Il Parlamento Europeo e la promozione della democrazia. Il caso dell'adesione della Bosnia-Herzegovina all'Unione Europea.

The aim of this dissertation is to bring together two main issues concerning the European Union's foreign policy: the democracy promotion and the role of the European Parliament (EP). Part of the literature of the European Studies often identifies the European Union as a ¿civilian power¿ or as a ¿normative power¿ which puts its values and principles ¿ such as, democracy, human rights, rule of law, etc. ¿ at the heart of its external action. However, with the respect to the promotion of democracy, the analysis of the third-countries' external perceptions shows that the EU is often charged with the lack of credibility, legitimacy, coherence and capability. This distrust can be due to two different reasons. The first relates with the definition of ¿democracy¿ given by the EU, which is unclear and ¿fuzzy¿. The second concerns the hybrid institutional nature of the EU and the questionable ¿democratic deficit¿. Thus, in the context of the democracy promotion, it is pretty interesting to shed the lights on the role held by the EP because it is the most legitimate and democratic Institution of the EU. Even if, as it will be shown, the EP is not yet co-legislator with the Council, the added-value of its involvement to the EU's democracy promotion is substantial. As a matter of fact, the EP employs its ¿soft power¿, such as the resolutions, as well as its budgetary powers and its diplomatic resources to positively shape and direct the EU policies concerning democracy. Throughout the case-study of the EU democracy promotion in Bosnia-Herzegovina via enlargement and conditionality, the active role of the EP will be largely discussed. This thesis is the result of a period of internship in the EP wherein specific intra and inter-institutional dynamics have been observed. For this reason, both the second and the last chapter will put forward an empirical and concrete perspective of the modus operandi of the EP. More specifically, a comparative analysis of the positions of four political groups regarding the integration of the Bosnia-Herzegovina will be also provided. ​