| Summary: | The purpose with this essay was to examine how the European Union is working to transfer norms to states they signed an agreement with and provide support for in frame of the Barcelona process and the Tacis programme. The theory which we used was Ian Manners (PhD in Political Science) theory of "the EU as a unique normative power". The aim was to examine whether the EU - which Manners mean - has had a normative power to influence states to change. We used a qualitative approach through the use of a multiple case study and qualitative text and content analysis. The States which formed the basis of our study were within the Barcelona Process; Morocco and Tunisia as well as Azerbaijan and Armenia funded by the Tacis programme. To this end, we were to answer the following questions: Can we identify transfer of norms in the written bilateral agreements with these states, and are there any normative demands? Can we on the basis of our study answer whether the EU holds a normative power to influence these countries to change, in accordance with the normative theory? The agreements that we studied was the bilateral agreements that the EU signed with these States. In order to make Manners five norms (peace, freedom, democracy, rule of law and human rights), which he argues that EU is based on measurable; we used the Freedom House freedom index, and also by a historical study the development of the country. The results we found were the following; in all the studied bilateral agreements we found clear - but to varying degrees - the transfer of norms. Although it differs in degree of regulatory requirements and also in the formulation of how the country is committed to abide by and comply with the normative requirements differ according to the agreements, we can find the so-called "carrot and stick relationship" that Manners believes that the EU use in the transfer of norms. Three of the states that we investigated under the Freedom House freedom index did not developed in a democratic way did, and the positive steps taken cannot be directly traced back to the EU's efforts. It may also be due to other States or other forces influence. We can’t, through our study confirm that Manners is right in these states but we can’t either rule out the possibility that the EU through the written agreements has changed the norms of the state in question, although progress seems to go very slowly.
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