Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

'European Standards' Hinder Balkans

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • 'European Standards' Hinder Balkans

    'EUROPEAN STANDARDS' HINDER BALKANS
    Ian Bancroft

    guardian.co.uk
    Thursday 22 April 2010 14.00 BST

    The process of European integration goes some way to explaining why
    democracy in the Balkans remains so illiberal

    For the countries of the western Balkans, achieving "European
    standards" is a regularly heard pronouncement from both diplomats
    and politicians alike. Though it's designed to strengthen pro-reform
    coalitions, the unintended consequences of this refrain have had
    profound ramifications on politics and policy-making. By being employed
    to dodge or distort policy debate, recourse to apparently European
    standards has helped reinforce an illiberal democratic tendency;
    a tendency that may ultimately inhibit the region's progress towards
    EU membership.

    Supposedly following the French example, the prime minister of
    Republika Srpska, Milorad Dodik, has proposed legislation prohibiting
    the wearing of headscarves in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In justifying
    the ban, Dodik emphasised that such a "law has been adopted by certain
    European countries and we think that we should come closer to European
    standards as well". On a similar note, Dodik's government has proposed
    a declaration condemning the Turkish genocide against Armenians, "in
    the same form as done by other western countries", despite opposing
    a resolution on Srebrenica.

    By grounding such proposals in the European example, Dodik, in an
    election year, is attempting to justify as reasonable policies aimed
    not at improving the lives of Republika Srpska's citizens, but at
    wooing the nationalist sentiment and vote. Though Switzerland is not
    an EU member state, the Swiss ban on building of minarets may provide
    another presumed precedent for a government intent on dividing and
    disrupting Bosniak public and political opinion.

    The discourse of European standards has tended to strip public policy
    debate in the region of much of its substance; with qualitative
    deliberations as to which policy is the most effective having been
    replaced by quantitative considerations about whether or not a
    particular policy course will take the country in question closer to
    EU membership.

    Claims such as "there is no alternative to Europe" only serve to
    further dissuade citizens and the media from engaging in politics.

    Combined with the tendency of the EU accession process to focus on
    political elites, these factors help explain the comparative dearth
    of grass-roots activism.

    Though enabling politicians to justify often-contentious policies,
    the discourse of European standards also allows leaders to distance
    themselves from specific decisions and outcomes. Serbia's resolution on
    Srebrenica was seen, and indeed even justified, by some as a necessary
    step expected of the country on its path towards the EU.

    Many politicians supported the initiative not because it was right
    and necessary in and of itself, but because it conformed to European
    expectations.

    Viewed through this prism, the resolution, as with co-operation with
    The Hague tribunal, will contribute little to Serbia's efforts to face
    up to the past, nor to improving relations with Bosnia and Herzegovina.

    The discourse and process of European integration goes some way to
    explaining why democracy in the Balkans has remained so illiberal.

    While politicians are eager to pay lip-service to European standards,
    their actions and approaches demonstrate a diverging tendency. Ever
    eager to demonstrate signs of progress, however, particularly in
    the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the EU has often neglected its
    own objectivity.

    The term European standards has also been over-exploited, with
    generally negative consequences. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, for
    instance, the office of the high representative insisted on police
    reform in order to meet European principles that never actually existed
    within the EU itself. The eventual climbdown severely undermined the
    international community's reform leverage.

    To be truly effective at inducing reform in the western Balkans, the
    EU needs to go beyond the overly simplistic discourse of European
    standards to explain why and how Europe has achieved and sustained
    these standards. Securing genuine reform also requires the active
    engagement of citizens and the media in substantive policy debate.

    Europe must also emphasise that European standards are an aspiration
    that Europe itself continually strives to achieve; not a given that
    can automatically be taken for granted. On the contrary, as the
    aforementioned cases of imitation show, Europe must be more aware of
    its own shortcomings.

    From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
Working...
X