European Objects: The Troubled Dreams of Harmonization by Brice Laurent (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by:

• European Objects: The Troubled Dreams of Harmonization by Brice Laurent
• Yaman Kouli (bio)

European Objects: The Troubled Dreams of Harmonization By Brice Laurent. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2022. Pp. 280.

European regulation can be the source of much laughter. Be it the size of cucumbers, the form of bananas, or the General Data Protection Regulation, virtually everybody has a story to tell on the tediousness of European regulation. Ironically, however, there is a good argument to be made that European harmonization works well, even if it is not perfect. In his translated habilitation (and second book), European Objects, Brice Laurent takes on the task to better understand what the obstacles of the "troubled dreams of harmonization" were. The main focus of this publication is on "disentanglement," i.e., the reduction of differences of objects within the European Union in order to make them transferable across the entire single market.

In general, the book shows that what sounds trite in theory turns out to be a complicated endeavor in practice. Laurent argues that there are two different "dreams of harmonization" (p. 16). The first covers disentanglement, which is the idea that goods can circulate freely on the European market. The second refers to the expectation that goods can be described scientifically, objectively, and therefore via a universal language. As Laurent shows, this is not easy. In his analysis, the author looks at different cases. One of them concerns agricultural, "local" products like Greek feta and prosciutto di Parma. Another case is energy. EU member-states have distinct energy supplies. Nonetheless, "that the many physical, economic, and legal ties in which energy is caught make this objective challenging has not transformed the expectation" (p. 74). This in turn affects the goals to reduce CO2 emissions, since liberalization potentially stands in the way of individual national support of green-energy production (p. 76).

Without actually saying it, the author argues that on more than one occasion, the European Union—in fact the European Commission or the European Council—has tried to create harmonized markets where it is not possible. Countries with distinct national energy regimes created—to name one example—a collection of fragmented markets for green certificates (instead of one single market; p. 84). In the rest of the book, the author adds further examples to virtually make the same point. Genetically modified organisms (p. 98), hazardous chemicals (p. 125), and thresholds to govern the European environment (p. 142), banking system (p. 165), and nuclear plants (p. 171) are further telling examples.

While Laurent's analysis is plausible and clearly structured, it is doubtful whether that is also true for the conclusions he draws. His central argument is that European attempts to harmonize the market have been based on an [End Page 746] idealistic image of scientific objectivity (p. 111). Political processes and lobbyists, however, regularly stand in the way of this in the ideal market in which European objectivity and disentanglement reinforce each other (p. 111). Yet in reality, virtually nobody argues in favor of such an ideal market, as they acknowledge that perfect objectivity does not exist, especially not in politics. In the end, one must ask whether Europe really is as technocratic as many, including Laurent himself (p. 101), argue. Instead of blaming Europe for being too technocratic, Laurent actually proves that the European single market, even though it functions well, is still a victim of the same interests that many other markets are. Laurent tackles this problem half-heartedly by inventing the term "interested objectivity" (for instance, p. 137), but that only leads to further questions, one of them being: Whose interests? The answer leads back to the usual political and economic players.

Nolens volens, the author points to a crucial aspect of European integration: How much harmonization is realistically achievable? Therefore, there are two different interpretations of the book. The first is a pessimistic one. Making the European market efficient is actually an integral part of the history of the continent. Specifically, the second half of the nineteenth century saw numerous strategies to make sure cross-border trade actually worked. Yet during these pre-1914 discussions, there was no "European idea" that served as an...