A critical examination of the European Union's commitment and approach to promoting democracy and Human Rights in accession candidate countries and elsewhere in the world

Résumé du document

The current image of European Union's democracy promotion is marred by the discrepancies of member states' attitude vis-à-vis the Chinese violation of the Human Rights. In contrast to most European countries, Great Britain and Germany have already claimed that they will not assist to the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. So, is there a common conception of the democracy promotion in the European Union, and what is it?

As we have to do an audit of the European Union's democratic assistance, it would be interesting and pertinent to observe, on the one hand, the level of the European involvement in relation to the global trend of democracy promotion. And, on the other hand, we have to emphasize the particularities and the nature which characterize the European Union's aid. Indeed, if democracy promotion may be commonly defined as a support for a human and social development, an enhancement of Human Rights, good governance and an implementation of democratic mechanisms, the tools and the way of democratic assistance are always imbued with political and historical backgrounds of the promoter.

Furthermore, no one could deny that agendas and plans of democracy promotion programs are influenced by economic interests (Burnell, 2000, p4-5). Thus, if the European Union has lauded democracy, Human Rights and good governance as the main intents of their commitment to promote democracy, it has also implemented trade and economic relationship with developing countries. What are the aftermaths of the economic and political interests for the well conduce of democracy promotion? Do they imperil the assistance programs of the European Union or, in the contrary; do they motivate the European intervention? In addition, the European Union has to manage with the candidate countries which want to enter into the regionalization process.

Extraits

[...] In contrast with these regional treaties, the European Union has dealt with the candidates to the Union in a complete different way. In 1993, the European council has established democratic conditions for Central and Oriental European countries in order to enter in the Union during the Copenhagen summit (stable democracy, free economy and capacity to respect the former European rules). With the Central and Eastern European Countries, the European Union has strongly been involved in the process of economic and political transition of these countries in relation (Schimmelfennig p208-211). [...]

[...] Karen EU, human Rights and relations with third countries: foreign policy with an ethical dimension' in K. E. Smith and M. Light, Ethics and Foreign Policy, Cambridge Smith, Michael eu as an international actor', in J. Richardson, European Union: Power and Policy-Making, London, Routledge Stiglitz, Joseph La Grande Désillusion, Fayard ‘Repression in Belarus', ‘Screening Poland's Past', The Economist, August 12th 2006. referring to the World Bank's definition : transparent and accountable management of all a country's human, natural and internal and external economic and financial resources for the purposes of equitable and sustainable development'. [...]

[...] In the case of the European neighbour countries, European Union have the diplomatic means to make pressure and to impose the respect of democracy but they have not completely used them. For instance, in the case of the current repression in Belarus, with incarcerations of the opponents of the president Alyaksandr Lukashenka and a censorship of individual liberties, European Union have frozen some trade agreements but lately and superficially. Then, much loot seems to have turned up' (Economist p23). Moreover, we can outline the fact that the European Union's democratic assistance is sometimes tinged of hypocrisy and incoherency. [...]

[...] Thus, Human Rights have been subordinated to democratic principles. And, we know that these two concepts are different, Human Rights represent rights that each person can daily benefit and demand (Crawford p119). This bad promotion of Human Rights is also the sign of a negligence of society and people. The European Union's approach is an elitist one of a democracy promotion through the top of society, through the institutions. Besides, most of the time, all the European interventions have been characterized by passivity and lack of reactivity. [...]

[...] This neglect symbolizes a major shortage of the European Union's approach about democracy promotion (Crawford p107). Does it restrict to embed liberalist market rules and increase the economic benefit of developed countries? The most worrying affect of this pragmatic policy is the fact that the European Union has implicitly approved these authoritarian regimes, overlooked between their violations of Human Rights. Thus, the economic relationships between the European Union and China have exploded for two decades despite of the quasi absence of democratic assistance programme (Smith p299). [...]