Brussels, 24/01/2001 (Agence Europe) - Colombian President Andrés Pastrana is to meet the Swedish Prime Minister and President of the European Council Goran Persson in Stockholm on Thursday. According to European sources, on that occasion, the Swedish Presidency should call on the government to prolong, beyond 31 January, the existence of a demilitarized zone in the southern part of the country, so as to facilitate the resumption of peace negotiations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). In a statement by the Swedish Presidency published in Bogota last week, the EU affirmed "its concerns following the resumption of the armed conflict in Colombia" and called on the Government to maintain this 42,000 km2 zone. "The EU reiterates its willingness to support a peaceful solution to the conflict", the statement went on.
On his way through Paris, earlier this week, President Pastrana, for his part, called on the EU to provide its support to the peace process and the fight against drug-trafficking, engaged in Colombia since 1999. "Almost 5 of the 7.5 billion dollars of the Plan is supplied by Colombians, and it is not asking too much to expect Europe to contribute 700 million dollars in the coming years", he told the press, adding: "I don't believe that that is enormous given the problem of drug trafficking that affects all of us".
The EU should stipulate the total volume of its assistance at the meeting of the "Support Group for the Peace Process in Colombia", that should be meeting in Brussels end-March, early-April. Last October, the European Commission announced aid of 105 million euro for the period 2000-2006 (see EUROPE of 19 October, p.15), to which is to be added contributions by Member States.
As the majority of Member States, except the United Kingdom and Spain criticise the military chapter of the "Plan Colombia", the EU specifies in a declaration that its assistance would be allocated according "to its own priorities", placing emphasis on the social chapter of the peace process and the defence of human rights (see EUROPE of 27 October, p.3, and 28 October, p.15). "According to the EU, there is no alternative to the peace process. There is no military solution that could contribute to a lasting peace", read the Council's declaration.
"I believe that the Europeans have perceived the Plan as being purely militaristic and very American, which is untrue", President Pastrana stated in an interview with Le Monde of 23 January. "80% of the Plan is devoted to social problems and only 20% to military aspects" he hammered home on his visit to Paris.
Parliament calls on EU to continue to back the social aspect of the peace plan
As its plenary session in Brussels on 31 January and 1 February, the European Parliament will vote on resolutions devoted to the peace process in Colombia. The proposal for a resolution, which the EP's Development Committee adopted on 9 January, and on which the EPP members abstained, reaffirms the EP's "unreserved backing" for the peace process and calls on FARC "to resume the dialogue and pursue peace negotiations". It also calls on the EU to obey "its own strategy" and not a "nebulous United States military plan", and, on this, welcomes the EU's declaration of last October. The text also places emphasis on the problem of land that lies at the origin of the violence and pleads in favour of a "better distribution of wealth" and a "genuine agrarian reform process" in Colombia. Finally, it "considers that the fight against impunity and paramilitary groups to be a sine qua non condition for the reestablishment of the credibility of the rule of law" in Colombia.