Upcoming Events

This ValEUs Lecture will critically examine the European Union’s evolving role in international peace mediation. Mediation practices take place within the context of a rapidly changing international order. At the same time, EU peace mediation efforts need to address the institutional challenges related to negotiating responses to armed conflicts among the Member States.

At a critical juncture of the post-World War II multilateral order, Peace Mediation is currently a burgeoning field, with several new actors entering the stage – e.g., states such as Qatar, Turkey, and China, alongside traditional mediator states, international organizations, and CSOs.

Based on the EU’s Peace Mediation Guidelines (2023), Giovanni Scotto will explore normative and prescriptive aspects (“best practices”) and examine the tensions between normative ambitions and geopolitical constraints, including issues of legitimacy, effectiveness, and coherence. The lecture will also examine selected cases—the Serbia–Kosovo dialogue, EU engagement in Colombia, and mediation efforts in the South Caucasus—illustrating how context, institutional constraints, and mediator practices interact.