Submitted by Political Commission 3: External Affairs & Global Governance.

JEF Europe,

On the current international order,

• Concerned over the current international trend towards a system based on power politics, the absence of multilateralism, and the erosion of the value of international law and institutions;

• Acknowledging that global diplomatic order is rebalancing towards an intensifying great-power competition, severely endangering the rights of populations in so‑called minor states;

• Recognising that conflicts, authoritarianism, climate change, and economic instability increasingly destabilise societies globally and cause forced displacement and migration, affecting millions of people worldwide, and that conflict prevention and peacebuilding are key to reducing forced displacement and creating conditions for safe, voluntary, legitimate and dignified global mobility;

• Acknowledging that the limited European foreign policy, based on soft power and multilateralism, is being seriously challenged by the changing global system;

• Deploring the persistent self-interests of Member States in the field of diplomacy, which undermine the development of a genuine European foreign policy and paralyse its effectiveness, under the illusory aim of achieving a better national position;

• Expressing concern over the frequent absence or irrelevance of the EU in conflict resolution or conflict management processes, despite its humanitarian efforts;

• Stressing that the cost of conflict prevention is a fraction of the cost of war that is caused by humanitarian aid, reconstruction, security and lost economic opportunities; and that the Member States should recognize peacebuilding as an actual investment to focus in their budget contribution;

On the EU Foreign Policy on conflict management,

• Observing with interest the framework and efforts by the EU to develop civilian and military missions within the scope of the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), as an attempt to establish a common foreign policy action based on multilateral principles;

• Supporting the EU’s political efforts to position itself as a peace actor and a reliable partner in conflict management;

• Recalling that respect for international humanitarian, refugee and human rights law must remain at the core of all EU external action and crisis management missions, ensuring that displaced persons and host communities are protected and supported;

• Noting the need for Europe to regain credibility, particularly in countries with a colonial past, in the eyes of local populations;

• Concerned by the lack of funding and long-term financial planning, which prevents the development of coherent political strategies;

• Deploring the uncoordinated and unequal division of civilian and military mission efforts among Member States, which undermines the credibility of the EU’s actions;

• Noting that just 10 Member States contribute 78% of all seconded staff, with many Member States failing to deliver promised personnel capabilities;

• Deploring the tendency of civilian CSDP missions to lose focus as additional priorities introduced by Member‑State‑added overtake the original goals without a clear exit plan, resulting in most temporary missions remaining unfinished;

• Observing with interest the perception of the EU as a single actor by many third-country governments and populations, however adding that divergent national priorities, mismatches of Parliamentary and Commission policies, uncoordinated communication and differing approaches to mission mandates continue to weaken the effectiveness of EU external action;

• Concerned by the current EU institutional structure, which prevents it from acting autonomously and coherently in establishing such missions, resulting in frameworks where national governments retain veto power on all decisions;

• Distressed by the systematic reduction of humanitarian and peacekeeping funding by international and European actors and the minor role these goals have in the proposed Multiannual Financial Framework;

On the JEF Europe and Civil Society role,

• Reaffirming that the primary goal of federalism is the achievement of peace, understood in a positive and institutional sense; namely, as attainable only through institutional reforms that overcome the nation‑state and nationalism keeping human dignity instead of national interest at their core;

• Acknowledging the fundamental role of both local and international civil society in processes of lasting peace and conflict resolution;

• Reaffirming the key role that federalism, both as a political idea and as an organized civil society movement, can play in building bridges, mediating conflicts, and promoting peacebuilding;

• Concerned by the drastic reduction of funding for humanitarian aid, conflict prevention, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding by both international and European actors in recent years; at the same time as military budgets are rising rapidly;

• Concerned by the growing social, political, and informational polarisation of global public opinion, which also affects perceptions and understanding of conflicts;

• Encouraged by the success of the Federalist Peace Forum (FPF), co‑organised by JEF Europe and sections together with local activists, which led to the establishment of local federalist groups in Palestine and Israel, as an example of positive European civil society contribution to international peacebuilding efforts;

Therefore JEF Europe,

1. Calls for a renewed Civilian CSDP Compact that strengthens the EU’s civilian capacity for crisis management;

2. Calls for all EU conflict prevention and crisis management policies to integrate the protection of refugees, displaced persons, and migrants as part of a comprehensive human security approach;

3. Urges the institutionalisation of an independent evaluation and learning unit within the European External Action Service (EEAS) to ensure transparency, accountability, and the use of lessons learned across missions prior to the renewal or extension of any civilian CSDP mission;

4. Demands the establishment of a dedicated, multiannual EU funding window for civil society peacebuilding, reconciliation, and mediation projects worldwide, from community dialogues and youth peace camps to early warning networks ensuring predictability, flexibility and continuity for local actors;

5. Proposes the establishment of a substantial, multi-year program specifically to support grassroots peacebuilders and NGOs in conflict areas, with coordinated communication and rapid disbursement for urgent crisis response needs while also sustaining long-term peace infrastructure;

6. Encourages the creation of a European civilian expert reserve, jointly funded and deployed under EU command, to address the chronic personnel shortfalls and fragmentation in EU crisis response and to ensure rapid, professional responses to crises as soon as a mission is established;

7. Calls for the establishment of a European peacekeeping corps, which will operate based on UN mandates and national invitations, increasing in practice the resources allocated to peacekeeping forces and empowering the implementation of peace agreements;

8. Supports to establish a European rapid mediation task force, a flexible civilian team that within 48–72 hours after the incident or crisis onset can assess, mediate and coordinate with the EU;

9. Calls for the EU to establish mission‑focused, time‑bound mandates with clearer goals, including but not limited to performance indicators and exit criteria, with each mission’s mandate including a limited set of core tasks, a timeline or conditions for completion and benchmarks to measure progress;

10. Emphasises the need for a decolonial perspective in EU foreign and security policy, acknowledging Europe’s historical responsibilities and rejecting extractivist/paternalistic approaches; stresses that EU missions and peacebuilding efforts should be co‑designed and co‑led with local and regional actors, ensuring that decisions reflect local priorities, human security needs, idiosyncrasies and empowerment of affected communities;

11. Advocates to strengthen EU peacebuilding with other regional organisations (ECOWAS, ASEAN, AU etc.) through joint civilian missions, knowledge and co‑deployment opportunities;

12. Supports moving towards Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) in the civilian dimension of the CSDP to enable faster and more coherent action and overcome paralysis caused by national vetoes;

13. Calls for unified EU communication and strategic coordination between the Commission, EEAS, Parliament, and Member States to avoid contradictory narratives that undermine EU credibility;

14. Recommends that all EU external policies, including trade and resource extraction, undergo conflict‑sensitivity screening to prevent undermining peace efforts in partner countries;

15. Advocates full implementation of the Youth, Peace and Security agenda, with youth participation integrated into EU missions and advisory structures of the EEAS;

16. Commits JEF to act as a bridge‑builder in divided societies by supporting youth‑led dialogue initiatives between/with local organisations, promoting cross‑Mediterranean partnerships, and fostering human connections beyond borders; amplifying young grassroots voices and building bridges amongst today’s civil youth across countries;

17. Commits JEF to develop a strong peacebuilding and conflict resolution action in its external activities, building on the political positions expressed in this committee and including local actors;

18. Commits JEF to develop and replicate the Federalist Peace Forum model as a best practice to be adapted to other conflict contexts, always taking into account the necessary willingness and request for such intervention from local associations and allies;

19. Encourages JEF to adopt conflict analysis methods based on a federalist perspective, starting with identifying the responsibilities of the nation‑state in the conflict, aiming to foster dialogue between the parties, distinguishing, where possible, the government from the people, and seeking to explore possible solutions rooted in regional integration and the dismantling of borders;

20. Encourages JEF to adopt a human security approach in conflict analysis, shifting the focus from states to individuals and communities as the primary actors to be protected and defended; warning JEF to avoid any form of neo‑colonial or paternalistic approach in the emerging external political action, in line with the analyses developed in this resolution;

21. Encourages JEF to develop its own external action aimed at federalists from other continents or civil society organizations aligned with JEF’s values, in order to create bridges, dialogue, and cultural and political exchanges that can contribute to conflict prevention and, where applicable, conflict resolution;

22. Calls on national sections and the entire JEF network to contribute to this process, in line with their specific expertise and thematic affinities.