MFF Statement – Ensuring the EU continues to finance conflict prevention and peacebuilding after 2027

EPLO reaction concerning the Commission proposal for the post-2027 EU 

Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF)

Conflicts are on the rise, yet funding for non-military means to prevent them and build peace is currently at an all-time low. The EU, over the years, has provided key investments in fostering global stability through civil society and locally led initiatives to prevent violence and promote peace. This not only saved lives and enhanced prospects of peace in many parts of the world, but it has also proven to be a cost-effective strategic and economic investment for the EU. Today is the time to step up. The European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (EPLO) therefore calls on the European Union (EU) to increase its investments in the post-2027 MFF to prevent and address violent conflict.

We welcome that, as set out in the Commission proposal, external action funding would significantly increase. This increase however does not guarantee that conflict prevention and peacebuilding (CP-PB) will be sufficiently resourced if its funding is not adequately ring-fenced within Global Europe. We call for greater investment in CP-PB as a tool that remains essential for the fulfilment of the EU’s international commitments, its external action strategic framework, and for the EU’s international influence amid rising challenges. Not only is CP-PB strategic, preventing violent conflicts makes economic sense.

Military means have limitations in addressing security issues. Using solely military approaches cannot effectively contribute to global security, or enable a safe and prosperous environment for the EU’s long-term interests. Official Development Aid, and even more acutely CP-PB funding, equate to a fraction of military spending, yet yield remarkable outcomes for peace and human security. Investments made today in CP-PB will offer both short and long-term returns that re-armament cannot deliver. Cuts in CP-PB are therefore particularly counterproductive. Maintaining the investments in Conflict Prevention and Peacebuilding is key to the pursuit of global security and the achievement of the SDGs, and a pragmatic approach in a deeply interconnected world.

The EU is facing the challenge to make its resources meet its needs, and is exploring budget flexibility as one possible solution. As actors engaged in the implementation of the EU budget, we highlight the importance of balancing flexibility with predictability, the latter being essential for EU funding to be impactful. We cannot make an impact on gender, climate, and indeed peace issues without predictability in funding. The far-reaching mergers proposed in external action are a concern in this regard, especially for CP-PB. Indeed, predictable funding is essential to effectively tackle the underlying drivers of conflict and insecurity. Likewise, the flexibilities proposed concerning geographic pillars and the ratio of non-programmable funding need to be proportionate so that the EU remains in a position to act with impact. For CP-PB and for external action at large, it is important that the EU retains a high target when it comes to meeting the requirements of the OECD Development Assistance Committee. We call on the EU not to drop the level of ambition on gender action and the commitment to conflict sensitivity and gender sensitivity in all external action in the post-2027 MFF.

We underline the importance of safeguarding thematic programming on peace and conflict prevention. Retaining such a programme and ensuring that it is well-resourced, especially with sufficient, ring-fenced and programmable funding, is essential. 

We also call on the EU to further mainstream peace and conflict prevention objectives under the geographic pillars of EU external action funding. For this mainstreaming to be effective, CP-PB funding under these pillars should be ringfenced and the capacity of EU Delegations and geographic units at headquarters to design and deliver CP-PB initiatives should be enhanced. Otherwise CP-PB will be lost amongst the many other priorities under these pillars. Finally, we are concerned that the shrinking physical geographic presence of EU delegations could reduce their capacity in that regard.

For more information on the recommendations of the European Peacebuilding Liaison Office regarding the post-2027 MFF, please consult our MFF Statement adopted by our 50+ Member Organisations in February 2025.