EU Statement - Arria Formula Meeting: Advancing New Paradigms for Peacebuilding: Fortifying Inclusive and Sustainable Approaches to Peacemaking

Check against delivery

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the EU and its Member States. 

The Candidate Countries * North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process. The Candidate Countries North Macedonia^*, Montenegro^*, Albania, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina^* and Georgia, and the EFTA country Norway, member of the European Economic Area, as well as Armenia, align themselves with this statement.

Chair,

Thank you for organizing today’s event and thank you also to the briefers for their interventions. 

We recently reached the successful conclusion of the 2025 UN peacebuilding architecture review, whose consensus adoption underlines the continued significance and value of the UN peacebuilding agenda. The review provides a renewed foundation for strengthening UN system-wide coherence and support for national conflict prevention and peacebuilding priorities and for delivery on the ground, where it counts most.

At a moment of unprecedented challenges, the EU remains fully committed to a multilateral system, based on international law and true to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, one that ensures peace and security, respect for human rights and sustainable development for all.

Chair,

Allow me to make 3 brief points. 

First: Peace and security, development and human rights are interlinked and mutually reinforcing in the peacebuilding sphere as well. This fact was unequivocally reiterated in the architecture review outcome. Available empirical data clearly supports that these interlinkages lead to better and more sustainable peace outcomes. Just as the inclusion of civil society, women and youth contribute to peace that lasts longer. Exclusion undermines legitimacy and ferments structural inequalities that fuel conflict. 

Second: The Peacebuilding Commission remains a key institution in the UN peace and security architecture for support, accompaniment and advice on peacebuilding and sustaining peace. It is the place where all actors – member states, regional organizations, international financial institutions and civil society – come together to build peace. The significance of voluntary, nationally owned prevention and peacebuilding strategies – one of the important new features of the architecture review that was also highlighted in the Pact for the Future – should not be underestimated. 

It is an example of how to better support local ownership and inclusive peace and reconciliation processes. That is so, because peace is more than the absence of violence. Lasting peace requires sustained attention and support over time based on comprehensive and inclusive approaches. 

Concrete examples from EU activities include the Sahel, where we back sub-regional and local interventions to address resource conflicts and prevent crises from spilling over. Or in Fiji, where we aid Truth and Reconciliation efforts. 

My third and final point is to recall that prevention saves lives, safeguards gains, and is significantly more cost-efficient than crisis response. For the EU as a global actor for peace, conflict prevention is a core foreign policy objective. The best guarantee of prevention remains democratic governance, the rule of law and respect for human rights, paired with inclusive sustainable development. We encourage further strengthening the links between conflict prevention, the SDGs and peacebuilding. 

Chair,

The EU and its Member States are committed to actively pursuing peacebuilding and sustaining peace. We are committed to engagements that maximise impact on the lives of people affected by conflict and violence. And we are committed to building on national ownership and inclusive partnerships with all relevant actors, in order to secure and sustain peace and to prevent violence. The successful conclusion of the PBAR gives us full confidence that we on the right path. 

Thank you. 

* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.