REVIEW OF ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVES – NÁRODOHOSPODÁŘSKÝ OBZOR
VOL. 15, ISSUE 1, 2015, pp. 115–117
European Crossroads: A Review
Libor Žídek1
Among all the books about the European Union that have recently flooded the market,
there is one deserving our attention. Evropské křižovatky (European Crossroads) by
Hodač, Lacina and Strejček brings a mix of three different views on the contemporary
European Union. Such a global approach is undoubtedly interesting and offers useful
material for contemplating the current state and functioning of the crucial European
organization. The authors try to bring the EU nearer to the reader, and declare their
intention to avoid both excessive criticism and adoration of the EU. In practice, they
mostly critically evaluate and discuss the way institutions function and hot current problems.
But they point out the after-war integration successes as well. The broad intention
is not to show that the overall European project is doomed but to draw attention towards
weak spots in its functioning. The book is formally divided into six chapters, however,
there are three main chapters that were obviously written by different individual authors
(without authorship being specified). It is written in a readable style, mostly avoiding
repetition of well known facts – the authors do not have ambitions to cover all topics (in
a textbook form).
The first main chapter begins with a reminder of the initial integration conditions after
World War II and follows with discussion of the main integration milestones, which
mentions interesting (not well known) aspects, among others. The author consequently
deals with problems related to European integration, the changing role of Germany and
France in the integration process, the EU as a guarantor of peace on the continent, etc.
The respective topics are often relatively isolated collections of ideas about issues in
European history and current state of the integration.
The author of the second main chapter looks at the integration process more from the
position of the European institutions, and concentrates on the political and legal system
in the EU. Democratic deficit in the contemporary Union is the main idea that permeates
the whole chapter.. The author here expresses criticism of the role of the European
Parliament as well as the Commission. The former is generally presented as too weak
and the second as too strong. He also misses a strong European opposition. The chapter
generally provides a view on the functioning of the main European institutions and
offers ideas about future development with emphasis on the discussion about federalisation
of the EU.
1
Assistant professor at Masaryk University, Department of Economics, Faculty of Economics
and Administration. Address: Lipová 41a, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic. E-mail:
zidek@econ.muni.cz
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The third main chapter is dedicated to economic aspects of the integration process, and
highlights the consequences of the last economic crisis. The chapter includes an interesting
application of Hayek’s ideas on the European integration process and discussion
about the role of Germany. The author analyses the possibilities of future development
as well.
The following (and last) chapter condenses the previous findings of the individual authors.
The role of the EU is evaluated and balanced from the perspective of a nearly
seventy-year-long development. The authors pay attention, among others, to the position
of the EU in the world and the development of the Euro.
I have several comments regarding the general attitude of the book. I would personally
expect more of “detachment” from the topics – especially because the authors are (on
the contrary to many critics) experts in this field. Especially the authors of the first two
chapters are, in my view, too submerged in the current European problems and are not
able/willing to see the whole integration process from a perspective and distance. Such
approach results in an overly critical view in dealing with some topics. One of the examples
is that the first two authors repeatedly state that there are no common values
within the EU (and between the EU and the USA). On the other hand, though, the third
author mentions democracy, human rights, dealing with minorities, etc. – all these are in
my view very strong common values inside contemporary Europe (and are similar to the
values in the USA). I can personally hardly imagine stronger values in a society. Without
any doubts, there are differences among the countries as far as their attitudes towards
the role of the centre, strength of the government, openness to international trade,
etc. is concerned, but I deem them minor in comparison to the fundamental values on
which the cotemporary EU is based. Similarly, there are several critical comments about
a low level of knowledge about the EU matters among European inhabitants. I believe
that this is a stereotyped cliché: I am wondering whether there is any way to achieve a
higher level of awareness about European matters among population.
I would personally elaborate on what is labelled as “two-speed Europe” (instead of
concentrating on federalisation) to a greater extent and use the possibility offered by the
topic. It is mentioned only in the third part of the book. It is (in my view) a possibility
that is currently in fact developing (for example the Euro) and it seems to be a more
realistic future development direction than federalisation.
Additionally, I have one “technical” comment – the authors could have devoted more
space to explaining structures of their chapters. Also, they could have been more careful
in reasoning their interpretations at some places, as their statements occasionally seem
not to be justified well.
Despite my critical comments about the general form of the book, I can recommend it to
anyone interested in contemporary European matters. It provides the reader with useful
material for thinking about the integration process that we are all involved in. In practice,
it offers experts’ contemplation (without rigorous analysis) and this approach is the
book’s greatest asset as well as drawback.
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References
HODAČ, Jan; LACINA, Lubor; STREJČEK, Petr: Evropské křižovatky. Brno Barrister
& Principal, 2014, 181 pp., ISBN 978-80-7485-018-9.