PEACE programme could become template for foreign conflict zones (25/5/08)
May 25, 2008 at 12:39 pm Leave a comment
The EU-funded PEACE programmes should be used to inform international peace-building work, according to a report approved by the European Parliament in Strasbourg last week. The report, prepared by Sinn Féin MEP Bairbre de Brún, says success stories like the PEACE programmes and the International Fund for Ireland could help to create a database, or learning tool, for a network of European cities and regions living with or emerging from conflict.
The first PEACE programme allocated €750 million between 1995 and 1999 to some 15,000 cross-community projects in the North and the border counties. PEACE II, which ran from 2000 to 2006, provided funding of over €990 million, with a greater emphasis on boosting economic enterprise. The third PEACE programme, due to expire in 2013, will channel over €330 million from the EU into reconciliation work across the North and North West.
MEP Bairbre de Brún was joined by colleagues from across the political spectrum in calling for the continuation of funding after the formal end of the PEACE programmes, to maintain the economic and social development which she said has ‘empowered local firms and communities’. Independent MEP Marian Harkin warned that unless those involved in local and voluntary groups stay financially supported, ‘Trust will be broken with communities that need to work to a strategic plan, and not on a short term basis.’
Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins called for the creation of a special task force to combat the specific problems faced by the border counties and ensure that they are not abandoned when the PEACE funding ends. ‘The government should press for a taskforce with a specially-provided EU budget, to fast track the major infrastructural projects needed in the area such as rail links for Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan,’ he said.
There was one voice of dissent – Unionist MEP Jim Allister described the PEACE programmes as ‘a misuse of EU funds’. He was overruled however when the Sinn Féin MEP’s report was supported by more than 600 votes to 21.
Entry filed under: Eurolink Northwest, The North and the EU. Tags: .
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