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The book by Luciano Bardi, Wojciech Gagatek, Carine Germond, Karl Magnus Johansson, Wolfram Keiser, Silvia Sassano, „The European Ambition. The Group of the European People’s Party and European Integration” is the result of the six authors’ cooperation and research on the evolution and activities of the Christian Democratic Group (CD) and then the European People’s Party (EPP). It constitutes a contribution to a series of publications analyzing the evolution of the European political groupings and their unique influence on the politics and development of the European Union. In the first part of the work, Wolfram Keiser characterizes the genesis, nature and evolution of the CD/EPP Group. In this chapter, author does not shy away from showing the political and historical background of the decisions made by the EPP. In the second chapter we find an in-depth analysis of the impact that the EPP had on the development of further institutional reforms and preparation of the EU treaties, including an exceptional impact on the constitutionalization and strengthening of the position of the European Parliament (EP). Carine Germond in the third part analyzes the role of the Group in creating and conducting policy within the European Union. She chose four most important areas: economic and monetary policy, social, ecological/environmental and agricultural policy for her analysis. Chapter four offers considerations on the impact and shaping of another important sphere – the EU’s external relations, including foreign security and defense, trade (including foreign trade), development policy and finally the EU enlargement policy. In chapter five, Luciano Bardi deals with the EPP from the perspective a political party and its influence on the development of the European party system. He placed the analysis of the EPP’s position as a key actor on the European Parliament’s party scene in the context of the EPP’s role in relations with EU institutions, in the foreground with the EP, but also with the Commission and the European Council. The work is based on the analysis of program documents, election manifestos of one of the most important political groups at the pan-European level, which have still the greatest influence on political decisions made in the EU. It must be stressed, this is valuable and very interesting work, and the reader will certainly not be disappointed with this publication. |
