Σχόλιο της εφημερίδας τα ΝΕΑ
Νεοναζί δολοφονούν στην Ελλάδα. Η Γαλλία απειλεί να απελάσει τους Ρομά που ζουν στην επικράτειά της. Η Κροατία προχωρά σε ελιγμούς για να διασώσει έναν εγκληματία από την έκδοση σε άλλη χώρα. Στην Ισπανία η διαφθορά είναι εμφανής σε όλα τα θεσμικά όργανα. Η Ευρώπη εμφανίζει διαρκώς όλο και πιο ανησυχητικά φαινόμενα από τα οποία προκύπτει μια σοβαρή διαπίστωση: η δημοκρατία είναι κάθε άλλο παρά εγγυημένη. Αυτό είναι το βασικό συμπέρασμα της πρώτης σοβαρής ανάλυσης που γίνεται στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ενωση σχετικά με την ποιότητα του δημοκρατικού συστήματος, από το think tank Demos για την ομάδα των Σοσιαλιστών και των Δημοκρατών του Ευρωκοινοβουλίου. Μια έκθεση που προειδοποιεί ότι Ελλάδα και Ουγγαρία αντιμετωπίζουν τους περισσότερους κινδύνους σε σχέση με το δημοκρατικό τους έλλειμμα.
Η ΑΞΙΟΛΟΓΗΣΗ. Η έκθεση του Demos αναφέρει πως στην ΕΕ τις χειρότερες επιδόσεις σε ό,τι αφορά τη δημοκρατία εμφανίζουν η Βουλγαρία και η Ρουμανία, κάτι που δεν αποτελεί έκπληξη, «δεδομένης της ιστορίας των χωρών αυτών». Ομως στην Ουγγαρία και την Ελλάδα παρουσιάζεται η μεγαλύτερη πτώση στις δημοκρατικές πρακτικές. Η εμφάνιση της Χρυσής Αυγής – το όνομα του νεοναζιστικού κόμματος αναφέρεται 10 φορές μέσα στην έκθεση – και η είσοδός της στο Κοινοβούλιο καθώς και η άνοδος της αυταρχικής Δεξιάς στην Ουγγαρία αντιμετωπίζονται ως τα δύο πιο ακραία παραδείγματα της τάσης που εξαπλώνεται σε όλη την Ευρώπη. «Η Ακρα Δεξιά ενεργοποιείται: είναι σε υπερδραστηριότητα, ετοιμοπόλεμη και έχει κινητοποιήσει τους ψηφοφόρους της. Τα μεγάλα κόμματα, δυστυχώς, έχουν πολύ πιο χαμηλό προφίλ: λες και η υπεράσπιση της δημοκρατίας είναι μια μάχη που δεν χρειάζεται πλέον να δίνουν», λέει ο Φερνάντο Λόπεζ Αγκιλάρ, ισπανός Σοσιαλδημοκράτης ευρωβουλευτής, πρόεδρος της Επιτροπής Ελευθεριών του Ευρωκοινοβουλίου. «Δεν μιλάμε πλέον μόνο για μια κρίση του ευρώ. Βρισκόμαστε μπροστά σε μια διαδικασία που επηρεάζει τα θεμέλια του ευρωπαϊκού κοινωνικού μοντέλου».
Η έκθεση, που περιλαμβάνει 264 σελίδες και παρουσιάστηκε χθες στο Λονδίνο, αποκαλύπτει σημαντικές αποτυχίες στον αγώνα εναντίον της διαφθοράς, στον σεβασμό των μειονοτήτων και των ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων. Διαπιστώνεται ότι «η Ευρώπη έχει γίνει πολύ λιγότερο ανεκτική προς τις μειονότητες τα τελευταία 15 χρόνια». Οσον αφορά τα κενά στη δημοκρατική διακυβέρνηση μέχρι πρόσφατα, συνδέονταν με τους νεοεισερχόμενους στην Ευρωπαϊκή Ενωση, δηλαδή τις 12 χώρες που εντάχθηκαν μετά το 2004 συν την Κροατία εφέτος. Ομως η έρευνα του Demos, ενός έγκυρου βρετανικού think tank, περιέχει πολλές ενδείξεις ότι αυτή η παλίρροια έχει φθάσει και στις πιο παλιές δημοκρατίες της Γηραιάς Ηπείρου. Η αύξηση των επιθέσεων εναντίον των μεταναστών σε όλες σχεδόν τις χώρες με την παράλληλη άνοδο νεοναζιστικών μορφωμάτων αποτελεί ένα ηχηρό καμπανάκι προειδοποίησης για τις ευρωπαϊκές ηγεσίες. Στη Γερμανία αυξάνεται το ποσοστό πολιτών που δηλώνουν ότι δεν θέλουν να έχουν γείτονες μουσουλμάνους, τα μηνύματα που στέλνει το ευρωσκεπτικιστικό κόμμα UKIP στη Βρετανία είναι παρόμοια. Η έκθεση αναφέρεται στις «αμφιλεγόμενες πολιτικές όσον αφορά τη θρησκευτική ελευθερία» στη Γαλλία καθώς και τα επεισόδια «διαφθοράς, οργανωμένου εγκλήματος και τον έλεγχο των ΜΜΕ» στην Ιταλία. «Η δημοκρατία πρέπει να αξιολογείται συνεχώς», λέει ο Τζόναθαν Μπέρντουελ, εκ των συντακτών της έκθεσης. «Ακόμα και πολύ ισχυρές δημοκρατικές χώρες αντιμετωπίζουν μεγάλες προκλήσεις. Τα στοιχεία στην παρούσα έκθεση δείχνουν ότι η δημοκρατία δεν μπορεί να θεωρηθεί δεδομένη. Μάλιστα μπορούμε να πούμε ότι απειλείται».
ΠΡΟ ΚΡΙΣΗΣ. Ενα από τα πιο εντυπωσιακά ευρήματα αφορά την αποσύνδεση μεταξύ της οικονομικής κρίσης και την φθορά της δημοκρατίας. Διότι οι δείκτες, που καλύπτουν ουσιαστικά την περίοδο 2000-2008, αν και αρκετοί φθάνουν μέχρι το 2012, είχαν αρχίσει ήδη να πέφτουν πριν από το 2008, όταν η Ευρώπη ζούσε ακόμα σε ατμόσφαιρα ευημερίας. Η κατάσταση χειροτέρευσε με την έναρξη της ύφεσης. Και οι ειδικοί προειδοποιούν ότι η φετινή χρονιά θα δώσει ακόμα χειρότερα αποτελέσματα για την κατάρρευση της δημοκρατίας.
Η έρευνα καταλήγει με το συμπέρασμα ότι η Ευρωπαϊκή Ενωση θα πρέπει να ενστερνιστεί τον ρόλο της ως φύλακα της δημοκρατίας, και όχι να θεωρεί εαυτόν αποκλειστικά ένα οικονομικό μπλοκ. Πέρα από τη διαπίστωση της σοβαρότητας του προβλήματος, διατυπώνονται και πιθανές λύσεις που συνοψίζονται σε έναν πιο ενεργό ρόλο της Κομισιόν για την παρακολούθηση της δημοκρατίας εντός των συνόρων της. Προτείνεται επίσης η θέσπιση ενός ανεξάρτητου οργανισμού που θα αξιολογεί αυστηρά και αντικειμενικά τη συμμόρφωση των χωρών-μελών στις δημοκρατικές αξίες.
Συνοπτική παρουσίαση της έρευνας από το επιστημονικό δυναμικό του ΔΙΚΤΥΟΥ
Demos is Britain’s leading cross-party think tank.
The European Union (EU) was founded on the principles of liberty, democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. The accession process for new EU member states ensures that new countries adhere to these basic principles of democracy. But there are few mechanisms at the EU’s disposal for ensuring that member states do not slide backwards and become less democratic once they are part of the Union.
Reports on democratic backsliding tend to focus on Central and Eastern European countries, most notably Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania. However, countries in Western Europe have also come under fire for undemocratic legislation, controversial policies on religious freedom (France) and problems over corruption and media ownership (Italy).
Backsliders assesses in detail the status of democracy in seven European countries – France, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Latvia – and considers how the EU should confront the challenge of upholding strong democratic values in all its member states.
Where is Europe Backsliding?
The report identifies five core problems (in 7 countries France, Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Latvia that have been subject to criticism)of democratic backsliding:
1. Democratic malaise and public distrust: Across Europe voters are increasingly dissatisfied with traditional political parties. Parties of protest have been gaining ground with startling success. In Greece, the far right party Golden Dawn made a major breakthrough at the 2012 general elections. In Hungary the far right party Jobbik has risen rapidly.
2. Corruption and organised crime: Corruption exists in the most advanced democracies, but the extent to which it flourishes and goes unpunished within a country is a reflection of poor democratic institutions and procedures. The European Commission has estimated that €120 billion, or 1 per cent of the EU’s GDP, is lost to corruption each year.7 In 2012, Greece was placed 94th out of 176 countries, making it the EU’s most corrupt member state (from the annual Corruption Perceptions Index produced by the Berlin-based NGO Transparency International). Italy’s problems with corruption are long standing and well known.
3. The justice system: A healthy and functioning democracy requires an independent judiciary that is free of corruption and political influence. Judicial reform and the independence of the judiciary remain issues of concern, particularly among central and Eastern European former Soviet bloc countries. There have been persistent concerns about the functioning of the judicial systems in Bulgaria and Romania, and more recently in Hungary in response to proposed constitutional changes.
4. Media freedom: The US watchdog Freedom House produces an annual report on the freedom of the press, which classifies the world’s countries into three categories: ‘free’, ‘partly free’ and ‘not free’. In 2012, four of the EU’s then 27 member states failed to make the grade as ‘free’. In order of concern these were Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Italy. Hungary was the only country to lose its ‘free’ status in 2012, dropping six points on the previous year.
5. Human rights and the treatment of minorities: The pressures of immigration are being felt across Europe, where a high standard of living and the opportunity of employment have attracted migrants from every corner of the world. The treatment of asylum seekers, and two minority groups in particular – Muslims and Roma – have been issues of concern in some EU member states.
Measuring Democracy in the EU (INDEX)
Organisations such as the World Bank, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) and Freedom House have developed indices of democracy to measure the strength and development of democracy across the world. The report builds on existing measures from around the world to create a unique index that provides a detailed picture of democracy across Europe (27 member states). The indicators we chose to form our composite index are from three sources: the World Bank’s Worldwide Governance Indicators, the CIRI Human Rights Database and the EVS (European Values Study research programme).
Findings: who are Europe’s backsliders?
Our index confirms a common perception that Eastern European countries tend to be at the bottom of democracy measures, while Western and Northern European countries are at the top. This should come as no surprise given that many of these countries only emerged from the shadow of Communism in the early 1990s. And yet on some measures we see this bifurcation of Europe disintegrating, with Eastern European countries showing notable improvements, while Western European countries appear to be suffering democratic malaise – particularly looking at the views of citizens themselves. Overall, Greece and Hungary emerge as the most worrying backsliders on measures of healthy democracy.
Priority countries: Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary. Bulgaria and Romania are consistently the poorest performers relative to their EU peers across all five dimensions. But there have also been some modest improvements, for example relating to tolerance for minority groups.
The faltering Mediterranean bloc. Although Spain, Greece, Italy (and Portugal) were rarely among the worst performers, at least one of them is a backslider for every dimension except dimension 3 (tolerance of minorities). Greece experienced the sharpest declines and it continues to suffer severe strain to its democracy: high unemployment, corruption, social unrest, the rise of extremism and a deep public malaise. Particularly worrying is the fact that it was one of the worst performers on dimension 2, fundamental freedoms and rights. Italy also was a frequent decliner as it continues to battle endemic corruption and organised crime. The corruption and evasion of prosecution by Prime Minister Berlusconi has undermined the public’s faith in social and political institutions. The extraordinary rise of populist Beppe Grillo and the Five Star Movement in the 2013 election reflected the public’s frustration.
The report concludes arguing that the EU, and the European Commission in particular, needs to fully embrace its role as a democratic protector.
The report also makes the following recommendations:
• The Commission should distinguish between core backsliding transgressions and smaller other issues
• The Commission should produce an annual report that focuses on the overall development of democracy in the EU
• The European Union Agency on Fundamental Rights must develop a more systematic approach to measuring democracy and backsliding among EU member states
• The Commission needs to ensure sufficient levels of investment for the Fundamental Rights Agency to be able to collect the necessary data and produce a quantitative index that is objective and rigorous
• The Commission and the EU should carefully consider the potential backlash of intervening too aggressively and without sufficient data
(INDEX IN DETAIL)
Procedural and electoral democracy (dimension 1)
On three out of the four indicators (political stability and absence of violence, rule of law, control of corruption, electoral turnout) we used, the European average declined successively between 2000, 2008 and 2011.
Control of corruption worsened, political stability decreased and the number of people voting has declined. There was significant decline in Greece, Italy and Hungary relative to their peers. Greece declined across rule of law, control of corruption and political stability; Italy declined on rule of law and control of corruption; Hungary showed three successive declines on rule of law and control of corruption. Those at the bottom of the table were Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Latvia and Lithuania. Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania showed the lowest levels of voter turnout.
Fundamental rights and freedoms (dimension 2)
The European average score for protection of freedoms and rights has been constant since 2000, though within this consistency some countries have fluctuated. The five worst performing countries are Romania, Latvia, Slovakia, Greece and Bulgaria. Hungary was one of the only countries to show three successive declines, and thus should be a priority. Latvia also declined substantially, driven by its score for freedom of religion and economic rights of women.
Tolerance of minorities (dimension 3)
There are clear limitations to the EVS ‘neighbour’ question (where respondents choose which types of people they ‘would not like to have as a neighbour’), but nonetheless it provides some insight into how people’s attitudes towards minorities change. Across Europe, we find that Roma were considered the least desirable neighbour, followed by homosexuals and then Muslims. Overall, Netherlands, Austria, Czech Republic and Slovenia experienced the most significant hardening of attitudes. Those countries below the average on this measure tended to be in Eastern Europe, with Austria and Italy being the exceptions. Of all the minority groups considered, negative attitudes towards Muslims hardened most significantly, rising 4 percentage points from 2000 to 2008.
Active citizenship (dimension 4)
Between 2000 and 2008, Europeans on average tended to become less politically active (signing fewer petitions, joining fewer boycotts and demonstrating less) and less likely to belong to a civic organisation. Volunteering, on the other hand, increased. During the years since 2008 there has been economic recession, unemployment has risen, and there have been banking and fiscal crises; austerity programmes have been met with significant political protest, and may have impacted on volunteering rates as well. For these reasons this dimension is difficult to interpret – rates of political activism could be tied to corruption, inefficient institutions and social and economic unrest. However, the data suggest that this is not the case. Consistently strong democracies like Sweden, France and Denmark also show the highest levels of political activism, while Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary occupy the lowest positions.
Satisfaction with democracy (dimension 5)
Again, the data here are limited to 2000 and 2008, and it is certain that the years since 2008 will have had a significant impact on citizens’ attitudes towards democracy. The banking and eurozone crises have contributed to a sense of an out-of touch political elite. More recent data from the 2012 DEREX [Demand for Right-Wing Extremism] Index showed that antiestablishment views in Greece had increased drastically, with 62 per cent displaying lack of trust in the political system. Even between 2000 and 2008, however – what many describe as the boom years – satisfaction with democracy in Europe was decreasing. Our index showed the most significant declines in those years in Portugal, Czech Republic, Hungary and Bulgaria. Bulgaria, Romania and Latvia score the worst out of their peers.
