Everybody needs good neighbours

Civitas, 17 February 2011

Democracy is frequently trumpeted as one of the EU’s core values and its promotion is a prominent feature throughout EU policy. This is all the more evident in the EU’s relations with third states, particularly the bilateral partners of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). But, with Tunisia’s pro-democracy revolution followed swiftly by Egypt and then several other countries active in the ENP, it seems that, in this particular field, the EU policy may be failing.

Launched in 2004, the ENP extends the reach of the EU’s normative powers and simultaneously eases the ‘us and them’ effect that might have otherwise flourished at the EU’s borders. The ENP includes the North African and Middle-East states bordering the Mediterranean Sea, the Caucuses and the far east of Europe. With substantial funds set aside for investment, the ENP gives the EU influence in bordering states where it can’t use the ‘carrot’ of membership to push for changes. Rather, bilateral Action Plans are used to foster good-relations and to spell-out the desired reforms. Yet, if there is anything to be learnt from Egypt’s revolution it’s that the ENP, as it stands currently, is failing these states.

The EU could have tried to initiate a more active response to the North African protests had it wished to. In January, Italy called for a crisis mission in response to the pro-democracy protests spreading through North Africa, recommending that the EU dispatch a mission to provide high-level political support. Instead the EU relied on a series of rather washed-out statements. This low-key response has been viewed in several ways: as pragmatic, waiting for the revolution outcome; as idealistic, wanting citizens to decide and design their own futures; or, as egocentric, realising that full-blown support for the pro-democracy protesters would have reeked of hypocrisy after working with the leaders now being ousted. (Why else did Mubarak stay in power for 30 years?) Most likely the the EU’s response was a mix of all three.

Now that ‘democracy’ has won – at least in some of the ENP countries –  the EU is starting to find its feet again. In Egypt, President Mubarak has stepped down and the EU is calling on the military, which has taken temporary control, to name a date for a democratically elected government to take office. The EU Foreign Affairs chief, Catherine Ashton, plans to visit Egypt at the beginning of next week. Her support for Tunisia’s restructuring is apparent; more funding has been ear-marked and she is currently working hard to mobilise the European Investment Bank (EIB) and muster support among EU states for an extra €1 billion for Tunisia and other Southern Mediterranean states.

And, it’s not just the pending political and social reforms which should be of concern to the EU; migration is a side-effect of the uprisings with the potential to strain relations.  In the past, the ENP has been instrumental in the EU’s fight against illegal immigration from North Africa, encouraging partner countries to tighten their borders and to disincentive movement towards the EU in return for funding. The latest uprisings, however, have intensified immigration pressures, with Italy and Malta now calling for a special crisis summit to deal with the waves of migrants reaching their borders after the recent unrest in North Africa. Both of these southern EU states have, in the past, struggled to cope with high levels of migrants arriving on their shores (the gateway for African migrants hoping to reach the EU). How the EU deals with this latest influx of migrants will be another important test of resolve.

No doubt the EU is dismayed that the recent political upheavals in Egypt and Tunisia underline some failures of the ENP. MEPs now admit that, in the past ‘the goal of stability has often overshadowed values of democracy.’ However, MEPs also recognise that the EU does still have a role to play in ‘helping its strategic Mediterranean neighbour’s transition to democracy.’ Even if this recognition has been rather slow, the fact that mistakes are being acknowledged and support for change is now forthcoming could mark a new dawn for the EU and its neighbours.