UACES Study Group S013

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The 'Outsiders' and the EU: Is there a values gap?

Organisers: Dr Elena Korosteleva, University of Wales at Aberystwyth and Dr Derek Hutcheson, University of Glasgow

Meeting 1: 3 April 2005, Cambridge

EU enlargement has been based on the ‘Copenhagen criteria’ – respect for democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and market economics. The Union’s eastern boundary now borders the former Soviet Union, rendering Russia, Ukraine and Belarus its immediate neighbours. To what extent do they share the ‘European values’ that prevail in the rest of the continent? Recent EU pronouncements have questioned these states’ commitment to the continent’s common values, and survey evidence has suggested that there are substantial differences in the extent to which their citizens think of themselves as ‘European’. The study group will examine the apparent ‘values gap’ between Europe and the ‘outsider’ states, and its implications for good governance and the EU’s Neighbourhood Policy.

Contact: Prof Dr Elena Korosteleva, University of Wales at Aberystwyth, (T: +44 1970 622 703, e.korosteleva@aber.ac.uk or Dr Derek Hutcheson, University of Glasgow, T: +44 141 330 3910, d.hutcheson@socsci.gla.ac.uk)

The UACES Study Group emerged as a joint initiative between Glasgow and Aberystwyth Universities to facilitate further collaborative research into the issues of normative discourse and political dialogue between the EU and its immediate neighbours, commonly known as the ‘outsiders’: Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Moldova.

The past fifteen years have witnessed the ‘return to Europe’ of a number of former communist countries. This convergence of states that were previously on opposite sides of the European divided took place on the basis of apparently shared ‘European values’.

However, while ‘Europe’ might have overcome old divisions, new divisions were created in the process. Where previously the continent was divided into two armed blocs, each united by a common regime type and ideology, the new order now divides Europe into ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ – those that are directly involved in the continent’s main institutional frameworks, and others that remain beyond the EU’s border and have little immediate prospect of joining.

EU enlargement, including a partnership-driven approach, has been based on the ‘Copenhagen criteria’ – respect for democracy, the rule of law, human rights, and the creation of market economies – in addition to various other conditionalities. In the east, the EU now has an enlarged border with the former Soviet Union, rendering Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova its immediate neighbours. After enlargement, the EU launched the European Neighbourhood Policy, an instrument aimed at overcoming the new divisions and bridging European cultures in a joint desire to oversee the development of a stable and prosperous Europe. To what extent do the new EU states, the old EU states and the new ‘outsider’ nations share the same ‘European values’? Recent EU pronouncements have questioned the outsiders’ commitment to the continent’s common values, and survey evidence has suggested that there are substantial differences in the extent to which their citizens think of themselves as ‘European’. Equally important, discontent has emerged on the opposite side, reflecting new states’ accusations of the EU’s ‘double-standards’ in relation to the new and the outsider states. The study group, therefore, was initiated to examine the apparent ‘values gap’ in the new normative discourse between Europe and the ‘outsider’ states, and its implications for good governance, stability and prosperity across the Continent.