Brussels, 27/05/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 27 May, as High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini tours Latin America, the European Commission announced the mobilisation of €575 million to support the peace effort in Colombia.
The funding will be made up as follows: - the trust fund will provide €90 million from the Commission and ten member states for socio-economic projects in the areas most affected by the Colombian civil war (see EUROPE 11518); - the EIB has added a €400 million loan mechanism to the projects financed by the trust fund; - up to €67 million will be contributed to the projects under bilateral cooperation for the 2014-2017 period; - €18 million will come from the instrument for stability and peace in support of the Colombian government's rapid response plan.
In Bogota, Mogherini spoke to Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos and Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin about the peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas. “Colombia needs to find peace, to put an end to a conflict that has cost so much to all its citizens. The world needs peace in Colombia [in order to show that] a conflict that has lasted so long can finish through negotiations”, Mogherini said on Thursday 26 May, promising the EU's unwavering support. She spoke of the EU's concern at the kidnapping of three journalists, including Spanish national Salud Hernandez-Mora, by the National Liberation Army (ELN), the second biggest rebel group after the FARC. The Colombian government is also negotiating a peace agreement with the ELN.
Illustrating the close relations between the EU and Colombia, Mogherini said that nearly 500,000 Colombians had entered the EU in four months following the visa waiver for short stays (see EUROPE 11444). (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)