Paix sans frontières: building peace across borders
Katy Hayward describes how European integration helped over time to dilute the political significance of the border between Ireland and Britain, which contributed to the 1993 Downing Street Declaration. The EU has more recently tried to smooth tensions across the Irish border more explicitly through ‘PEACE’ initiatives, rehabilitating marginalised borderland areas and facilitating cross-border cooperation at national levels. But despite such direct EU community engagement, the sustainability of cross-border peacebuilding at a local level is questionable.