest book on the development of the European treaties. This time Fischer deals with the Treaty of Lisbon and the process leading to the amending reform treaty.

The book “Der Vertrag von Lissabon – Text und Kommentar zum Europäischen Reformvertrag”, by Klemens H. Fischer (Nomos, Stämpfli Verlag and Verlag Österreich) describes the EU reform process and especially the IGC 2007 before it presents consolidated and annotated versions of the TEU and TFEU, including protocols and declarations.

The accompanying CD-Rom contains background material, the current treaties and three different consolidations of each amending treaty:

with amendments highlighted and footnotes,

with amendments highlighted and

a neutral consolidated version.

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Earlier Fischer has published books on the Treaty of Nice, the European Convention, the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe and the development of the European treaties,:

Der Vertrag von Nizza (2003)

Der Konvent zur Zukunft Europas (2003)

Der Europäische Verfassungsvertrag (2005)

Die Entwicklung des europäischen Vertragsrechts (2005)

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The new book on the Treaty of Lisbon means that you can follow half a century of development of the European treaties from Rome to Lisbon without leaving Fischer, especially taking into account the ample documentation offered on the CD-Roms.

I have used three of Fischer’s books, and in my opinion they contain competent summaries of the background as well as diligently compiled annotations on the provisions.

The reading portions, based on close observation, are suited to a wider German reading public, and the annotated treaty texts are a valuable source for serious students of European integration.


Ralf Grahn


See:

Klemens H. Fischer: Der Vertrag von Lissabon – Text und Kommentar zum Europäischen Reformvertrag; with CD-Rom; Nomos, Stämpfli Verlag and Verlag Österreich, 2008; price about 79 €

Updated Lisbon Treaty in English

Yesterday evening I received a positive message from Peadar ó Broin, of the Institute of International and European Affairs (Dublin, Ireland): An updated consolidated English version of the Treaty of Lisbon has been posted on the web site of the Institute:

http://www.iiea.com

A Gaelic version will be posted, soon. That would bring the number of readable language versions to eight out of 23 official EU languages.

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In addition, Peadar ó Broin’s message was heartening personally, too. I take the liberty to repeat it here:

“Dear Ralf,
Congratulations on your blog, a much needed information resource! Just to let you know that I have placed an updated edition of the Consolidated Treaties as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon on the website of the Institute of International and European Affairs ( www.iiea.com ). This is the English language edition; an edition in Irish Gaelic will be placed on the website shortly.
The Protocols, Charter and Declarations will also be available on the website in English, hopefully by tomorrow.
Good luck with your research and kind regards,
Peadar ó BROIN”

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I think that the citizens of the European Union are entitled to readable versions of the Reform Treaty, each in his or her language.

For the convenience of those readers who daily arrive at my blog, while looking for a consolidated version of the Treaty of Lisbon, I am going to present a summary of my findings so far:


Danish

Folketingets EU-Oplysning: Sammenskrevet udgave af udkastet til Lissabon-traktaten og det gaeldande traktatunderlag; Bind 1 Traktater, Bind 2 Protokoller og erklaeringer;
http://www.eu-oplysningen.dk/emner/reformtraktat/reform/sammenskrevet/


English

Institute of International and European Affairs (Ireland) updated version
http://www.iiea.com
Statewatch (professor Steve Peers)
http://www.statewatch.org
Markus Walther
http://www.mwalther.net/europa/eulaw-lisbon-mwalther.pdf


Finnish

Europe Information, of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, has promised a consolidated version during the spring.



French

Assemblée nationale : Rapport d’information sur les modifications apportées par le traité de Lisbonne au traité sur l’Union européenne et au traité instituant la Communauté européenne, par M. Axel Poniatowski ; No 439, 28 novembre 2007 ;
http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/13/pdf/rap-info/i0439.pdf


Gaelic

A consolidation in Irish Gaelic promised shortly by the Institute of International and European Affairs, Dublin.


German

Markus Walther: Das Primärrecht der Europäischen Union; Endfassung, Stand 18. Dezember 2007; (updated after signing)
http://www.mwalther.net/union.html


Hungarian

Two sources have reported that the Hungarian government has published a consolidation of the Lisbon Treaty, although I have not been able to verify it.


Spanish

Real Instituto Elcano (updated after signing; note the introductory study)
http://www.realinstitutoelcano.org


Swedish

Sieps – Svenska institutet för europapolitiska studier: Ladda ned Lissabonfördraget - Konsoliderad version av EU:s fördrag (pdf);
http://www.sieps.se

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I am most grateful if you want to share your knowledge on the Treaty of Lisbon with me and other EU citizens: consolidated versions, popular or scholarly literature and information on the ratification processes.


Ralf Grahn