Fragmented Practices, Shared Lessons: EU Democracy Support in the Eastern and Southern Neighbourhoods

SHARPEDEM-EU publication 47

This policy brief provides a cross-case analysis of EU democracy support in six countries (Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, Lebanon, Palestine and Tunisia) covering 2011-2025, drawing on SHAPEDEM-EU Work Package 4 research on narratives of contestation within the EU, and on democracy support and foreign policy practices. It shows that EU democracy support is fragmented and often subordinated to security, migration and geopolitical priorities, revealing gaps between rhetorical commitments and behavioural practices. In Lebanon, Palestine and Tunisia, short term stability considerations consistently outweighed empowerment, embeddedness and accountability, while in Armenia and Ukraine, alignment between local political will and EU interests enabled more democratic practices. 

Georgia illustrates the risks of dissonance, where rhetoric of conditionality collapses in practice. The brief advances the SHAPEDEM-EU Democracy Learning Loop (DLL) as a tool to transform EU democracy support into a reciprocal, collective learning process, linking EU institutions, local actors and civil society to strengthen democratic knowledge and practices. Recommendations include centering local voices and priorities, simplifying access to funding, aligning democracy support with broader foreign policies, investing in civic and media education, protecting civic space and institutionalising feedback and practices of contestation. Operationalising the DLL can enable the EU to move from transactional stability management toward locally embedded, accountable democracy support, and fostering co-produced, context-sensitive democratic practices