The European Union is playing an important role in crises prevention – but could still do a lot more. This was one important message from the European Commission’s conference "From Early Warning to Early Action: Developing the EU's Response to Crisis and Longer-term Threats" which was held in Brussels 12-13 November 2007. The conference agenda with its diverse range of panel discussions reveals the European Commission's broad conceptualization of 'crises'. The inclusiveness and networking value of the event was also revealed by more than 600 registrations.
During the opening panel, Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner highlighted the EU’s comprehensive range of tools for crises management, but also its need for support from civil society to enhance their impact. For this purpose the new funding mechanism called Peace-building Partnership might be helpful. Officially launched during the conference, the Peace-building Partnership aims at mobilizing and consolidating civilian expertise for peace-building; and addressing, in particular, non-state actors, international organizations and relevant agencies of EU Member States. The Partnership is currently collecting information on organizations and entities working in the fields of conflict prevention, crisis management and peace-building. This web-based portal will allow the EC to draw on and rapidly mobilize civil society expertise. The Partnership is part of the Instrument for Stability the most important funding mechanism for crises management in the EU. Its budget was stocked up substantially in 2007, reflecting the increased role the EU wishes to play in this area. This funding instrument is considered very flexible for a Commission mechanism and allows for a wider range of activities, from crises response to work related to prevention and stability development.
The broadness of crisis prevention was also illustrated by a parallel session on 'resource based conflicts' as part of the conference. Contributions included a scientific presentation on the security significance of oil geopolitics to a video of grassroots NGO activity against illegal logging in South East Asia – touching upon each rather than brining them together in discussion. (Moira Feil)

Video and audio documentation of presentations and panels is available here: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/tariqa/conference/

To register an organization with the Peace-building Partnership, visit: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/tariqa/PeaceBuilding

Published in: ECC-Newsletter, December 2007