This open access book provides a comprehensive analysis of the EU's crucial support for the implementation of the Havana Peace Agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP. It explores the use of new approaches and instruments that, despite some limitations and criticisms, could go beyond conventional liberal peace and provide useful lessons. Particular attention is paid to three axes: strengthening civil society, protection of human rights and a territorial peace perspective, as a contribution to the "local turn" in peace policies. The book first outlines the background of the conflict, the EU's two-decade defense of a negotiated peace, and the complexities of the peace process. Then, it analyses the development cooperation and political support provided in different areas: the collective reinsertion of ex-guerrillas, women and gender initiatives, the rights of ethnic communities, the sophisticated transitional justice system, as well as activities on reconciliation, victims and protection of human rights defenders.

Colombia’s long path towards peace was heavily marked by the signing of a peace agreement in 2016 that was supposed to officially put an end to the longest-running conflict in modern Latin America. Nevertheless, even after more than four years since that historic milestone, violence continues to plague the country, endangering the transition towards a real transformation. Although the conflict’s origin is complex and multicausal, some of its root causes, such as socioeconomic inequality, limited political participation and the State’s absence in several regions, remain unsettled. Colombia faces a still tremendous challenge: the implementation of the peace accords – which independently of their actual fulfillment – rely on a broad reconciliation and consensus-seeking process. The European Trust Fund for Colombia (EUTF for Colombia) – established in December 2016 – embodies the EU’s aim to contribute to sustainable development in the long run. This premise builds the essence of the EU Development Policy. The following thesis attempts to examine the EU peacebuilding strategy in Colombia in the aftermath of the conflict. The main question guiding the research is: To what extent has the EUTF for Colombia contributed to the building of a just and sustainable peace in the country during the post-conflict era?

Examining peacebuilding through the intersection of security, development and democracy, Castaneda explores how the European Union has employed civilian tools for supporting peacebuilding in conflict-affected countries by working at the same time with CSOs and government institutions.

Colombia's long path towards peace was marked by the signing of a peace agreement in 2016 that was supposed to officially put an end to the longest-running conflict in modern Latin America. Even after more than four years, violence continues to plague the country. Although the conflict's origin is complex and multicausal, some of its root causes, such as socioeconomic inequality, limited political participation and the state's absence in several regions, remain unsettled. Since the effects of this conflict's prolongation go far beyond Colombian national borders, the international community has been morally obliged to cooperate with the national government to support the building of sustainable peace in the country by helping to tackle some of the structural causes of the conflict. Specifically, The European Trust Fund for Colombia (EUTF for Colombia) - established in December 2016 - embodies the EU's aim to contribute to sustainable development in the long run. The following study attempts to examine the EU peacebuilding strategy in Colombia in the aftermath of the conflict.

The implementation of the peace agreement that was signed between the Colombian government and the rebel FARC movement in 2016 faces a variety of challenges. This Brief examines the current state of play and explores how the EU can support the implementation process and reconciliation efforts in the country.

This second thematic study in the Peace and Security series focuses on European Union (EU) peace support efforts in Colombia. The series will make an annual evaluation of EU performance in the field of peace and security in a specific geographical region. This study evaluates EU engagement during the 50-year conflict in Colombia, and focuses on peacebuilding since the historic 2016 final agreement between the government and the main armed group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP). This is a country where the EU has mobilised a large spectrum of civilian instruments: bilateral and multilateral diplomacy; humanitarian and development aid; and trade relations. After placing the conflict in its geopolitical context, this evaluation analyses the EU approach to and implementation of support to peace in Colombia, the European Parliament's contribution, risks since the signature of the peace agreement, and ways to mitigate them. A parallel study, published separately, provides an overview of current EU action on peace and security and introduces the 2019 Normandy Index. The studies have been drafted with a view to their presentation at the Normandy World Peace Forum, in June 2019.

Professor Joaquin Roy, a Spaniard with valuable sources throughout Europe, notes that Europeans apparently do not approve of the seeming U.S. emphasis on providing military equipment and training to Colombia for a counternarcotics effort in what they see as a larger strategic political conflict. At the same time, he reports that Europeans are not only concerned with the counternarcotics violence in Colombia, but also with the economic, security, and political spillover effects for neighboring countries. Finally and logically, the author reflects the European concern that whatever contribution that might be made to Plan Colombia will likely be lost in the violence of a U.S.-led counternarcotics campaign.

A necessary part of the study of Plan Colombia by the U.S. Army War College and the Dante B. Fascell North-South Center is the presentation of the European viewpoint concerning the Colombian dilemma. Professor Joaquin Roy of the University of Miami has synthesized for us the many facets of this complicated topic. In preparing this monograph, he combed through his excellent contacts in Brussels and in the major foreign ministries of the EU, as well as in hundreds of pages written on the subject. There is, in this valuable essay, a great deal of background and "off the record" opinion he has gleaned from European policymakers. It is often said that there is not just one Plan Colombia but, like the elephant to the blind men in the fable, it has several versions. I do not necessarily agree with this view, but different actors certainly have different points of emphasis. Of the $7.5 billion which Colombia has assigned to the plan, the $1.3 billion to be provided by the United States certainly emphasizes military equipment and training and counternarcotics, though not exclusively. Europe does not buy into that policy and is pessimistic as to the plan's potential success. The European Union is committed to provide $1 billion for economic and social programs, but the money is not flowing and there is considerable ambivalence among the member states in the European Parliament (which has taken an outright anti-Plan Colombia stance) and among different European politicians. In fact, Roy tells us, most Europeans do not like to express support for a Plan Colombia at all, seeing it as a U.S. military program, but prefer to say they are helping the "Peace Process." Even that sort of help is not without its skeptics, hence the subtitle to this monograph. Europe's "virtual contribution," many there feel, means that its aid will be dissipated in the violent solutions which come out of U.S. policy, perhaps devolving to mere humanitarian help to a wrecked country. What does Europe favor? Roy says that primary emphasis is on negotiation generally, but in Europe, as in the United States, there is a "struggle to design a joint [European] policy." Some countries are more interested in Colombia than others, clearly. Spain, in particular, has a huge economic stake in the region because of its investments; they are not much in Colombia but at risk in countries to which the Colombian violence could spill over. France, on the other hand, is a major investor in Colombia itself. Where is the European Union's position headed? Will Europe continue to dither and debate within itself? Roy believes that will be determined by the United States. Europe's role, he predicts, "could be enhanced and accorded more impetus" if the new Bush Administration adopts what Europeans see as "a more cautious policy" and a reorientation of the U.S. policy mix away from what they see as only a militaristic thrust. That could ultimately lead to a more productive U.S.-European partnership.