Human-centric Assessment

Th e impact of the Lisbon Treaty provisions on the EU’s foreign and security policies can be assessed, using as reference points the building blocks of the human-centric approach to sustainable statehood, i.e. the human rights paradigm, the cosmopolitan perspective and the public goods focus. Th e Lisbon Treaty strengthens citizens’

rights from the human rights perspective, renews the democratic fundamentals of the European Union in a globalising world and introduces a greater concern for the public good.

3.2.2.1. Human Rights and Citizenship

Th e European Union sees human rights as universal and indivisible. It actively promotes and defends them both within its borders and when engaging in relations with non-EU countries. Human rights, democracy and the rule of law are core values of the European Union’s external relations. Embedded in its founding Treaty, they were reinforced when the EU adopted the Charter of Fundamental Rights in 2000, and strengthened even further when the Charter became legally binding with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009.

Article 21 of the Treaty on European Union reaffi rmed the EU’s determination to promote human rights and democracy through all its external actions. Th e Union’s action on the international scene shall be guided by the principles which have inspired its own creation … and which it seeks to advance in the wider world: democracy, the rule of law, the universality and indivisibility of human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for human dignity. It implies that countries seeking to join the EU must respect human rights. Furthermore, all trade and cooperation agreements with third countries contain a clause stipulating that human rights are an essential element in relations between the parties. In other words, human rights have become an explicit EU Foreign Policy Objective.

Th e Union’s human rights policy encompasses civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. It also seeks to promote the rights of women, of children, of minorities and of displaced people. With a budget of 1.1 billion EUR between 2007 and 2013, the

89 The European Union and Multi-level Governance in the World: Conceptual...

European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights supported non-governmental organisations, in particular those promoting human rights, democracy and the rule of law, abolishing the death penalty, combating torture and fi ghting racism and other forms of discrimination.

3.2.2.2. Th e Cosmopolitan Perspective of the European Union

Th e cosmopolitan perspective refers to the place and role of the EU in the world.

Th e EU has to defend its interests in a changing world order. Defending responsible interdependence requires in turn a world where the major players support and agree to work within a system of multilateral governance. Th erefore, the Union needs to become a much more assertive player on the international scene. From increasing Europe’s competitiveness in its external economic relations to advancing the knowledge society and providing its citizens with freedom and security, the challenges at stake are global.

Th e EU needs to become a driving force in shaping new rules of global governance.

Th e Lisbon Treaty has reinforced the principles on which the Union’s action is based:

democracy, the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms, respect for human dignity and the principles of equality and solidarity.

Moreover, the reinforcement of actors involved in the EU’s foreign aff airs might help to develop an EU approach to global governance reform that responds to the cosmopolitan view. Th e institutional strengthening of the position of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign and Security Policy should lend greater consistency to the Union’s external action beyond national borders and increase its visibility worldwide. Th e High Representative has also access to an external action service, which should favour more eff ective implementation of the policies of the Union and its Member States. Finally, the President of the European Council represents the Union at the international level on the issues associated with the common foreign and security policy, adding to the gradual cosmopolitisation of the EU multi-level governance structure in external relations.

Europe is thus perceived as a new kind of transnational, cosmopolitan, quasi-state structure which draws its political strength specifi cally from the affi rmation and management of diversities. In reality, this requires a political Europe that seeks to reconstitute its power at the intersection of global, national, regional and local systems of governance. Its application to the practice of European governance suggests that the EU is a multilayered system of decisionmaking in dealing with complex problems in the European and global risk society. Such a forward-looking vision of a state structure should be fi rmly based on the recognition and integration of diff erences. It implies that the institutional distribution of competences is not based on the territorial dimension but on the functional and issue-related criteria. Th e result is the emergence of complex

90 Léonce Bekemans

and hybrid systems of governance and policy networks, termed by Jeremy Rifk in in his “European dream” as the characteristics of a soft world power (Rifk in 2004).

3.2.2.3. Global/European Public Goods and Social Democracy and Responsibility

Article 2 of the Lisbon Treaty defi nes explicitly and clearly the values on which the Union is founded: “respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. Th ese 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”. Respect for them is not only a condition sine-qua-non for EU membership, but should also be a guideline for developing a common strategy in the EU’s external relations.

Much is related to Europe’s role and responsibility at the global level. Th e globalisation of an increasingly unipolar world urges Europe to claim a bigger role in global governance structures and to start speaking with one single voice. Europe has the responsibility to conduct a more daring and coherent common security and foreign policy and, subsequently, actually favour the culture of peace, genuine dialogue, solidarity and sustainable development. Th is does not seem to be easy, given the present international developments and diverging viewpoints. Yet, a modest institutional step was made by the Treaty of Lisbon: it created the function of a High Representative of Foreign Aff airs of the Union, who is also the vice-president of the European Commission. With a courageous foreign policy Europe can develop into a strong and trustful partner in a multilateral world order through a series of new cooperation structures. Of course this requires the pursuit of common strategies in high-priority foreign policy areas within the international law framework.

Th e provision of European pubic goods is also strongly related to the concept of social democracy. Th e Lisbon Treaty has stepped up the Union’s social objectives and introduced new social concepts in European law and policymaking. At the heart of the European Union is a distinctive economic and social model, now referred to as the sustainable social market economy. Th e Union has to work towards the social dimension of sustainable development, based on balanced economic growth, price stability and a highly competitive social market economy, with the aim of achieving economic and social progress. Th is also implies a carefully applied consideration of the social dimension of the globalisation process in its external relations.

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Conclusions

Europe has the moral responsibility to defend its values and principles of solidarity, tolerance, democracy in the needful but open dialogue between cultures and peoples within and outside Europe. Th is requires a change in mentality, a lot of imagination and active thinking and acting from the basis, but also political leadership and particularly education that focuses on learning to take responsibility. However, the question has to be put (the answer is unsure) if Europe, within a still unifying European economic space, can guarantee an acceptable common institutional basis in which states, regions and communities can maintain their diversity (the guarantee of internal solidarity) and if Europe can off er an open societal model within the process of further globalisation (guarantee of external solidarity vs. the European fortress).

Th e challenge for further European integration is the search for a new equilibrium between diversity and unity in a globalising world. Th e European model should take into account the economic, historic, social and political changes which have taken place at the international level, but it must be faithful to its principles of internal and external solidarity. In short, Europe is in need of bridge builders who can defi nitely complete the rhetoric of the European story and the European ideals of peace, unity in diversity, freedom and solidarity, and mobilise the young people for the European model of society.

Th e role of education is herein fundamental. Th e learning environment has drastically changed; it is more competitive, complex and fragmented, with a wide diversity of learning sources. It should prepare (young) people to learn to live together by acting together in order tackle complex issues, and to deal with diversity. Th is requires a variety of life competences, which range from values, attitudes, skills and behaviour (Bekemans 2013). Th e educational governance should therefore take into account diff erent levels and actors of education involved in formal, informal and non-formal education. In the ongoing process of transformation, the actual educational challenges are related to the search for a new “and/and” balance in curriculum building between theory and practice, as well as between general and specialised studies. Competence building through new pedagogical methods should therefore be a priority in the learning trajectories. To overcome the danger of exclusive, employment-driven learning, education policies should focus on co-ownership of integral human development in order to prepare people to become responsible citizens in any given societal and economic context. Th is also has an impact on the role of research.

Research space should be created for studying and analysing societal problems under inadequate institutional and educational global arrangements.

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Th is radical process of transformation also assumes that new forms and places of dialogue, active citizenship and cooperation can develop outside the existing institutionalised structures of representation. Th e European civil society becomes emancipated and develops opportunities in the globalising society for persons, peoples and cultures within and outside Europe to meet peacefully and respectfully.

Finally, globalisation and the subsequent re-balancing of power in the world provide an important new rationale for joint EU action on the global scene (Refl ection Group 2010). However, this requires political courage, collective ambition, solid pragmatism and a clear sense of community with shared values and ideals. Th e Lisbon Treaty has introduced some political and legal changes which may become further steps towards the development of the EU as a global, responsible and cosmopolitan player in the changing international political landscape.

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