Mainstreaming human rights through the enlargement policy: the case of the western balkan countries
| Autor | Gentjan Skara |
| Cargo | LLB from University of Tirana (Albania) |
| Páginas | 601-622 |
Disponível em: www.univali.br/periodicos
Doi: 10.14210/nej.v26n2.p601-622
Abstract: The EU enlargement has been considered as the EU’s most ecient
foreign policy instrument in terms of its ability to transform communist countries
into functional democracies and open market countries. Since the beginning
of 1990s, the promotion of human rights has become prominent topic either
for the consolidation of human rights within the EU or outside. The argument
of this paper is that the EU enlargement policy has inuenced Western Balkan
countries to improve their domestic legislation in the area of human rights. The
paper demonstrates, rstly, how has evolved the EU human rights actorness from
the establishment of the EE Community and secondly, discuss strategies and
instruments used by the EU to export its norms and values in the Western Balkan
countries. The paper addresses the following research question: how, whether
and to what extent, the EU has promoted human rights in the Western Balkan
countries. Throughout this paper, a doctrinal legal research has been used to
analyze EU primary and secondary sources. The value of this paper lies in its
comprehensiveness in drawing a complete picture of EU role in promoting human
rights in Western Balkan countries through enlargement policy and to discuss the
impact of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in the candidate countries.
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MAINSTREAMING HUMAN RIGHTS
THROUGH THE ENLARGEMENT POLICY:
THE CASE OF THE WESTERN BALKAN
COUNTRIES1
INTEGRAÇÃO DOS DIREITOS HUMANOS ATRAVÉS DA POLÍTICA DE ALARGAMENTO:
O CASO DOS PAÍSES DOS BALCÃS OCIDENTAIS
Gentjan Skara2
1 This research paper has been written in the framework of Post-Doctoral Researcher ‘New Technologies and Law’
requirement organized by Mediterranea International Center for Human Rights Research (MICHR), Italy. A rst
draft of this paper was presented at the International Conference ‘I 20 Anni della Carta di Nizza ed il Dialogo tra
Europa e America Latina in Materia di Diritti Umani’ organised by Mediterranea International Centre for Human
Rights Research (Italy); Rede de Pesquisa Direitos Humanos e Transnacionalidade (Brasile) Department of Civil,
Economic and Private International Law– Cracow University of Economics (Polonia); Programa de Pós-Graduação
em Direito - Universidade de Caxias de Sul (Brasile); Facultad de Derecho-Universidad Central de Ecuador
(Ecuador); Facultad de Derecho – Universidad Siglo 21 (Argentina) on 7-8 December 2020.
2 LLB from University of Tirana (Albania); MA in ‘European Studies’ from Epoka University (Albania) and a LLM
for “South East European Law and European Integration” from University of Graz; PhD in ‘EU Law and National
Legal System program’ from University of Ferrara. Has been a visiting researcher at the Institute of Corporate and
International Commercial Law, University of Graz (Austria) and at the Department of International Law, University
of Ljubljana (Slovenia). From October 2012, has been a full-time member of the Department of Law at “Bedër”
University College teaching International and EU law courses. Currently, he is attending a Post-PhD Program in
‘Law and Technology’ at MICHR. Email: gentian.skara@gmail.com.
Doi: 10.14210/nej.v26n2.p601-622
Revista Novos estuDos JuRíDicos - eletRôNica, vol. 26- N. 2 - Mai-aGo 2021 602
Key words: Enlargement Policy; Conditionality; Human Rights Actor; Western Balkan countries;
EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
Resumo: O alargamento da UE foi considerado o seu instrumento de política externa mais
eciente, em termos da sua capacidade de transformar os países comunistas em democracias
funcionais e países de mercado aberto. Desde o início da década de 1990, a promoção dos direitos
humanos tornou-se um tópico proeminente para a consolidação dos direitos humanos dentro ou
fora da UE. O argumento deste documento é que a política de alargamento da UE inuenciou os
países dos Balcãs Ocidentais a melhorar a sua legislação interna na área dos direitos humanos. O
documento demonstra, em primeiro lugar, como evoluiu a atuação da UE em direitos humanos desde
o estabelecimento da Comunidade Econômica Europeia e, em segundo lugar, discutiu estratégias e
instrumentos usados pela UE para exportar suas normas e valores nos países dos Balcãs Ocidentais.
O documento aborda a seguinte questão de pesquisa: como, se, e em que medida a UE promoveu
os direitos humanos nos países dos Balcãs Ocidentais. Ao longo deste documento, uma pesquisa
jurídica doutrinária foi usada para analisar as fontes primárias e secundárias da UE. O valor deste
documento reside na sua abrangência em traçar um quadro completo do papel da UE na promoção
dos direitos humanos nos países dos Balcãs Ocidentais através da política de alargamento e discutir
o impacto da Carta dos Direitos Fundamentais da UE nos países candidatos.
Palavras-chave: Política de Ampliação; Condicionalmente; Ator de Direitos Humanos; Países
dos Balcãs Ocidentais; Carta dos Direitos Fundamentais da UE
INTRODUCTION
The EU Enlargement policy has been considered as the EU’s most ecient foreign policy
instrument in terms of its ability to transform communist countries into functional democracies and
open market countries. As shown in the case of Central European Eastern countries (CEECs), this policy
has promoted regional integrations and has had a signicant eect on transforming the domestic
structure of countries that used to be part of Soviet Union, policies and society at large.3
Since the beginning of 1990s, the EU has increasingly emphasized the importance of human
rights promotion with third countries. A growing body of academic literature has been written on
the incorporation of human rights clauses in bilateral trade and cooperation agreement4 as well as
association agreement in the framework of the enlargement process.5 Furthermore, after the adoption
3 H. GRABBE, ‘Six lessons of enlargement ten years on: the EU’s transformative power in retrospect and
prospect’ (2014) Vol. 52, Journal of Common Market Studies, pp 40-56; H. GRABBE, The EU’s Transformative
Power: Europeanization through Conditionality in Central and Eastern Europe, Palgrave Studies in European
Union Politics, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
4 K. ARTS, Integrating Human Rights into Development Cooperation: The Case of the Lombe Convention,
Springer, 2000; V. MILLER, The Human Rights Clause in the EU’s External Agreement, House of Commons
Library, International Aairs and Defence, 2004; L. BARTEL, Human Rights in the EU’s International Agreement,
Oxford university Press, 2005; L. BARTEL, Human Rights and Democracy Clauses in the EU’s International
Agreements, DG for External Policies of the Union, 2005; S. VELLUTI, ‘The Promotion and Integration of
Human Rights in EU External Trade Relations’ (2016) Vol. 32, Utrecht Journal of International and European
Law, pp. 41-68.
5 E. FIERRO, The EU’s Approach to Human Rights Conditionality in Practice, Martinus Hijho Publishers, 2002.
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