Is the Trade Agreement Between the EU and Colombia Coherent with European Support for Peacebuilding?

Abstract

Trade agreements between central and peripheral countries or regional groups with very different commercial and productive specializations have been in place for several decades now, since they were first promoted in the 1990s, initially by the US government and later by the European Union (EU). This resulted in the promotion of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) in the first case, and Association Agreements (AAs) in the second, turning different individual economies or Latin American regional groups into preferential partners in these agreements, in the latter based on a model with certain specific differentiating features.

This chapter analyses the main characteristics and consequences of the Trade Agreement signed in 2012 between the EU and Colombia, as well as its future prospects in the current context. We inquire to what extent the agreement is consistent with the rest of the EU's cooperation policies, where in recent years support for peacebuilding has gained great weight from a comprehensive perspective in order to end the root factors that generate conflict and promote lasting peace and development in Colombia.