The EU as a Regional Actor: Human Rights

The EU enacts its security policy on different levels and through various frameworks and structures of cooperation. One of these levels is the regional dimension (i.e. within the Union) where the EU acts as a regional security actor. This paper puts forward an analysis of the regional dimension of human rights by assessing (i) the institutional dimension underpinning this issue, (ii) the EU’s policy output in the field of human rights, and (iii) an evaluation of the Union’s institutional and output dimension. This ‘check-up’ of EU policy through the assessment of its coherence, the current levels of accountability, and the legitimacy of EU action, enables a reflection on the merits of EU policy in the security field.