Between ‘Common Values’ and Competing Universals—The Promotion of the EU's Common Values through the European Neighbourhood Policy

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0386.2009.00483.x
• Author: Päivi Leino,Roman Petrov
• Published date: 01 September 2009
• Date: 01 September 2009

eulj_483654..671

Between ‘Common Values’ and Competing

Universals—The Promotion of the EU’s

Common Values through the European

Neighbourhood Policy

Päivi Leino* and Roman Petrov**

Abstract: The aim of this article is to discuss the position of common values in defining the

EU’s identity by using the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) as an example. It is

argued that the notion ‘common values’ is used by the EU institutions as both a universal

and as an EU concept, which highlights the abstract nature of these values. This abstrac-

tion is also reflected in the way in which Russia has recently aimed to develop its own set

of values which could be adopted by its neighbouring countries. The abstraction of values

means that, in practice, their meaning in the context of ENP is decided by the European

Commission through the implementation of Action Plans. The central position given to the

promotion of common values requires that the ENP be reformulated so as to guarantee

a stronger degree of participation of the neighbouring countries in the formulation and

implementation of the ENP objectives.

I Common Values as a Contemporary Legal and Political Category

in the EU

Since the early 1990s, the EU has increasingly identified itself with values that are

perceived as laying the foundation of modern civilisation and culture.1This is

reflected in the way in which EU institutions are referring more and more frequently

to ‘common values’ in their legal and declarative documents. After becoming the

largest customs union in the world, with a combined population of around 500

million, and with the largest voting power in many multilateral institutions, the EU

is now seeking to become a global player. In this setting, common values are used

* Doctor of Laws, Centre of Excellence for Global Governance Research, Erik Castrén Institute of

International Law and Human Rights, University of Helsinki, Finland. I thank the Georg and Ella

Ahrhrooth Foundation for their generous funding for this research project.

** Doctor of Law, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine. I am indebted to professors and colleagues at the

European University Institute who offered so many valuable comments to the earlier draft of this article

during my stay with the Max Weber Programme from 2006 to 2008, the usual disclaimer applies.

1P. Leino, ‘European Universalism? The EU and Human Rights Conditionality’, (2005) 24 Yearbook of

European Law 330, at 383.

European Law Journal, Vol. 15, No. 5, September 2009, pp. 654–671.

© 2009 Blackwell Publishing Ltd, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK

and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA

in order to enhance its credibility: the EU wishes increasingly to be profiled as a

‘messenger of good values’.2

Currently, the EU founding treaties do not provide any legal definition for the

common values that the Union refers to. However, the Lisbon Treaty, signed on 13

December 2007, provides that the common values of ‘respect for human dignity,

freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights’ are to be

applied in the course of EU internal and external policies.3While the existence of

common values witnesses to the nature of the EU as a truly political union, the

implementation of these values is bound to certain legal consequences, not only for

existing and new Member States, but also for the EU’s partners in the area of external

relations. In this way, values provide the Union with a purpose and a mission. The

external dimension of its values has always been closely linked to the universality of the

values that it declares:4for this reason they belong to all and must therefore be shared

beyond the EU’s borders.5In this context, the notion of universality has been used to

avoid the impression of the EU merely imposing its own values on others; instead, it is

simply using its ‘influence to bring the practice of other governments more into line

with their own professed values (which we share)’.6The universal nature of its values

thus provides the EU with a justification for making both trade and development aid

conditional on third countries’ ability to implement them. At the same time, however,

common values are believed to be characteristic of the EU and, ultimately, lay down its

borders: the Union is a ‘Union of values’.7

This dual role allocated to common values reflects a basic ambiguity in the philoso-

phy of the common values of the Union. On the one hand, these values constitute the

foundation of European historical heritage; on the other, they are universal. But if the

EU’s ‘common values’ are universal and, as such, belong equally to everyone, it is

difficult for the Union to base its own identity on them and, by doing so, use these

values as something that should draw a line between ‘us’ and ‘others’. If ‘we’ is defined

by reference to clear and unambiguous ‘good’ values, then ‘they’ are relegated into a

vehicle of antivalues or ‘bad’ values. Therefore, the clearer the value connection of the

2See the New Transnational Agenda, adopted jointly by the EU and the USA in Madrid on 3 December

1995.

3Article 2 TEU as amended by the Lisbon Treaty, [2007] OJ C306/1 (numbering is in accordance with table

of equivalence included into the Lisbon Treaty) provides ‘The Union is founded on the values of respect

for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including

the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the Member States in a society

in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and

men prevail’. Article 49 TEU as amended by the Lisbon Treaty provides that any European State ‘which

respects the values referred to in Art 2 and is committed to promoting them may apply’ for membership

in the Union.

4See Art 21 TEU as amended by the Lisbon Treaty. For example, in the field of EC external trade policy,

the Commission explicitly stated that one of the prerequisites for the EU in sustaining global competition

is the ‘sharing our experience, norms and values, to influence the development of emerging global actors

and so the future of the world economy’: Annex to the Commission Communication ‘Global Europe:

Competing in the World. A Contribution to the EU’s Growth and Jobs Strategy’, SEC(2006) 1230.

5For instance, the Declaration of the European Union on the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the

Universal Declaration on Human Rights, Vienna, 10 December, 1998, available at http://ec.europa.eu/

external_relations/human_rights/doc/50th_decl_98.htm

6In general, see J. Donnelly, Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice (Cornell University Press,

1989) 234 (original emphasis).

7On this, see Commission’s Second Annual Report on the Stabilisation and Association Process for South

East Europe, COM (2003) 139 final, at 3.

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