The European Union Learning Process on Peacebuilding in Colombia

Abstract

Since the end of the peace process between President Pastrana and the guerrilla organization FARC, the EU has worked with the Colombian government and civil society organizations at the same time. As described in chapters 3 and 4, these two actors’ understandings of peace and the means to reach it are almost antagonistic. How did the EU deal with both in the framework of the same program? The EU transformed the design of the Peace Laboratories. The decision process and the final design of the three Peace Laboratories reflected the EU’s process of learning to deal with both actors given the conditions in Europe and relations with the US. The EU’s cooperation policy for Colombia has not only sought to adapt to the conflict context (instead of the expected post-conflict situation) but also to reduce the distance between the Colombian actors. The peacebuilding approach emerged as a result of the EU’s interaction with Colombian actors, the evolution of the conflict, the transformations of European domestic situations, and transatlantic relations. The changes in approach were visible in the design of each Peace Laboratory, in its objectives, localization, structural organization, and norms of execution for ODA. Each section of this chapter analyzes a Peace Laboratory.