The Role of NGOs in Promoting Minority Rights in the Enlarged European Union

Abstract

In the field of minority protection, several concepts have been utilized to explain domestic change – like policy transfer, norm diffusion and emulation – to name only a few. But how and why have some EU policies been transferred and others not? Why do accession countries introduce antidiscrimination laws but at the same time undermine individual or collective minority rights in the (post-) enlargement process? When looking for variables of successful EU conditionality in the field of minority policy, the role of non-state actors and advocacy group influence is often neglected in the Europeanization literature. Thus, the article examines and compares the impact of NGO advocacy in the EU enlargement process with a focus on Roma policy. EU enlargement shows that compliance with EU norms can be enforced through transnational advocacy networks (TANs), lobbying on behalf of an ethnic minority. While in non-discrimination, a causal relationship between the advocacy of intermediary institutions and policy reform can be detected, NGOs seem to have less influence on special minority rights. Moreover, the emergence of TANs formed around the issue of the Roma demonstrates that advocacy groups appear to substitute other ‘norm entrepreneurs’ like kin states or minority parties.

Key words: :

• Minority rights
• Roma policy
• NGO advocacy
• advocacy group influence
• European Union
• EU enlargement

Notes

¹ The PHARE (Poland and Hungary: Assistance for Restructuring their Economies) programme, originally created in 1989, is one of the three pre-accession instruments financed by the European Union to assist the applicant countries of Central and Eastern Europe in their preparations for joining the European Union.

² Drawing on the successful implementation of the 2005 Framework Strategy against Discrimination and the 2007 ‘European Year of Equal Opportunities for All’, the Commission adopted under its renewed social agenda a non-discrimination package in July 2008.

³ It is important to distinguish between international advocacy organizations and representative organizations. TANs usually do not aim to represent ethnic constituencies but to advocate on their behalf.

⁴ As the monitoring reports of the EU Agency on Fundamental Rights show, these implementation issues are not confined to the CEE area but can be detected equally in ‘old’ EU member states.

⁵ The term ‘Roma’ is commonly employed as an umbrella term for a number of groups including Roma, Sinti and Travellers.

⁶ There are two long-standing organizations giving voice to Roma in the transnational political context – the International Romani Union and the Roma National Congress – but as their centralized hierarchical leadership is widely detached from Romani communities only few Roma recognize them as legitimate representatives.

⁷ Interview held by the author with ERRC representatives on 31 May 2011 in Budapest.

⁸ Cp. European Parliament resolution of 31 January 2008 on a European strategy on the Roma, P6_TA(2008)0035.

⁹ The European Parliament is in the ‘driving seat’ in the negotiations. However, input also comes from the European Commission and minority-friendly EU member states. For instance, the creation of an overall policy framework concerning integration of Roma was one of the Hungarian EU Presidency's (January–June 2011) priorities.

¹⁰ Before enlargement, the EU has been reluctant to introduce minority rights in primary law, also due to a lack of interest convergence between NGOs and decision makers at the European level. While NGOs were lobbying for special minority rights, single EU member states could easily block those efforts. France and Greece have been quite opposed to minority rights in the past, which made it almost impossible to find a consensus in this section of EU's human rights policy.

¹¹ The elected ‘National Gypsy Self Government’ is regarded as the official partner for discussion matters related to the rights of Roma. The influence of advocacy groups is limited in Hungary as they were not directly engaged in the self-government system.