EU to set out links between aid and democracy

Move to reward political and human rights reforms aims to head off criticisms that EU policies have favoured stability over change

@font-face {
font-family: "Times";
}@font-face {
font-family: "ＭＳ 明朝";
}@font-face {
font-family: "Cambria Math";
}@font-face {
font-family: "Cambria";
}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: Cambria; }p { margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 10pt; font-family: Times; }.MsoChpDefault { font-family: Cambria; }div.WordSection1 { page: WordSection1; }
The European Union will set out plans on Wednesday to link development aid more tightly to democratic reforms, a quiet acknowledgement that past practice has not always been successful in promoting democracy.
The reforms to the bloc's approach to countries in the Middle East, North Africa and the former Soviet bloc -- known as the European Neighbourhood Policy -- comes at a time when pro-democracy unrest throughout those regions has raised questions about how the EU goes about distributing aid.
The reforms aim to answer critics who say its policies have tended to favour stability over change, therefore allowing more autocratic leaders such as Egypt's overthrown President Hosni Mubarak or Libya's Muammar Gaddafi to remain in power.
Events of the past five months, in North Africa particularly, have underlined to critics how those aid practices have at times put the EU on the wrong side of history.
"One of the lessons learnt over the last years is that we need to push harder for political reforms and human rights, and reward those partners who implement them," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said on Tuesday.
Under the reforms, the EU will closely link the level of aid it provides its neighbours with the pace and depth of democratic progress, measured according to a set of conditions, including the quality of electoral processes, press freedom, independence of the judiciary, efforts to combat corruption and the extent of government control over armed and security forces.
Under the Commission's plans -- if they are approved by the EU's 27 member states and the European Parliament -- the EU will also provide financial support to civil society in developing countries as a means to deepen the democratic process.
The overarching aim for the EU, the world's largest trading bloc but a region that does not carry the same weight in international diplomacy, is to enhance its standing in world affairs and match the influence of the United States or China.
The Commission, the EU executive, also wants the bloc's governments to focus more on giving trade, travel and industrial incentives to the 16 countries in its European Neighbourhood Policy, hoping for closer policy engagement with them.
The Commission has also proposed increasing EU funds for ENP by 1.2 billion euros (US$1.69 billion), to 6.9 billion euros, for 2011-13.
But whereas the proposed extra aid could win support among some EU governments, other proposals, particularly in the area of migration policy, are likely to meet strong opposition.
The Commission argues migration should become a key element of the bloc's foreign policy, a "carrot" offered to countries in return for their help in protecting their borders and preventing illegal migrants from reaching EU shores.
But many EU capitals are wary of giving out visa breaks at a time when public hostility to migration in Europe is on the rise, especially at a time of economic hardship.