Three Coherence Challenges to the EU’s All-Encompassing Commitment to Human Rights

The European Union's treaties require it to act with ‘consistency’ on the international stage (see e.g. Art. 21 3 TEU), meaning that its actions should reflect ‘policy coherence’. In a basic sense, coherence means that policies should be faithful to their authors' values and all be directed towards a well-defined aim. Coherence is instrumental in building soft power, as it increases the effectiveness of actors’ policies, and bolsters their credibility as a reliable international partner. However, in the recent past, coherence has been a talking point for those assessing the EU’s external action performance, most notably as it concerns the EU’s commitment to make human rights the ‘silver thread’ of all its policies. The EU is faced with three types of coherence challenges: (i) internal-internal, when the objectives of some EU policies conflict with its human rights commitment; (ii) internal-external, when the EU’s or its Member States’ human rights records do not match the human rights demands placed externally on third countries; and (iii) external-external, when the EU treats two or more third countries in a different manner regarding human rights issues (double standards). This paper will examine whether and how such coherence issues undermine the credibility of the EU’s commitment to human rights and thereby its ability to achieve its objectives internationally through soft power. The paper will also offer concrete suggestions to increase the coherence of the EU’s policies in respect of its human rights commitment, while taking account of associated political and legal constraints.