Ethnic Diversity Management in Central Europe

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

“…Thus, neither the systemic flaw of the international minority system based on the Kohn dichotomy, nor "the combined effect of vague and contested international standards, the diverse approaches of member states, and the weak influence of the Commission and the Court" (Hughes and Sasse 2003, 13), could explain why the EU raised the problem of the Non-citizens at the level of an accession requirement, while at the same time turned a blind eye to the problem of the Erased. The closest conclusions drawn in the literature are claiming that double standards derive from political, strategic, or economic considerations, which downgrade human and minority rights to instruments for securing internal and external stability (Smith 1998;Pentassuglia 2001;Sjursen 2006;Roter 2012). However, the paper goes a step further by identifying the domestic conditions shaping these EU "considerations;" thus, it infers that double standards occur due to the lack of EU and international interest in situations of human rights violations, where a powerful kin state and a minority, significant in number, are absent, do not have a potential to develop into a violent conflict, do not derive from explicitly discriminatory legislation, and do not challenge the fundamental market freedoms of the EU.…”

“…Hence, a great bulk of Europeanization literature (Smith 1998;Pentassuglia 2001;Grabbe 2002;Hughes and Sasse 2003;Van den Berghe 2003;Guglielmo 2004;Sasse 2004;Schwellnus 2006;Sjursen 2006;Jutila 2009;Henrard 2010;Roter 2012) has tried to identify the causes of double standards. Some authors (Van den Berghe 2003;Guglielmo 2004;Henrard 2010) have pointed to the lack of EU competence and vague standards.…”

“…In this context, human and minority rights represent a pragmatic concern for internal and external stability, rather than a minority or human rights question per se (Pentassuglia 2001;Sjursen 2006). They are often used as trade-offs for high politics decisions, such as state recognition and membership in international organizations, which eventually turn them into an issue of reciprocity and double standard (Roter 2012).…”