Van Rijckevorsel, Elisabeth
[UCL]
Reading the Treaties, one could feature the European Union as a Union of values. Member States share a common respect for democracy, the rule of law and human rights, which is a formal condition for membership. Furthermore, the Union’s constitutional framework commits this international organization to “uphold and promote its values and interests in its relations with the wider world.” The credibility of the European Union and the challenges that it encounters in fulfilling this “normative mission” lie at the heart of this doctoral research. In comparing the EU actions for democracy, the rule of law and human rights in their internal (relations with the Member States) and external dimensions (relations with the (potential) candidates to accession (e.g. Serbia and Kosovo) and neighbouring countries (e.g. Ukraine and Morocco)), the thesis highlights the dilemmas that cross the Union’s values strategy: the difficulty of developing a coherent response in the face of the “democratic backslidings” taking place in certain Member States and, at the same time ensuring, consistently, the promotion of its values and the realization of its interests in its external sphere. The manuscript proceeds in three parts, each of which is divided into two chapters. Part I of this thesis defines the values of the Union, and more particularly, democracy, the rule of law and human rights. It explores the vagueness of these values. It starts with an introduction on the emergence of values in the EU’s legal order. Chapter I adopts a more philosophical perspective and investigates how democracy and the rule of law have been conceptualised. Chapter II is more legal in tone. It studies how the European Union has defined democracy, the rule of law and human rights in its institutional (European institutions), internal (relations with its Member States) and external (relations with third States) dimensions. Part II of the thesis studies the EU’s response to the “democratic backslidings” in Hungary and Poland. It elaborates on the challenge which the vagueness of the values poses. The introduction to this second part develops the reasons why the EU should act. Chapter III highlights the inadequacies of the existing instruments, which are provided for by the Treaties. Chapter IV eventually discusses the institutional response in the face of the “crisis of values". It presents the three approaches adopted by the European Commission, the Council, and the European Parliament. Part III of the thesis addresses the EU actions for democracy, the rule of law and human rights under the enlargement and neighbourhood policies. The introduction of this third part goes back on the definition of the Union’s interests and locates the two policies in the Union’s strategic framework. Chapter V highlights how reconciliation concerns have become increasingly important in the Union’s relations with Serbia and Kosovo. Chapter VI, which focuses on Morocco and Ukraine, investigates how concerns for the stability of the neighbourhood and the security of the Union have shaped the Union’s priorities in both countries.
Bibliographic reference |
Van Rijckevorsel, Elisabeth. A "conflicted" European Union of values : struggling to import what it claims to export ?. Prom. : De Schutter, Olivier |
Permanent URL |
http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/187772 |