Działania zewnątrzne Unii Europejskiej wobec państw nieuznawanych
The Stance of the European Union Towards Unrecognized States

Summary/Abstract: The object of the article is to present and assess the stance of the European Union towards unrecognized states. The implementation of the idea of supporting peace and democracy, freedom, equality and respect of human rights, minority rights included – all of them being values in which the European Union’s functioning is grounded – is especially problematic in relation to new state organisms. The EU is unable to take a uniform stance towards them that would allow to reconcile the right to independence with the necessity to guaranty the sovereign rights of the precedent states. In the cases discussed in the article the EU’s stance towards newly created states is conditioned by several factors. The first of them is the desire to play a key role on the international arena that manifests in conducting activities aimed at warranting peace and security in regions troubled by conflicts. Another is a concurrent tendency to respect the basic principles accepted by the international community after World War II, i.e. the sovereign equality of states and the right of nations to self-determination. The external actions of the European Union are also shaped by the stance of other international key actors. The above mentioned factors determine the EU’s stance towards unrecognized states, which is known as engagement without recognition.

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