Human rights and democratic principles, implementation of measures. 1995 report

The committee adopted the report by Mr Renzo IMBENI (PSE, I), who advocated more efficient and transparent EU activities to promote human rights and democratization. He therefore called for the Commission services in question to be consolidated and for their activities to be better coordinated and for the European Parliament to be more involved in the implementation of this policy. Mr IMBENI also called for an increase in funds to finance support and monitoring of electoral processes in third countries, proposing that a specific budget line be created, distinct from existing human rights and democratization lines. The Commission was called on to draw up and publish criteria for assessing the success or failure of the projects funded. Where the European Union had placed its diplomatic relations with third countries on ice due to their shortcomings in the area of human rights, the report recommended that direct support for forces in civil society working towards the country's democratization should be continued, while bearing in mind special solutions appropriate to the specific problems involved. Lastly, he proposed that a major evaluation conference be held annually on the European Union's democratization programmes throughout the world, along the lines of the October 1997 conference on the PHARE and TACIS democracy programmes.�