ABSTRACT
The European Union (EU) is unique in its efforts to promote human rights and democracy on a global scale. The EU Human Rights Guidelines on Freedom of Expression Online and Offline of 2015 follow up these concerns by emphasizing the role of 'citizen journalists' and social media activists. With regard to support for a participatory and representative democracy, the emphasis is on improving the reliability of electoral processes, which is mainly done through Election Observation Missions. A significant part of European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) funds are spent on election observation, which is very expensive and therefore was limited with 25 per cent of the total EIDHR budget available. The programming is more difficult as the missions depend on requests and political considerations. The European Parliament regularly provides its opinion on the Annual Report by the Council, taking a stand also on the implementation of the EIDHR.
