Balance of Competences review: a peacebuilder’s perspective

Value and impact in working together for peace

Our conclusion is that the EU’s contribution to peace has increased significantly in recent decades, and that on behalf of the UK this has brought added value and impact.

Conciliation Resources’ assessment is that the comparative advantages of Member States working through the EU in the area of peacebuilding include:

• The EU Member States carry greater political weight and influence when acting together, namely because it forms the largest trading block and biggest provider of development assistance;
   
• The EU is perceived as a norm-based actor, less driven by a foreign policy agenda then Member States, i.e. in certain contexts the EU can operate precisely because it is not an individual Member State with former colonial ties;
   
• The EU itself is a peace project, emerging as it did from the aftermath of the Second World War, thus an example – and, one could add, has experience to share;
   
• The EU has a global reach, providing on the ground presence and influence in areas where Member States cannot;
   
• The EU has at its disposal a wide array of tools, ranging from diplomatic and security ones to financial instruments and trade; and
   
• Working through the EU means efficient and effective use of resources – evidence shows that effective support for peace and development requires united action by external actors plus working through the EU offers scope for reduced transaction costs, economies in human resources and institutional infrastructure.

The foreign policy report concludes that the evidence submitted shows it is in the UK’s interest to work through EU channels in foreign policy. It also stresses that “the political, security and defence aspects of international relations are increasingly interdependent with the broader aspects of foreign policy, such as international trade, energy, transport and environment relationships”.

Furthermore, it flags the important role Member States play in relation to Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Respondents to the development cooperation and humanitarian aid report supported the present parallel competence in this area.

Where to from here?

The foreign policy report poses the question whether there is a case for greater UK leadership and involvement.

We would indeed urge the UK - which at the level of Foreign Office and Department for International Development has advanced peacebuilding and conflict policy and practice to share – to help spur good peacebuilding and conflict prevention policy and practice EU-wide.

For starters, the UK could challenge the current focus on crisis response and military capabilities, using its weight to make the case for long-term upstream conflict prevention and peacebuilding instead.

In Conciliation Resources’ submission to the foreign policy report, we stress the tension between the current focus on crisis response within the EU and the EU’s inability to react quickly to crisis situations due to the significant role Member States play in the formation of Common Foreign and Security Policy.

At the European Council meeting in December 2013, EU Heads of State and Government will be discussing Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). Pooling and sharing of military capabilities is currently dominating the agenda.

The UK could flag that the majority of CSDP missions have been civilian (more than two-thirds of the 28 missions to date) and thus it would be appropriate that adequate space should be provided for discussing civilian CSDP.

The UK could also push for a focus on impact and effectiveness of CSDP, or analyse contributions of civilian CSDP to the reduction of violent conflict and to long-term peacebuilding.

A need to muster momentum for non-military responses

Another concrete opportunity to strengthen the EU’s capacity to prevent conflict and build peace is the current review of the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU’s diplomatic corps. EPLO, the platform of European peacebuilding organisations of which Conciliation Resources is a member, has prepared a joint statement on the EEAS review which calls on the UK (and other Member States):

• to assess how they can support the capacity of the EEAS (e.g. seconding nationals, funding research)
   
• to assess, and if necessary, increase their involvement in the drafting of country and regional strategies and ensure that national policies and activities in conflict-affected areas do not contradict or undermine EU ones
   
• to assess the working relations between national embassies and EU delegations to ensure that they are working together constructively
   
• to insist that the EEAS implements the recommendations of recent evaluations

In recent years the EU's contribution to peacebuilding and conflict prevention has increased significantly, and this has brought added value and impact on behalf of the UK.

However, more can be done to implement policy and improve practice.

Conciliation Resources advocates that more active UK leadership and involvement in relation to peacebuilding and conflict prevention will help improve the overall European performance, and make a lasting difference to conflict-affected communities.

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Sanne Tielemans is Policy Analyst at Conciliation Resources