Aligning the EU Budget with Women, Peace and Security
At the end of March, our Policy Officer Marie Lena on behalf EPLO participated at the conference ‘Gender Budgeting in the New EU Multiannual Financial Framework: Making Budgets work for Gender Equality and Women’s Human Rights in Europe’, organised by the European Gender Budgeting Network in collaboration with the Cyprus Gender Budgeting Platform and the Foundation FIMONOI.
Peacebuilding in the new European Parliament: a bad moon rising
The European Parliament elections of 6-9 June shifted the chamber solidly to the right. As many commentators have noted, the gains of the far-right were less extensive than had been expected; however, they did make gains, as did the centre-right/right European People’s Party (EPP) grouping.
Standing up against gender-based violence? – Mismatches between EU internal and foreign policy
In early February, EU institutions reached a political agreement on new rules to combat violence against women and domestic violence. While the directive is yet to be finally adopted, the agreement follows an almost two year process
Trends towards the defunding of European Peacebuilding: German ODA cuts as a case in point
Following a protracted process, Germany finalised its federal budget for 2024 in late January, navigating through economic challenges marked by slowing growth. The resultant austerity course led to significant budget reductions, notably impacting official development assistance (ODA) and funding for peacebuilding.
Peace in the Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus: Key Recommendations
Since the European Union (EU) published its Global Strategy for Foreign and Security Policy in 2016, it has made steady efforts to strengthen the connections between its humanitarian, development and peacebuilding actions. However, despite the progress achieved, there remain across EU services and delegations different understandings of the peace component of the humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus
What Mariama Diomande can teach us about social cohesion
In the new EPLO documentary, “MARIAMA”, we meet Mariama Diomande, a young Ivorian woman who has dedicated herself to building peace in her community in Abidjan, in the wake of the violence that engulfed Côte d’Ivoire following the 2010 election.
Q&A with Nina Bernarding (CFFP) on Germany’s Feminist Foreign Policy and its implications for the EU
On 13 April 2023, Marie Lena Groenewald spoke with Nina Bernarding, co-founder of the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy (CFFP) about the recent developments for Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP) in Germany, focusing on the new ‘Federal Foreign Official Guidelines on Shaping Feminist Foreign Policy’
Water, Peace and Conflict: Recommendations from Civil Society
In the framework of the Civil Society Dialogue Network (CSDN) [1], EPLO organised a Geographic Meeting on Water, Peace and Conflict: Exchanging on Opportunities and Best Practices in October 2022. The aim of the meeting was to exchange and to gather input on how the EU should enhance the way it addresses the linkages between the climate crisis, water resources, and peace and conflict dynamics, particularly in relation to mediation and issues of governance. The geographic focus of the discussions was the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and the Horn of Africa.