This CSDN Meeting Report presents the discussions from a June 2026 Policy Meeting on the changing global mediation landscape, bringing together mediation practitioners and EU officials to examine what a more transactional environment means for the EU’s role.
Participants described a mediation landscape reshaped by the growing prominence of middle powers such as Qatar, Oman and Türkiye, and by the increasing involvement of political or private-sector figures operating outside formal mediation structures. Conflict prevention has largely receded from the policy agenda as attention shifts toward hard security concerns, and narrative framing around mediation processes now often carries more weight than the substance of their outcomes. Despite these shifts, participants saw the EU as underusing certain strengths, including the breadth of its instruments, its partnerships across the Gulf and Indo-Pacific, and its capacity for longer-term engagement compared to more transactional actors.
The report closes with recommendations on grounding mediation work in local needs, improving contextual mapping and data-sharing, and extending mediation training to senior diplomats rather than specialists alone.
