The European Union (EU) congratulated Colombia’s electorate and authorities on Sunday’s “peaceful” presidential elections and promised continued support for the government’s ongoing dialogues with the country’s largest rebel group, national media reported on Monday.
Spokeswoman for the EU’s Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Maja Kocijancic, said the June 15 elections — which resulted in the re-election of incumbent President Juan Manuel Santos — proved a “consolidation of democracy in Colombia,” and confirmed the EU’s continued support for the government’s ongoing peace negotiations with the FARC guerrilla group, Caracol Radio reported.
Kocijancic reiterated that the EU “will continue to support negotiations with the FARC in Havana [Cuba]”, and encouraged the parties to build upon agreements that would offer the Colombian people “new hope and opportunities.”
The EU announced its support for Santos’s peace talks with the FARC, which seek to end 50 years of civil war in Colombia, in 2013, continuing to welcome the progress that had been made in the talks since their initiation in November 2012.
MORE: EU offers ‘full support’ for Colombia peace talks
The 28-member union has since emerged backing particular agreements within the peace process, such as the recent deal reached in May to dismantle Colombia’s illicit drug trade, the third in the six-item agenda of the peace talks.
Accordig to CMI news, the EU is also following closely the “start of negotiations” with second-largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), which was announced by the Santos campaign in the week leading up to the elections.
MORE: Colombia govt, ELN rebels announce formal peace talks
Citing the country as one of the EU’s “key partners in Latin America,” Kocijancic added the European countries will continue to work with Santos “in the face of deepening political and economic relations with Colombia.”
Sources
- La UE felicita a los colombianos y a Santos por su reelección (Caracol Radio)
- La UE felicita a los colombianos y a Santos por su reelección (CMI)
