The EU’s engagement with the Eastern Partnership on human rights

Abstract

The six eastern partners of the European Union (EU) (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine) are states with which the EU aims to establish value-based relations without offering membership perspective. The EU uses its economic strength and attraction as far as visa-free access to EU territory to persuade the six states to stay on the orbit of the EU. However, the EU has limited means of conditionality and it remains questionable what it can achieve with its socialisation. The six partners are in different position as far as their readiness to share western norms and values and follow them. Problems start when the expectations of the EU require major adjustments in the partner’s society, like the introduction of effective anti-corruption measures, guaranteeing judicial independence, providing for a vibrant civil society, fostering a pluralistic and independent media, and achieving good governance. Even the best performing partners face some difficulty in one area or other whereas declaratory human rights policy is not an issue for any as they all belong to various arrangements (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Council of Europe, United Nations) that contain similar requirements. That is why norms and political reality are not congruent that will cause problems for the EU in the relationship for the future. It will continue to face hesitant implementation of human rights commitments by those that lag behind and push for EU membership by the best performing eastern partners.