Summary: May 1, 2004: The enlarging European Union at the United Nations: Making multilateralism matter. Published by the European Union, agreed by the Troika and Member States in New York - Chapter 1
An enlarging European Union takes the world stage
The European Union (EU) is committed to ensuring a stable and peaceful Europe while building its presence on the world stage to contribute more effectively to peace and development across the globe.
Having started in the 1950s (1) as a project to bind Europe together through economic integration, aiming to prevent future war, the EU (2) has grown into a significant world actor, the biggest trading entity in the world with a single market as well as a single currency for 12 member countries.
The EU is also the world's largest provider of official development assistance (ODA), totalling some USD 36.5 billion in 2002.
In the 1990s, the EU developed a common foreign and security policy (CFSP) to match its already formidable economic clout. This led to the decision at the European Council meeting in Nice in December 2000 to include in its CFSP the progressive framing of a common defence policy, including a rapid reaction force, civilian crisis management capabilities and the creation of permanent political and military crisis management organs (3).
On 16 April 2003, 10 more countries, most of them from the former Communist bloc, signed Accession Treaties to join the EU on 1 May 2004 - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. In addition, Bulgaria and Romania are expected to join in 2007, and Turkey could start membership talks soon after 2004. The countries of the western Balkans may not be far behind, either.
These future member countries have made a remarkable transition - politically, economically and administratively - guided by the EU enlargement process, with the Union serving as a goal, a model and a monitor of progress.
Hence, the EU is an expanding zone of peace, stability and prosperity in today's highly volatile world.
Together, the EU-25 comprises more than one eighth of all votes in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Along with other European countries, almost one sixth of UN Member States now align themselves with EU statements at the UNGA. And EU member and candidate countries account at present for a third of the UN Security Council's (UNSC) membership.
The EU-25 luncheon, including the European Commission and Council Secretariat, on the day of the signing of the Treaty of Accession for 10 new countries to join the European Union. The guest of honour was UN Deputy Secretary General Louise Fréchette. New York, 16 April 2003.
Photo: GANP/Dimitrios Panagos.
The main objectives of the UN are to maintain international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among nations, to cooperate in solving international economic social, cultural, human rights, trade and humanitarian problems and to be a centre for harmonising the actions of nations in attaining these common aims. As a consequence of the EU's own political development and very similar objectives, it is not surprising that the EU and the UN should be deepening their relationship at this time. The UN promotes the values of democracy, solidarity, sustainability, marketbased economy, cultural diversity and the rule of law, which are central to the EU. Flowing from the deep commitment to these values comes a natural support by the EU for multilateral institutions, like the UN, and for multilateral solutions to global problems.
The EU's substantial contribution to the UN's work
Moreover, the EU makes a major contribution to the UN's activities. It works with all UN bodies, agencies and programmes across virtually the whole range of UN activities, from development policy and peacemaking to humanitarian assistance, environment, human rights and culture, throughout the world.
EU Troika meets with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, 13 September 2002.
UN/DPI photo by Eskinder Debebe.
Not least, EU Member States together are the largest financial contributor to the UN system. At present, the EU-25 pay 38% of the UN's regular budget, more than two fifths of UN peacekeeping operations and around half of all UN Member States' contributions to UN funds and programmes. Despite the fact that EU Member States already contribute far more to the UN than their share of the world economy, the EU as a whole decided to keep its overall financial contribution at the same level as before in the last round of UN budget negotiations in 2000. It is pround to have maintained its generous share of UN funding as a sign of its support of the UN system.
Growing cooperation in many fields
Working through the UN is an EU priority. The EU recognises its responsibility to support and strengthen the UN in order to protect the organisation's role in seeking multilateral solutions to global problems on the basis of its charter.
Drawing on well-equipped European troops from national armed forces, the EU has undertaken to create a rapid reaction force of 60 000 soldiers as part of its European security and defence policy (ESDP). Depending on circumstances, this force can be made available to provide prompt assistance for UN peacekeeping operations, like the 'Artemis' EU military operation launched in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in June 2003 in response to the UN Secretary General Annan's request (and as authorised by UNSC Resolution 1484). This EU operation reflects the contribution the ESDP can make to crisis management in cooperation with the UN.
The EU and the UN have also cooperated intensively throughout the Balkans in recent times and will continue to do so into the future, including, inter alia, in the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), where the EU is in charge of the reconstruction 'pillar', the current EU Police Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (based on UNSC Resolution 1396); and the ongoing EU military operation 'Concordia' in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (based on UNSC Resolution 1371) to help build peace and stabilise the political situation there.
Left to right: Commissioner Chris Patten and High Representative Javier Solana confer with Mr Goran Svilanovic, Foreign Minister for Serbia and Montenegro, the day after the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Djindjic, 13 March 2003.
Photo: Fonet, Belgrade.
Other notable recent examples include the following:
The EU is also very grateful concerning the UN Secretary General's efforts in trying to find a comprehensive solution to the issue of the divided island of Cyprus, which is due to join the EU in 2004.
The EU seeks to promote an integrated follow-up to all major UN conferences, aiming to make the review and appraisal processes more rational and manageable, and to maximise the political impact of any follow-up event. This approach applies to the follow-up to all major conferences and summits held since the beginning of the 1990s - Rio (environment and development), Vienna (human rights), Cairo (population), Beijing (women), Copenhagen (social development), Rome (World Food Summit), Istanbul (habitat), New York (children), Kyoto (climate change), Monterrey (financing for development) and Johannesburg (sustainable development) - as well as the Millennium Summit itself.
The EU also raises UN issues of concern during its summits with major countries in the world, as and when necessary. A recent example of this is the joint EU-US initiative on HIV/AIDS.
Many current and future EU Member States' citizens serve the UN in senior positions. Among them are UN High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers, UN Development Programme Administrator Mark Malloch Brown, UN Environment Programme Executive Director Klaus Topfer, UN Legal Counsel Hans Corell, Vice-Chairman of the International Civil Service Commission Eugeniusz Wyzner, Executive Director of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime and Director-General of the UN Office at Vienna Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the UN Iraq programme Benon Sevan, International Fund for Agricultural Development President Lennart Båge, UN Under Secretary General for Peacekeeping Jean-Marie Guéhenno and UN Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs Sir Kieran Prendergast.
The European Union at the UN
The presence - and the representation - of the EU at the United Nations has many faces. As only States can be Members of the UN, the Union is represented by the State holding the presidency of the EU Council, which at present rotates every six months. At the Security Council, EU positions are also represented and defended by EU Member States who are elected or permanent members. In order to ensure continuity, the EU Council has set up a Liaison Office with the UN, as part of its Secretariat. For the same purposes, the EU Council has also set up an office in Geneva.
The European Community was granted observer status at the 29th General Assembly in 1974 by Resolution 3208. It is represented by the European Commission, which has delegations that are accredited to UN bodies in Geneva (including, inter alia, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the Conference on Disarmament (CD) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UN/ECE)), Paris (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)), Nairobi (the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), Habitat), New York (the UN Secretariat, the General Assembly and its main committees, the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), etc.), Rome (the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)) and Vienna (including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)). The European Commission's original information office in New York officially became a Delegation to the United Nations in 1974.
European Commission President Romano Prodi meets UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan, New York, January 2002.
UN/DPI photo by Eskinder Debebe.
As an observer within the UN General Assembly and most UN specialised agencies, the European Community has no vote as such, but is a party to more than 50 UN multilateral agreements and conventions as the only non-State participant. It has obtained a special 'full participant' status in a number of important UN conferences, as well as for example in the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) and in the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF). In 1991, the European Community was accepted as a full member of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, the first time it had been recognised as a full voting member by a UN agency. The European Community speaks and votes on behalf of all EU Member States in areas where powers have been transferred to it.
For descriptions of the EU institutions' delegations and offices accredited to UN bodies, please visit:
http://www.eu-un.europa.eu/articles/en/article_474_en.htm
and
http://www.eu-un.europa.eu/articles/en/article_1020_en.htm.
Cooperation of EU institutions with the UN
The EU meets the UN Secretary General at ministerial level annually in New York as part of an agreed format for regular EU-UN meetings. The UN Deputy Secretary General and other senior UN officials also visit EU institutions in Brussels (where 16 UN specialised agencies, funds and programmes now have offices), Luxembourg and Strasbourg regularly for policy discussions. Regular meetings of senior UN officials with the EU Council's Political Committee are foreseen. EU and UN officials liaise together more and more frequently as daily working contacts develop. Furthermore, the visibility of the EU at the UN has been enhanced by the participation of EU Heads of State or Government in major UN conferences, and by ongoing visits of Commissioners and high-ranking EU officials to cities hosting UN bodies.
The UN Secretary General and Deputy Secretary General are also developing contacts with the European Parliament (EP). The EP, in turn, has increased the number of high-level MEP visits to the UN to attend major events.
In autumn 2003, the European Commission issued a Communication for discussion and agreement by the Council and the European Parliament entitled 'The European Union and the United Nations: the Choice of Multilateralism', which proposes the future course of the EU-UN relationship. For this document and for all other up-to-date information, please visit regularly the EU @ UN website at: http://eu-un.europa.eu
EU-UN relations
The European Council reaffirms the deeply rooted commitment of the European Union to make effective multilateralism a central element of its external action, with at its heart a strong UN. The European Council therefore welcomes the comprehensive Commission communication on 'The European Union and the United Nations: the Choice of Multilateralism' which comes at a dynamic junction in the EU-UN relations.
In this context, the European Council also recalls the EU-UN Joint Declaration of 24 September 2003 on cooperation in crisis management, which constitutes the basis for enhanced cooperation in this area.
The European Council welcomes the conclusions of the GAERC on 8 December on EU-UN relations and stresses the need for these conclusions, as well as the Joint Declaration on crisis management be translated into operative action.
(1) On 9 May 1950, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman put forward the Schuman Plan to place the West German and French coal and steel industries under a single High Authority. This marked the beginning of the European Community. 9 May is celebrated every year as 'Europe day'.
(2) The EU-15 comprises Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal, Finland, Sweden and the United Kingdom until the next enlargement.
(3) The European Community (EC), created in 1957, had already developed a wide range of activities, including in the field of external relations. The Treaty of Rome and these policies are still in force today. The Maastricht Treaty, signed in 1992, which created the European Union (EU), mainly added the common foreign and security policy and cooperation in the field of justice and home affairs to the existing activities of the European Community.
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The EU at the UN - Overview