SPEECH/11/436
Štefan Füle
European Commissioner
Neighbourhood Policy
for
Enlargement
and
European
'Revolutionising
the
European
Neighbourhood Policy in response to
tougher Mediterranean revolutions'
Round table discussion organised by Members of the European
Parliament
Brussels, 14 June 2011
I am glad to be here today to discuss with you how we can enshrine human rights
and democracy at the heart of the European Neighbourhood Policy. The European
Union is founded on the principles of liberty, democracy, respect for human rights,
fundamental freedoms and the rule of law. The renewed European Neighbourhood
Policy must reaffirm and strengthen the commitment to these values.
The political reality in the Neighbourhood region has changed. North Africa and the
Middle East are witnessing a historic call for reforms. The peoples of this region
have taken a courageous stand to defend their rights and to introduce democracy
and social reforms. The EU must rise to the challenge and help these peoples
achieve their legitimate goals.
The EU has always been active in promoting human rights and democracy in our
neighbourhood. But it has often focused too much on stability at the expense of
other objectives and, more problematic, at the expense of our values. Now is the
time to bring our interests in line with our values. Recent events in the South have
proved that there can be no real stability without real democracy.
Providing greater support to partners engaged in building deep and sustainable
democracy is one of the cornerstones of the new approach outlined in the ENP
Communication adopted on 25 May.
While there is not one set model or one single definition of democracy, the
Communication identifies some elements that are common to building a democracy
that is both deep and sustainable. These are:
- free and fair elections;
- freedom of association, expression and assembly and a free press and media;
- the rule of law administered by an independent judiciary and right to a fair trial;
- fight against corruption;
- security and law enforcement sector reform and the establishment of democratic
control over armed and security forces.
These elements are the central benchmarks against which the EU will assess
progress and adapt levels of support to its partners. However, the EU will look very
carefully also at another crucial and closely related element: equality and nondiscrimination. The EU holds that everyone is entitled to the enjoyment of human
rights, without any discrimination as to race, colour, sex, language and religion, or to
social or other status. I fully intend to fight discrimination in our neighbourhood.
Commitment to human rights and fundamental freedoms through multilateral
treaties and bilateral agreements is a further, important element. Ratification of all
the relevant international and regional instruments and full compliance with their
provisions, should underpin our partnership. However, commitments are
unfortunately not always matched by action. The effective implementation of the
obligations contained in these treaties is thus even more important than their formal
endorsement. This one of the reasons why we have developed a partnership with
the Council of Europe, which has a large experience and can support some of the
countries in the South, starting from Morocco and Tunisia.
Commitments to promote gender equality, in line with the major role once again
played by women in recent events in the South; to respect freedom of religion; to
respect the rights of refugees and beneficiaries of international protection, and
commitments in yet other areas are all important and need to be put in practice. We
need to measure as accurately as possible the real progress on the ground.
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In the next generation of Action Plans, we will suggest to partners that we focus our
joint work on a limited number of short and medium-term priorities, incorporating
more precise benchmarks and a clearer sequencing of actions. And it will be very
important to develop appropriate benchmarks that are tailored to each country’s
specificities.
The new approach to the ENP is based on mutual accountability and conditionality.
Mutual accountability means that partners will be accountable to the EU for the
fulfilment of their reform commitments, and the EU will be accountable to partners
for delivering on its promises of support, in particular on mobility partnership and
market access. The EU's seriousness will be judged on its capacity to deliver.
Conditionality means that if a partner country wishes to obtain greater support from
the EU, to obtain closer political support from the EU, to participate in the EU
internal market, to ensure greater mobility for its citizens, then it will have make
progress towards a number of very significant political reforms, such as greater
freedoms of expression and association; judicial reform; or fight against corruption.
We will monitor the progress made towards meeting the benchmarks through
progress reports and through dialogue with partners. Based on the progress
achieved and on the needs and goals of each partner, we will discuss with them
priorities for action. In fact, as Commissioner in charge of both enlargement and
neighbourhood policy, I am convinced that instruments that work in the enlargement
context should also be used in our neighbourhood, where we need to have more
focused and more precise progress reports.
The annual ENP progress reports will need to be even sharper and to assess
carefully the progress made towards meeting the benchmarks. In line with the
conditionality principle, a clear and systematic link must be made between the
outcome of the benchmarks assessment and EU support.
Reinforced human rights dialogues will be one tool to monitor commitments in this
area, including addressing cases of human rights violations. Enhanced cooperation
with the Council of Europe could also help in promoting compliance. And increased
dialogue between the EU and civil society will also be very important.
To ensure a more effective setting of priorities and a close monitoring of
benchmarks, we are looking to engage in more intensive political steering of our
relationships with our partners. We will maintain the closest possible dialogue with
the leaderships of our partner countries.
If a partner country engages in unacceptable violations of human rights and
fundamental freedoms, as we are witnessing in Syria, then our cooperation and
funding will stop. This is what we have done in Syria, having suspended all the
bilateral financial cooperation under the European Neighbourhood and Partnership
Instrument and also stopped signature of the Association Agreement.
Much focus has been on our Southern Neighbourhood lately. But make no mistake:
the promotion of democracy and human rights is equally relevant in our Eastern
Neighbourhood.
In Belarus, our work towards democratic reforms and respect of human rights
continues and is more essential than ever. In Ukraine, Azerbaijan and other eastern
neighbours, strengthening democracy and human rights also remains a key
challenge and a common interest.
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If we want to promote democracy and human rights, we need to support civil society
organisations more effectively both in the South and in the East of our
neighbourhood. Civil society organisations are key players for democratisation
processes. One of the main proposals of the ENP Communication is to develop a
real partnership not only with governments but with societies.
The Communication proposes two new instruments to channel EU support to civil
society: a Civil Society Facility and a European Endowment for Democracy.
The Civil Society Facility will help civil society organisations in our neighbourhood
develop their advocacy capacity, their ability to monitor reform and their role in
implementing and evaluating EU programmes.
The European Endowment for Democracy would help support political actors
striving for democratic change, including political parties and non-registered NGOs
or trade unions and other social partners that have not been able to benefit from EU
support so far. I hope that the European Parliament will be closely involved in the
development and implementation of this initiative.
Let me reiterate that in order to promote democracy and human rights in our
Neighbourhood, we will seek to refine the benchmarks in these areas, assure that
Action Plans are more focussed, and monitor the implementation of Action Plans
closely through progress reports, through dialogue with our partners, including
human rights dialogues, and through increased political steering. EU support will be
conditional on progress made towards meeting these benchmarks.
Finally, let me stress that I am committed to reinforce ownership of the policy by our
partner countries. During the preparation of the communication on the new
approach to the ENP, we have taken care to consult widely with our partners so that
they feel involved in the process and do not consider the ENP as imposed on them.
I have been encouraged that, as a result of this approach, a country like Algeria,
which had reservations regarding the ENP, has participated constructively to the
ENP review process. I am convinced that a strong feeling of ownership is crucial to
ensure delivery.
Through its dedication to democracy and human rights, I know the European
Parliament will be an important partner in working towards a more democratic
Neighbourhood where people enjoy the universal human rights that we Europeans
often take for granted.
I look forward to a constructive discussion with you on how we can ensure the
strengthening of democracy and human rights in the framework of the renewed
Neighbourhood Policy.
Thank you.
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