Want ENoP in your Inbox?
Receive the latest news from the ENoP Network
"*" indicates required fields
Respect for democracy is one of the fundamental values on which the EU is founded. Also the European external action “shall be guided by the principles which have inspired its own creation, development and enlargement, and which it seeks to advance in the wider world: democracy, the rule of law, the universality and indivisibility of human rights and fundamental freedoms” (Art. 21 TEU).
A democracy can only thrive if citizens fully understand their democratic rights and duties, government power is restricted through effective checks and balances including a level playing field for different political parties, if the media can play their information and oversight role in an unrestricted way, in which the rule of law enables the judiciary to professionally and independently provide justice and in which fundamental rights are protected.
Supporting democratic development can take on many forms. The EU has a large toolbox at its disposal. Some examples are discussing democracy issues on diplomatic level, including democracy principles as a pre-condition for EU accession and applying the conditionality principle when it comes to funding as it is for example the case in the European Neighbourhood (“more for more” principle). The EU observes also elections in many countries of the world as an indirect support to democracy.
While the central government – especially if democratically elected – is the obvious first partner, civil society organisations, political parties, parliaments, local authorities, branches of the public administration and the judiciary and others are also crucial in advancing a democracy. The EU also supports these local actors in their efforts to improve the conditions for a functioning democratic system. Under the current multiannual financial framework (MFF), several funding instruments aim at strengthening civil society and other actors crucial to a healthy democracy, e.g. the thematic instrument on Civil Society and Local Authorities. In the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights, one out of five objectives is the support to democracy worldwide (objective 3).
ENoP notices that during the discussions and negotiations on the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) in the upcoming MFF, democracy support does not seem to play a major role.
In a global context where the phenomenon of eroding democracies is worsening and stable democratic states turn to limit democratic spaces, a clear commitment to the European founding principles, above all to democracy, seems more important than ever.
ENoP calls upon the decision-makers to take the following recommendations into account during the negotiations on NDICI, as well as in the programming in the framework of this instrument: