GPPi comments on Europe’s Nobel Peace Prize in GEO magazine

GEO, a monthly German magazine, published an essay by GPPi’s Katrin Kinzelbach. The article is a reaction to the presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union on December 10, and it focuses on the EU’s track record in international human rights promotion. Kinzelbach argues that the EU’s achievements in this field fail to meet the standard set by the Union’s own public rhetoric. According to her analysis, this is not due to a lack of capacity but rather a lack of political will. In particular, Kinzelbach criticizes that the EU does not have a clear human rights foreign policy vis-à-vis countries that are not, and never will be, candidate countries for joining the EU.

Looking back at the Arab Spring but also at cases such as Burma, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Uzbekistan, Kinzelbach points out that the unique contribution of a European human rights foreign policy stands and falls with unity among the member states. In reality, this condition is not often met as national decision-makers drop normative principles too hastily when seeking gains in other policy fields, such as trade or security cooperation.