Resilience as a strategic priority of the EU external action

The European Parliament adopted a resolution, prepared by its Committee on Development, on resilience as a strategic priority of the external action of the EU.

Members recalled that the concept of resilience has been used in the policies of the EU and other international organisations for a number of years and appears to be broadening. It is defined as ‘the ability of an individual, a household, a community, a country or a region to prepare for, to withstand, to adapt, and to quickly recover from stresses and shocks without compromising long-term development prospects’.

They stressed that the EU global strategy on foreign and security policy (EUGS) identifies ‘State and Societal Resilience to our East and South’ as one of the five priorities for the EU’s external action and defines resilience as ‘the ability of states and societies to reform, thus withstanding and recovering from internal and external crises’.

In this regard, Members considered that the current EU approach to resilience, including commitments to address the underlying causes of crises and vulnerability, as set out in the 2012 Commission communication and the 2013 Council conclusions, remains fundamentally valid and should be continued, while recognising the need to incorporate lessons learnt from the implementation of this policy into the new joint communication.

They wondered how the communication will take into account elements from evaluations, as a major evaluation is only planned to take place in 2018.

While recalling the multidimensional – human, economic, environmental, political, security and societal – nature of resilience, Members called for greater coherence between policies towards sustainable development. They called for EU policies not to undermine developing countries’ efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Resilience and humanitarian assistance: Members undermined the special position of humanitarian assistance, as this must be guided solely by needs and implemented with utmost respect for the fundamental humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence. They recalled the fact that building resilience in partner countries is a long-term process and that it therefore needs to be integrated into development programmes that are inclusive of the most vulnerable segments of the population. In this regard, they noted that these strategies need to be context specific and in line with the internationally agreed principles of development effectiveness: ownership of development priorities by partner countries receiving support. Parliament urged the Commission to integrate resilience and its multidimensional nature as a core element into its policy dialogue with developing countries.

Members called for resilient humanitarian and development aid to:

• be complementary;
• focus on the eradication of poverty;
• comply with the Sendai framework for disaster risk reduction;
• recognise the importance of families and support their capacity to absorb shock;
• take into account the gender dimension and take into account sexual health education, family planning, prenatal care and sexual and reproductive rights;
• highlight the principles of democracy, respect for the rule of law and good governance.

External action and resilience: Members noted that fostering resilience should be an objective of the promotion of human rights and sustainable development in partner countries and not be limited to geographic areas facing security crises with an immediate impact on the EU.

They called for sufficient resources to be devoted to the promotion of resilience.

Lastly, they encouraged increased collaboration between the public and private sectors on resilience with a view to achieving inclusive and sustainable growth in developing countries.