Int'l Organizations Urge EU To Suspend, Reconsider Funding Foreign Militaries Under EPF

A group of 14 international organizations urged the European Union in a joint letter on Monday to suspend and revise its European Peace Facility (EPF), warning the plan to train and equip foreign military may lead to intensification of armed conflicts

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 13th May, 2019) A group of 14 international organizations urged the European Union in a joint letter on Monday to suspend and revise its European Peace Facility (EPF), warning the plan to train and equip foreign military may lead to intensification of armed conflicts.

The letter comes ahead of the EU Foreign Affairs Council session on May 14.

"As a coalition of 14 organisations, we are writing to express our deep concern about the proposal for a European Peace Facility (EPF) and specifically a component within it to train and equip third-country militaries, as well as regional and international organisations, including with the provision of weaponry," the letter reads.

The intention to grant weapons and ammunition and otherwise increase the combatant capacity of third-country militaries is prone to backfiring, the text says, as it may lead to such inadvertent consequences as violent suppression of civil society, corruption and further abet of armed conflict. The letter suggests that instead of inventing new tools of intervention in conflict-affected areas aimed at peacebuilding and conflict prevention, the EU should optimize the existing ones which are already many.

The signees include Care International, Christian Aid Ireland, Conciliation Resources, Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict, International Alert, Oxfam, PAX, Pax Christi Flanders, Peace Direct, Quaker Council for European Affairs, Safeworld, Search For Common Ground, World Vision EU Representation.

The establishment of EPF was suggested in June 2018 by the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini for it to become operational on January 1, 2021. If adopted, this off-budget instrument would cover the costs of EU military operations and peace missions as well as equip and finance armed forces of countries outside the bloc for the next seven years. The initial budgetary cap, set at 10.5 billion Euros ($12.4 billion), is expected to be contributed by the EU member states.