European Union's peace building support of almost €600 Million for Colombia
In recognition of the importance of Colombia's efforts to build peace, High Representative/Vice President Federica Mogherini appointed in November 2015 former Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore as her Special Envoy for the peace process in Colombia. Over the last 15 years, the European Union and its Member States have supported peace building in Colombia with €1.5 billion, with €550 million coming from the European Commission. In an equally committed manner, the EU will now continue to unwaveringly stand by Colombia also during the post-conflict phase.
Overall package to Colombia
For this, the EU has made available an overall package of unprecedented scale, worth almost €600 million, to support Colombia's post conflict and peace building efforts. It consists of short and medium term measures in the form of loans, technical assistance and grants, which will contribute to the construction of lasting and durable peace in Colombia.The package brings together cooperation funds provided by the EU Trust Fund for Colombia (with approximately €95 million in grants), the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace (€28 million) in support of the Colombian Government`s Rapid Response Plan, loans offered by the European Investment Bank (€400 million), together with ongoing cooperation programmes (€67 million for the period 2014-2017).
EU Trust Fund for Colombia
The decision authorising the establishment of the EU Trust Fund for Colombia (EUTF) was adopted on 23 March 2016, with €70 million from the general budget of the European Union's Development Cooperation Instrument (DCI). In order to provide concrete Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection, €2 million will be made available for Resilience and actions Linking Relief, Rehabilitation and Development. Rural development will also be an important policy area for the European Union support.
The strategy for the European Union Trust Fund was drafted together with and validated by participating Member States and the Colombian Government. The geographical scope of activities under the European Union Trust Fund will be agreed together with the Colombian Government.
The European Union is now exploring further joint actions with the European Investment Bank with the main focus on rural infrastructure and support to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), in order to leverage impact of the actions financed through the EU Trust Fund.
To date, 19 Member States have confirmed their financial participation for a total amount of €22 859 000.
Donor |
EUR |
EUR Total |
EU (DCI) |
70 000 000 |
70 000 000 |
EU (Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection) |
2 000 000 |
2 000 000 |
FR, DE, IT, ES, NL, SE and IE (each) |
3 000 000 |
21 000 000 |
UK |
1 500 000 |
1 500 000 |
PT |
200 000 |
200 000 |
LU |
35 000 |
35 000 |
HU, HR and SK (each) |
20 000 |
60 000 |
LT and SI (each) |
12 000 |
24 000 |
CY, CZ, LV and MT (each) |
10 000 |
40 000 |
Total |
94 859 000 |
Governing structure and next steps for the Trust Fund for Colombia
The main governing body of the Trust Fund for Colombia will be the Strategic Board, which defines its strategy, general objectives and thematic priorities. These will be adopted in the first board meeting, which will be held on 12 December, immediately after the signing of the Constitutive Agreement of the Trust Fund.
Together with the participating member states and the Colombian Government, it was decided that the EU Trust Fund would mainly focus on integrated rural development. The main priorities identified in the Trust Fund's strategy are support to the agricultural policy and a revival of economic activity and productivity, as well as institutional strengthening and civil participation.
Based on the agreed strategy, concrete project proposals will be submitted to the Operational Committee for approval, which is the managerial body of the Trust Fund for Colombia. As from January, the Operational Committee will meet in Bogota to approve first actions. Concrete activities are foreseen to start as from February 2017.
Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace
To help the population start to perceive the dividends of peace as soon as possible, a series of short term measures funded by the Instrument Contributing to Stability and Peace (€13 million), announced by the High Representative/Vice President during her visit in May 2016, will be implemented in the three areas: humanitarian demining in 6 of the 20 municipalities most affected by landmines; support for local justice mechanisms; and peace education and awareness raising.
A previous IcSP action was adopted in 2015 (€5 million), in support of the Ministry of Post Conflict (€1 million) as well as the demining projects agreed by the Government and the FARC in Havana, which are currently being implemented in Santa Helena and Orejón.
A third IcSP action of €10 million will have the four components: strengthening of Democracy; support to monitoring of Human Rights by OHCHR in concentration areas of the FARC-EP; support to the General Prosecutors Office (Special Unit to fight organised crime); peace education to Colombian Armed Forces in post conflict (human rights).
In addition, projects aimed at overcoming the legacy of the internal conflict are also funded by European Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) with €230 million between 1994-2016 for protection, food assistance and health. Projects under the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights and the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace will also help to achieve these aims.
The European development cooperation with Colombia
In line with the Agenda for Change, as Colombia is an upper middle-income country, EU bilateral cooperation with Colombia - like for Peru and Ecuador - is being phased out until 2017, with the aim of consolidating the ongoing support and of tackling the remaining development challenges in the poorest regions of the country.
At the same time, Colombia remains eligible to other regional and thematic cooperation instruments.
In spite of the significant progress already achieved by Colombia in reducing poverty, the country is still characterised by large imbalances in income and in access to social services. The gap between urban and rural areas in particular remains large, and is compounded by very unequal access to land in rural areas. A weak state presence in some parts of the national territory (related to the large socio-economic disparities and the increase in illegal activities and related violence) is also a factor of instability. Helping the Colombian State strengthen its presence in peripheral regions is one of the main objectives of this European Union support during 2014-2017.
A key priority for the European Union is to assist Colombia with overcoming the legacy of the internal conflict which lasted for more than 50 years, notably in remote rural areas. It will do so through the European Union's support package of almost €600 million, and in particular through the Trust Fund, which is made of grants and not loans, and shows the joint political willingness of the EU and its Member States to present Colombia a new dedicated tool to support the peace-building process.
The conflict has been a major obstacle to development and security in the country, as well as in the wider region. It is expected that peace in Colombia will bring major economic, political and social benefits, including for the stability of its neighbouring countries and the larger region.
The European Union Trust Fund, through its activities in the area of rural development, aims to foster sustainable economic, social and environmental development in Colombia, with the primary objective of eradicating poverty and securing a sustainable peace.
The Trust Fund, will cover the period 2016-2020. Additional European Union contributions for Colombia, as from 2020, could be envisaged, if assessed necessary.
MEMO/16/4294