Friends are considering if we/they should support Ukraine’s request for fast-track membership of the EU. I believe that Putin’s target is the EU and that its response must be robust but the criteria for membership includes a robust democracy, a market economy and an administration committed to the rule of law. Ukraine does not meet these three criteria.

From my work in CTOE on the COFOE, I have come to the conclusion that one of the weaknesses of the EU’s treaties is that while the principles of proportionality and subsidiarity are essential parts of the treaties, they only express a relationship between the EU and the member states. This needs to change such that the member states need to guarantee subsidiarity within themselves and to their citizens. The current treaties do not do this.

This is needed to ensure that the promise of subsidiarity is met, that decisions are taken as close to the citizen as possible. It annoyed me greatly, that Cameron was bleating on about subsidiarity while acting as the elected dictator of one of the most centralised states in Europe. This deficit and lack of mandate on the institutions of the EU cause problems for independence or ethnic minority movements within the member states, such as in Spain and Hungary. Ukraine also has an significant ethnic minority population and its democracy needs to offer them the same security and human rights as the majority.

Ukraine is deemed by Transparency International as the second most corrupt state in Europe, it is third worst in front of the ECtHR and is deemed to be a Hybrid State by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s democracy index. The only way in which Ukraine could join via a fast track is if the EU were to relax its standards on human rights and the rule of law. It is unlikely to do that as it is in the same argument with Poland and Hungary and is busy changing its rules to allow it to financially sanction them.

Democrats need to defend and improve the democracy of the EU, and its member states. Our solidarity with the people of the Ukraine needs to be expressed through other means.


Image Credit: CC European Parliament 2010 BY-NC-ND MEPs Voting

Democracy and the rule of law first!
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