Study – Strengthening the democracy clause in EU agreements and instruments: Exploring election conditionality – PE 702.606 – Subcommittee on Human Rights

This briefing considers where electoral conditionality could be included in European Union (EU) relations with third countries and offers three viable options, namely as part of: direct budget support; General Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+); and the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument-Global Europe (NDICI-GE). In all three cases, not only would electoral conditionality incentivise partner countries to adhere to electoral recommendations, but also encourage them to invite international observer organisations to their elections. Within GSP/GSP+, such observation can be understood as a monitoring tool for implementing human rights conventions within beneficiary countries. Moreover, a newly designed thematic regional NDICI-GE instrument could make EU funding conditional on fulfilling recommendations from election observers. The briefing concludes with suggestions on how to enhance the practice of election observation as a foreign policy tool, with the aim of strengthening electoral integrity.