ARTICLE
The Role of the European Union
in Conflict Resolution in Nepal
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Publication date: 2015-03-31
Stosunki Międzynarodowe – International Relations 2015;51(1):83-91
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
At the beginning of the 21st century, the European Union (EU) has ambitions to play
a more important role in international relations. In recent years, it has developed
relations with partners across the globe. The EU put stress not only on political and
economic cooperation, but it wants to promote some of the values that it considers
important. Among these values are democracy, social welfare, human rights and
liberalism. One of the key aspects of European foreign policy (EFP) contributed in
manifold ways to peace support operations. As regards the European Commission
(EC), it has a strong external relations acquis in projecting peace abroad, notably
in the form of preventive diplomacy and long-term civilian peacebuilding.2
In this context, European Commission’s assistance to Nepal dates back to
1977. In June 1996, the EC–Nepal Framework Co-operation Agreement came
into force, outlining the general conditions for providing EC technical assistance
and co-operation. The principal objectives of this Agreement are to enhance
and develop the various aspects of co-operation between the parties. The EC’s
assistance to Nepal during the period 2007–2013 has an estimated budget of EUR
120 million and will target the following three areas: education (with human
rights, conflict prevention and good governance as cross-cutting issues); stability
and peacebuilding; trade facilitation and economic capacity building.3
To further
consolidate its effort, on 8 July 2011 the European Union agreed to provide
a grant of EUR 22 million for the implementation of the Support for Stability
and Peace Building program. Thus peacebuilding & conflict resolution is one of
the key priority areas of the assistance from the European Commission to Nepal.
This paper outlines the European Union’s support to Nepal’s conflict resolution
initiatives and its implications on the conflict resolution process of Nepal.