The Long Road Towards Reconciliation: Theoretical Elements and the EU’s Contribution to Working Towards Peace

Abstract

Reconciliation has played an important role in all peacebuilding processes. Its importance depends on multiple factors in play and on interests that are not only material but also symbolic, ethical–political and social. In this regard, the European Union, as an international and strategic actor in Colombia in recent decades, has been supporting different peace processes in the country. In practice, this has meant understanding peace as the construction and strengthening of the rule of law, expanding the system of guarantees and openly promoting processes of transitional justice, all elements that the European Union supported with the Peace Agreement of 2016. This chapter aims to analyse the European Union’s track record in terms of peace and reconciliation in Colombia. Furthermore, it looks at the history of three European Union interventions in Colombia through the Peace Laboratories, support for the CNRR and the creation and action of the European Fund for Peace. Finally, the text includes a series of reflections and suggestions about how to continue this work in favour of reconciliation in the South American country through European external cooperation and action.