Promotion of good governance and democracy is a central element of the EU's external policy towards third countries. The choice of the instruments for democracy promotion by the EU is an under-researched topic. Factors for the choice of a certain instrument can be located in the third country (existence of a civil society), in the EU and in the relationship between both (trade relations, neighbourhood). Analysing the determinants of the EU's usage of EIDHR (European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights) allocations, Partnership Agreements and sanctions, we find that the usage of each instrument is determined by different factors, indicating that there is no single process underlying instrumental choice.