EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 78/379

(2004/C 78 E/0401)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-1653/03

by Joost Lagendijk (Verts/ALE) to the Commission

(13 May 2003)

Subject: European Civil Peace Corps — current developments — mainstreaming of conflict prevention in external EU policies

The European Parliament has asked for the establishment of a European Civil Peace Corps several times. So far the other institutions have not followed up on this. What action will the Commission take with regard to the expressed readiness of the Greek Presidency to make progress on EU conflict prevention and the European Civil Peace Corps? How much progress has the Commission made with the establishment of the network of training institutes for civilian crisis management? How does the Commission envisage moving on from this towards a European Civil Peace Corps? As national ministries and institutes each have different rosters, what steps is the Commission going to take to harmonise, or at least promote compatibility of these rosters? Would the Commission be prepared to administer a roster at EU level for EU crisis management operations? How would NGOs and their specialists be part of these rosters?

To what extent is the Commission following up Parliament's proposals for conflict assessments in all EU external policies? What have been the results in the areas of external trade, agriculture policy and environmental policy? Has the Commission achieved its goal of mainstreaming conflict prevention in EU development cooperation policies? In this perspective, has the Commission been able to apply Article 11 of the Cotonou agreement? How much funding under the EDF has been made available for conflict prevention? In which ACP countries does the Commission support conflict prevention programmes with EDF or Community budget funding? Has the Commission been able to make its policies on food security, food aid, infrastructure, water supply and other sectoral aid programmes more conflict-sensitive? If so, in what ways? If not, why not?

Answer given by Mr Patten on behalf of the Commission

(13 June 2003)

European Civilian Peace Corps

Improving the personnel capacities of the Union to address situations of conflict or potential conflict remains one of the key challenges in building a credible and effective operational capacity to support the Union's external policy. There is a clear need to be able to identify at short notice personnel with the experience and training to contribute to the Union's civilian crisis management activities and Community assistance programmes, which are increasingly called to intervene in crisis and post-conflict situations. The Commission's approach to the range of issues this raises is outlined in Annex 1 which is sent direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's Secretariat.

Mainstreaming Conflict Prevention

The Commission is in agreement with Parliament that a conflict sensitive approach is required in all external assistance programmes, and indeed in other areas such as economic, agriculture, trade and environment policy and diplomatic activity. In parallel, funding is needed for specific activities targeting the prevention or alleviation of conflict situations. The Commission continues to implement this strategy for conflict prevention, which was first set out by the Commission in the April 2001 Communication (1). A summary of progress made is attached in Annex 2 which is sent direct to the Honourable Member and to Parliament's Secretariat.

(1) Communication from the Commission on Conflict Prevention, Brussels 11.4.2001 COM(2001)211 final.