Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T08:59:26.812Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reasons for EU double standards: comparative overview of the cases of the Erased and the Non-citizens

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Sanja Vrbek
Sanja Vrbek*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Kardeljeva pl. 5, Ljubljana 1000, Slovenia
*
*Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

On the basis of a comparative analysis of the case studies of the Slovenian Erased and the Latvian Non-citizens, the paper endeavors to identify the reasons for the EU involvement in the latter, but not the former case. These two situations are recognized as similar enough to be compared, and endure the counter-argumentation that the different EU approach is conditioned by the specifics of the local context, not by double standards. Hence, the paper comes to a conclusion that the involvement in Latvia has been conditioned by the fear of the potentially violent conflict, the existence of a proactive kin state, and a minority, significant in number, as well as the explicitly discriminatory legal framework that was in collision with the EU economic acquis. Thus, it has been inferred that double standards occur due to the lack of EU and international interest in these situations of human rights violations, where the powerful kin state and the minority, significant in number, are absent, do not have a potential to develop into a violent conflict, do not derive from explicitly discriminatory legal provision, and do not challenge the fundamental market freedoms of the EU.

Keywords

double standardsEuropeanizationCEE enlargementLatvian Non-citizensthe ErasedSlovenia
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , March 2015 , pp. 302 - 318
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Amnesty International. 2005. “Slovenia Amnesty International's Briefing to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.” UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Accessed August 21, 2014. http://www.humanrightspoint.si/files/att/Erased_AI%20brief.pdf Google Scholar
Anastasakis, Othon, and Bechev, Dimitar. 2003. EU Conditionality in South East Europe: Bringing Commitment to the Process. Oxford: St Antony's College, University of Oxford, European Studies Centre.Google Scholar
Balducci, Giuseppe. 2013. “The EU Promotion of Human Rights.” In Routledge Handbook on the European Union and International Institutions: Performance, Policy, Power, edited by Erik J⊘rgensen, Knud and Verlin Laatikainen, Katie, 185–202. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Berglund, Ulla. 2002. “Privatization, Segregation and Local Engagement: A Latvian Case Study.” In Challenges and Opportunities in Housing: New Concepts, Policies and Initiatives, edited by Marana, Inara and Tsenkova, Sasha, 33–48. Riga: CIB Working Commission 69 Housing Sociology Proceedings.Google Scholar
Beznec, Barbara. 2008. “Nemogoče je Mogoče: Intervju z Aleksandrom Todorovićem, Pobudnikom Gibanja Izbrisanih in Ustanoviteljem Društva DIPS.” Časopis za Kritiko Znanosti, Domišljijo in Novo Antropologijo 35 (228): 34–45.Google Scholar
Brubaker, Rogers. 1996. “Nationalizing States in the Old ‘New Europe’ – and the New.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 19 (2): 411–437.Google Scholar
Carrera, Sergio. 2005. “What Does Free Movement Mean in Theory and Practice in an Enlarged EU?” European Law Journal 11 (6): 699–721.Google Scholar
CoE (Council of Europe). 1963. “Convention on the Reduction of Cases of Multiple Nationality and Military Obligations in Cases of Multiple Nationality.” Council of Europe. Accessed August 12, 2014. http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/043.htm Google Scholar
CoE (Council of Europe). 1993. “Second Protocol Amending the Convention on the Reduction of Cases of Multiple Nationality and Military Obligations in Cases of Multiple Nationality.” Council of Europe. Accessed August 12, 2014. http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/149.htm Google Scholar
CoE (Council of Europe). 1997. “European Convention on Nationality.” Council of Europe. Accessed August 12, 2014. http://conventions.coe.int/Treaty/en/Treaties/Html/166.htm Google Scholar
CoE (Council of Europe). 2006. “Council of Europe Convention on the Avoidance of Statelessness in Relation to State Succession.” Council of Europe. Accessed August 12, 2014. http://www.refworld.org/docid/4444c8584.html Google Scholar
Commission of the European Communities. 1997a. Agenda 2000 – Commission Opinion on Latvia's Application for Membership of the European Union. Brussels.Google Scholar
Commission of the European Communities. 1997b. Agenda 2000 – Commission Opinion on Slovenia's Application for Membership of the European Union. Brussels.Google Scholar
Commission of the European Communities. 1998a. Regular Report from the Commission on Latvia's Progress Towards Accession. Brussels.Google Scholar
Commission of the European Communities. 1998b. Regular Report on Slovenia's Progress Towards Accession. Brussels.Google Scholar
Commission of the European Communities. 1999. Regular Report on Slovenia's Progress Towards Accession. Brussels.Google Scholar
Commission of the European Communities. 2004. Fourth Report on Citizenship of the Union (1 May 2001–30 April 2004). Brussels.Google Scholar
Commission of the European Communities. 2008. Fifth Report on Citizenship of the Union (1 May 2004–30 June 2007). Brussels.Google Scholar
Council of the European Union. 2003. “Council Directive 2003/109/EC of 25 November 2003 Concerning the Status of Third-country Nationals Who Are Long-term Residents.” Council of the European Union. Accessed August 12, 2014. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32003L0109:en:NOTGoogle Scholar
De Burca, Grainne. 2011. “The Road Not Taken: The EU as a Global Human Rights Actor.” American Journal of International Law 105 (4): 649–693.Google Scholar
De Witte, Bruno. 2004. “The Constitutional Resources for an EU Minority Protection Policy.” In Minority Protection and the Enlarged European Union: The Way Forward, edited by Toggenburg, Gabriel N., 107–124. Budapest: LGI Books.Google Scholar
Dorodnova, Jekaterina. 2003. Challenging Ethnic Democracy: Implementation of the Recommendations of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities to Latvia, 1993–2001. Hamburg: Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg.Google Scholar
ECHR (European Court of Human Rights). 2009. “Andrejeva v. Latvia, Application No. 55707/00.” Council of Europe. Accessed August 12, 2014. http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search.aspx?i=001–91388#{itemid:[“001–91388”]}Google Scholar
ECHR (European Court of Human Rights). 2012. “Kurić and Others v. Slovenia, Application No. 26828/06.” Council of Europe. Accessed August 12, 2014. http://hudoc.echr.coe.int/sites/eng/pages/search.aspx?i=001–111634#{itemid:[“001–111634”]}Google Scholar
European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. 2004. “Directive 2004/38/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the Right of Citizens of the Union and Their Family Members to Move and Reside Freely Within the Territory of the Member States Amending Regulation (EEC) No. 1612/68 and Repealing Directives 64/221/EEC, 68/360/EEC, 72/194/EEC, 73/148/EEC, 75/34/EEC, 75/35/EEC, 90/364/EEC, 90/365/EEC and 93/96/EEC.” European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. Accessed August 12, 2014. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32004L0038:EN:NOTGoogle Scholar
Gateva, Eli. 2010. Post-accession Conditionality. Support Instrument for Continuous Pressure? KFG Working Paper No. 18. Berlin: Freie Universität.Google Scholar
Grabbe, Heather. 2002. “European Union Conditionality and the Acquis Communautaire.” International Political Science Review 23 (3): 249–268.Google Scholar
Gregorčič, Marta. 2008. “Fantomska Neodgovornost ali Fašizem v Preoblekah.” Časopis za Kritiko Znanosti, Domišljijo in Novo Antropologijo 35 (228): 81–98.Google Scholar
Guglielmo, Rachel. 2004. “Human Rights in the Accession Process: Roma and Muslims in an Enlarging EU.” In Minority Protection and the Enlarged European Union: The Way Forward, edited by Toggenburg, Gabriel N., 37–58. Budapest: LGI Books.Google Scholar
Henrard, Kristin. 2010. “The EU, Double Standards and Minority Protection: A Double Redefinition and Future Prospects.” In Double Standards Pertaining to Minority Protection: A Critical and Multi-dimensional Re-appraisal, edited by Henrard, Kristin, 21–70. Leiden: Brill.Google Scholar
Hughes, James, and Sasse, Gwendolyn. 2003. “Monitoring the Monitors: EU Enlargement Conditionality and Minority Protection in the CEECs.” Journal on Ethnopolitic and Minority Issues in Europe 1(1): 1–36.Google Scholar
Rights Watch, Human. 1994. “Latvia.” Human Rights Watch. Accessed July 21, 2013. http://www.hrw.org/reports/1994/WR94/Helsinki-14.htm Google Scholar
Johns, Michael. 2003. “Do as I Say, Not as I Do”: The European Union, Eastern Europe and Minority Rights.” East European Politics and Societies 17 (4): 682–699.Google Scholar
Jutila, Matti. 2009. “Taming Eastern Nationalism: Tracing the Ideational Background of Double Standards of Post-Cold War Minority Protection.” European Journal of International Relations 15 (4): 627–651.Google Scholar
Kelley, Judith G. 2004. Ethnic Politics in Europe: The Power of Norms and Incentives. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Knezović, Sandro. 2009. “EU's Conditionality Mechanism in South East Europe – Lessons Learned and Challenges for the Future.” Journal on European Perspectives of the Western Balkans 1 (1): 93–113.Google Scholar
Kochenov, Dimitry, and Dimitrovs, Aleksejs. 2013. EU Citizenship for Latvian “Non-Citizens”: A Concrete Proposal. Jean Monnet Working Paper 14/13.Google Scholar
Kogovšek, Neža. 2010a. “Uvod: Izbrisani Včeraj, Danes, Jutri – Spodkopani Stereotipi in Nepovrnljiva Pot k Popravi Krivic.” In Brazgotine izbrisa: Prispevek h Kritičnemu Razumevanju Izbrisa iz Stalnega Prebivalstva Republike Slovenije, edited by Kogovšek, Neža and Petković, Brankica, 9–18. Ljubljana: Mirovni inštitut.Google Scholar
Kogovšek, Neža. 2010b. “Izbris kot Kršitev Pravno Zavarovanih Človekovih Pravic.” In Brazgotine izbrisa: Prispevek h Kritičnemu Razumevanju Izbrisa iz Stalnega Prebivalstva Republike Slovenije, edited by Kogovšek, Neža and Petković, Brankica, 83–143. Ljubljana: Mirovni inštitut.Google Scholar
Kruma, Kristine. 2010. Country Report: Latvia. Badia Fiesolana: EUDO Citizenship Observatory, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies.Google Scholar
Kurnik, Andrej. 2008. “Izbrisani Gredo v Nebesa.” Časopis za Kritiko Znanosti, Domišljijo in Novo Antropologijo 35 (228): 122–132.Google Scholar
Latvian Human Rights Committee. 1997. “Differences Between Rights of Latvian Citizens and Non-citizens – Latvian Residents.” Latvian Human Rights Committee. Accessed July 21, 2013. http://www.cilevics.eu/minelres/count/non_cit-rights_2.htm Google Scholar
League of Nations. 1930. “Convention on Certain Questions Relating to the Conflict of Nationality Law.” Treaty Series 179: 89. No. 4137. League of Nations. Accessed August 12, 2014. http://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3b00.html Google Scholar
Maas, Willem. 2005. “Citizenship, Free Movement, and EU Enlargement.” Jean Monnet/Robert Schuman Paper Series 5 (34): 1–12.Google Scholar
Mandelc, Damjan, and Učkar, Tjaša. 2011. “Perforated Democracy: Disintegration, State-building, Europeanisation and the Erased of Slovenia.” Revija za sociologiju 41 (1): 27–49.Google Scholar
Medved, Felicita. 2009. Country Report: Slovenia. Badia Fiesolana: EUDO Citizenship Observatory, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies.Google Scholar
Ministrstvo za notranje zadeve. 1992a. “Izvajanje Zakona o Tujcih – Navodilo.” Ministrstvo za Notranje Zadeve, Uprava za Upravno Pravne Zadeve, Oddelek za JRM, Pl in Tujce. Accessed July 21, 2013. http://www.mirovni-institut.si/izbrisani/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/depesa_05_1992_02_27.pdf Google Scholar
Ministrstvo za notranje zadeve. 1992b. “Odprta Vprašanja o Izvajanju Zakona o Tujcih.” Ministrstvo za Notranje Zadeve. Accessed July 21, 2013. http://www.mirovni-institut.si/izbrisani/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/depesa_06_1992_06_04.pdf Google Scholar
Moravcsik, Andrew, and Vachudova, Milada A. 2003. “National Interests, State Power, and EU Enlargement.” East European Politics and Societies 17 (42): 42–57.Google Scholar
Morris, Hellen. 2003. “EU Enlargement and Latvian Citizenship Policy.” Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe 1: 1–37.Google Scholar
Muižnieks, Nils. 2006. “Government Policy and the Russian Minority.” In Latvian–Russian Relations: Domestic and International Dimensions, edited by Muižnieks, Nils, 11–21. Riga: Latvijas Universitãte.Google Scholar
Muižnieks, Nils. 2011. “Max van der Stoel and Latvia.” Security and Human Rights 22 (3): 257–260.Google Scholar
OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities. 1996. “Letter Addressed to His Excellency Mr. Birkavs Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia.” OSCE. Accessed August 21, 2014. http://www.cilevics.eu/minelres/count/latvia/960314r.htm Google Scholar
Pentassuglia, Gaetano. 2001. “The EU and the Protection of Minorities: The Case of Eastern Europe.” European Journal for International Law 12 (1): 3–38.Google Scholar
Pignoni, Roberto. 2008. “Dvojni Izbris Alija Berishe.” Časopis za Kritiko Znanosti, Domišljijo in Novo Antropologijo 35 (228): 55–57.Google Scholar
Pilgram, Lisa. 2011. International Law and European Nationality Laws. Badia Fiesolana: EUDO Citizenship Observatory, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies.Google Scholar
Pistotnik, Sara. 2008. “Kronologija Izbrisa 1990–2007.” Časopis za Kritiko Znanosti, Domišljijo in Novo Antropologijo 35 (228): 204–237.Google Scholar
Pistotnik, Sara. 2010. “Izbris kot Poligon Evropskih Migracijskih Politik ali ‘Oprostite mi, Prosim, ampak Vaši Predpisi so Izbrisali Moj Status.” In Brazgotine Izbrisa: Prispevek h Kritičnemu Razumevanju Izbrisa iz Stalnega Prebivalstva Republike Slovenije, edited by Kogovšek, Neža and Petković, Brankica, 53–79. Ljubljana: Mirovni inštitut.Google Scholar
Refugees International. 2011. Latvia: The Perilous State of National Rights. Washington, DC: Refugees International.Google Scholar
Riedel, Manuela. 2009. “The EU as a Promoter of Minority Rights?” In Minority Integration in Central Eastern Europe. Between Ethnic Diversity and Equality, edited by Agarin, Timofey and Brosig, Malte, 27–51. Amsterdam: Rodopi.Google Scholar
Roter, Petra. 2012. “Ethnic Diversity Management in Central Europe.” In Regional and International Relations of Central Europe, edited by Sabič, Zlatko and Drulàk, Petr, 181–201. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Rupel, Dimitrij. 2013. “Managing Yugoslav Crises. Conference on Yugoslavia in The Hague (1991) and the Challenges of Multilateral Diplomacy.” Acta Histriae 21 (3): 329–360.Google Scholar
Sasse, Gwendolyn. 2004. “Minority Rights and EU Enlargement: Normative Overstretch or Effective Conditionality.” In Minority Protection and the Enlarged European Union: The Way Forward, edited by Toggenburg, Gabriel N., 59–84. Budapest: LGI Books.Google Scholar
Schimmelfennig, Frank. 2008. “EU Political Accession Conditionality after the 2004 Enlargement: Consistency and Effectiveness.” Journal of European Public Policy 15 (6): 918–937.Google Scholar
Schimmelfennig, Frank, Engert, Stefan, and Knobel, Heiko. 2002. “The Conditions of Conditionality: The Impact of the EU on Democracy and Human Rights in European Non-member States.” Paper presented at Workshop 4, “Enlargement and European Governance,” ECPR joint session of workshops, Turin, March 22–27.Google Scholar
Schimmelfennig, Frank, and Sedelmeier, Ulrich. 2004. “Governance by Conditionality: EU Rule Transfer to the Candidate Countries of Central and Eastern Europe.” Journal of European Public Policy 11 (4): 669–687.Google Scholar
Schwellnus, Guido. 2006. “Double Standards? Minority Protection as a Condition for Membership.” In Questioning EU Enlargement: Europe in Search of Identity, edited by Sjursen, Helen, 186–200. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Schwellnus, Guido, Balàzs, Lilla, and Mikalayeva, Liudmila. 2009. “It Ain't Over When It's Over: The Adoption and Sustainability of Minority Protection Rules in New EU Member States.” In Post-accession Compliance in the EU's New Member States, edited by Schimmelfennig, Frank and Trauner., Florian European Integration Online Papers Special 13 (2). http://eiop.or.at/eiop/index.php/eiop/article/view/2009_024a Google Scholar
Sjursen, Helen. 2006. “Conclusion: The European Union Between Values and Rights.” In Questioning EU Enlargement: Europe in Search of Identity, edited by Sjursen, Helen, 203–215. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Smith, Karen. 1998. “The Use of Political Conditionality in the EU's Relations with Third Countries: How Effective?” European Foreign Affairs Review 3 (2): 253–274.Google Scholar
Steunenberg, Bernard, and Dimitrova, Antoaneta. 2007. “Compliance in the EU Enlargement Process: The Limits of Conditionality.” European Integration Online Papers 11 (5): 1–18.Google Scholar
UN General Assembly. 1961. “Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.” Treaty Series 989. United Nations. Accessed August 12, 2014. http://legal.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/6_1_1961.pdf Google Scholar
UNHCR Regional Bureau for Europe. 1997. Citizenship and Prevention of Statelessness Linked to the Disintegration of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. European Series 3 (1). Geneva: UNHCR.Google Scholar
Vachudova, Milada Anna. 2001. The Leverage of International Institutions on Democratizing States: The European Union and Eastern Europe. RSCAS Working Paper No. 2001/33. Fiesole: European University Institute.Google Scholar
Van den Berghe, Frederic. 2003. “The EU and the Protection of Minorities: How Real Is the Alleged Double Standard?” Yearbook of European Law 22: 155–202.Google Scholar
Woolfson, Charles. 2009. “Labour Migration, Neoliberalism and Ethno-politics in the New Europe: The Latvian Case.” Antipode 41 (5): 952–982.Google Scholar
Zaagman, Rob. 1999. Conflict Prevention in the Baltic States: The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Flensburg: European Centre for Minority Issues.Google Scholar
Zorn, Jelka. 2008a. “'Mi, Etno-državljani Etno-demokracije’ Nastajanje Slovenskega Državljanstva.” Časopis za Kritiko Znanosti, Domišljijo in Novo Antropologijo 35 (228): 17–34.Google Scholar
Zorn, Jelka. 2008b. “Izbrišimo Taborišča, ne Ljudi: Intervju z Robertom Pignonijem.” Časopis za Kritiko Znanosti, Domişljijo in Novo Antropologijo 35 (228): 132–138.Google Scholar
Zorn, Jelka. 2010. “Vpisani kot Delavci, Izbrisani kot Neslovenci: Pogled Izbrisanih na Obdobje Tranzicije.” In Brazgotine izbrisa: Prispevek h Kritičnemu Razumevanju Izbrisa iz Stalnega Prebivalstva Republike Slovenije, edited by Kogovšek, Neža and Petković, Brankica, 19–47. Ljubljana: Mirovni inštitut.Google Scholar