If ever the European Union were needed to promote human rights around the world, now is the time. The Bush administration's use of torture and detention without trial has decimated its credibility. With China professing at best indifference to governments' domestic rights practices and Russia coddling tyrants, the leadership mantle is there to be seized.

Yet the sad truth is that the EU is punching well below its weight. As a collection of democracies founded on respect for the rule of law and the rights of the individual, the EU should be a natural human rights leader. It has performed impressively in extending these values to its new members and occasionally elsewhere, but when acting beyond its borders, the EU is often disappointingly weak.