The EU's Support for Democratic Governance in the Eastern Neighbourhood: The Role of Transition Experience from the New Member States

Abstract

The European Union seems to place an increasing rhetorical emphasis on harnessing the transition experience of the new member states. This article examines whether the EU actually makes use of this experience in its promotion of democratic governance in the eastern neighbourhood. The main conclusion is that while reform priorities of the EU in the region are aligned with transition experience, the actual participation of actors from the new members in implementing EU-financed projects aimed at promoting democratic governance is limited. This contradiction should be resolved or it will further erode the credibility of the EU's external policies.

Notes

¹ For further details see Transition Promotion Program, available at: http://www.mzv.cz/jnp/en/foreign_relations/human_rights/transition_promotion_program/index_1.html, accessed 18 April 2014.

² ‘Harnessing the Transition Experience in EU's External Relations: From Policy to Implementation’, non-paper by the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia, available at: http://www.mzv.cz/file/591175/non_paper_on_the_transition_experience.pdf, accessed 2 February 2011.

³European Commission Development and Cooperation Official Grant and Contract Beneficiaries' Database, available at: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/funding/beneficiaries/index.cfm?lang = en, accessed 1 January 2012.

⁴ OECD International Development Statistics (IDS) online databases on aid and other resource flows, available at: http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/50/17/5037721.htm, accessed 1 January 2012.

⁵ For other issues and problems with the database see Zázvorkova (2011).

⁶ The OECD DAC is the organisation responsible for coordinating the activities of bilateral foreign aid donors and also preparing aid statistics.

⁷ If we add projects not related to democratic governance promotion, the Czech Republic would have a further seven projects, and Slovakia would also enter with five, most of them related to the supply of equipment for nuclear power plants.

⁸ ‘Harnessing the Transition Experience in EU's External Relations: From Policy to Implementation’, non-paper by the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia, available at: http://www.mzv.cz/file/591175/non_paper_on_the_transition_experience.pdf, accessed 2 February 2011.

⁹ ‘European Commissioner for Development Andris Piebalgs in Slovakia’, Trialog Information Service, 2 March 2011, available at: http://trialog-information-service.blogspot.com/2011/03/european-commissioner-for-development.html, accessed 2 February 2012.