Book Review: Europe in another light –By Dr Amjad Parvez

Nai Aalami Taaqat
By Ansar Mahmood Bhatti
Akaas Publishers Islamabad; Pp 372

When we look at the original composition of the European Union (EU), it comprised Germany, France, Luxemburg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy, United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Ireland and Greece. In 2004, the additions were Poland, Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus. In 2007, Romania and Bulgaria were added. The candidate countries are Turkey, Croatia and Macedonia. Ansar Mahmood Bhatti has written a book titled, Nai Aalami Taaqat, which comprises his articles written from 2005 to 2009 in a local daily. “The book is reflective of the EU’s performance and its democratic rules,” says Emilian Ion, the Ambassador of Romania, on this book. It is definitely not an easy task to start writing on international relations. One needs to be confident about their comprehension of such issues. “That, in itself, needs to be praised as far as Bhatti’s effort is concerned,” says scholar and writer Safdar Mahmood.

Regarding the entry of some East European countries to the EU umbrella on May 1, 2004, these countries did make some gains on the economic front, but this move gave birth to some differences as well. The EU should, therefore, think twice before taking in more countries. The relationship between NATO and the EU deteriorated, says the author in his column dated December 13, 2006. The entry of Cyprus to the EU and the differences between Turkey and Greece over their respective portions of Cyprus created problems. Turkey stated that it would not lift its veto rights unless the EU released its promised 259 million euro package for Northern Cyprus. Bhatti concludes that relations between NATO and the EU are dependent on how the US uses NATO as a trans-Atlantic security forum. The US would have to think long and hard to remove the EU’s impression that NATO had become an outfit of the US. Similarly, the offer from Turkey to open its airport for the Greeks should have been made use of by Cyprus, says Bhatti. Regarding NATO, Bhatti feels that the only respectable way out for NATO is to try setting up a government in Afghanistan that has a consensus of all factions in that country. Bhatti adds in his column on May 5, 2006 that American allies in Europe are in a dilemma on how to convince their respective people that the US is not a bad country. The exit of Soya Berlusconi’s government in Italy, the dwindling Tony Blair government in the UK (at that time), relations with France being at their lowest ebb and Germany’s cautious attitude, all were a matter of worry at the time he wrote this column.

Other countries, besides Pakistan, are also victims of the ‘do more’ mantra. Bhatti discusses Turkey in this regard in his column dated November 26, 2008. The EU report on Turkey extends its reservations of Abdullah Gul’s election and the issue of the head scarf by women as the ban on wearing it had been lifted by the Turkish parliament. Some believe that to keep Turkey in the ‘do more’ assault, the EU desired to keep it away from its entry into the EU. It had always been a strong belief of Turks and other friendly countries that, being a Muslim country, its entry to the EU would be postponed on one pretext or the other. On March 12, 2008, Bhatti wrote that chances existed of Cyprus — which had been divided into Turkish and Greek Cyprus in 1974 — being united due to the Akel party winning the presidential polls in February 2008. The author proposes that lessons should be learnt from the split in the Belgian type of government and the UN plan for the unity of Cyprus could be adopted. Greek Cyprus had nothing to lose as it was already in the EU.

The first portion of the book under review, if read in the sequence it has been compiled, would give one an insight of political and economic happenings in EU countries, whether in France, Russia’s expansionist policies, Europe’s growing power and American reservations, Turkey’s civilian government, Pakistan’s efforts to improve its relations with the EU’s new constitution, its differences with the Reform Treaty and the future of the EU. In the context of the latter topic, I will refer to an article by Vaclav Klaus, recently published in The Cato Institute, where he questions when the Eurozone will collapse. Coming from the President of the Czech Republic, this is worrisome. His first paragraph is quoted herewith, “As a long-standing critic of the concept of a single European currency, I have not rejoiced at the current problems in the Eurozone that threaten the very survival of the euro.” He further defines the word “collapse” giving two interpretations; the first suggests that the Eurozone project, which established a common European currency, has collapsed already by failing to bring about the positive effects it had promised. Earlier studies promised that the euro would help accelerate economic growth and reduce inflation, and, in particular, the expectation that the member states of the Eurozone would be protected against unfavourable economic disruptions. Vaclav adds that nothing like that happened as the economic growth of member countries slowed down when compared to major economies such as the US and China. To top it all off, not even the expected convergence of the inflation rates in the Eurozone countries has taken place. As a matter of fact, two distinct groups emerged from low inflation countries like Spain, Greece, Portugal, Ireland and others. In this regard, Vaclav quotes the December 2009 speech by the chief economist of the European Central Bank, Otmar, where it was stated that the creation of the EU was a political decision and that it did not take into account the suitability of the whole group of countries for a single currency project. Vaclav further discusses the hidden costs of the euro. This angle highlighted by the President of the Czech Republic is an eye-opener.

The second portion of the book, titled, ‘Qaumi amoor’ comprises Pakistan’s relations with Latin America, President Musharraf’s speech to the Jewish Congress, good governance, our image abroad, human smuggling, the Shanghai Declaration, Musharraf and Hitler, western propaganda against extremism, Islamophobia, the EU’s impression of the election of 2008, an apt time for the solution of Kashmir, relations with Holland and a new look at our relations with Europe. A comprehensive article on international organisations comprises the third portion of the book under review. Special mention must be made of the compromising OIC. On March 7, 2007 the author wrote that omitting Syria and Iran from the OIC Conference in Islamabad on February 25, 2007 was a strange phenomenon. It was time for the OIC to remove differences among Muslim member states. Bhatti writes on the proposed joint army of the OIC countries to cater to crisis prevention as the west had started taking Muslims for granted.

Dr Javed Asghar of Government College, Jehanian, states in the flap of this book that Ansar, basically a journalist who normally writes in English, has deviated successfully by writing the book in Urdu, which could serve as a guideline for the students of current affairs.

The reviewer is based in Lahore and can be reached at doc_amjad@hotmail.com