Summary: November 4, 2002: Statement by Mr. Thure Christiansen, Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Denmark to the UN, on behalf of the European Union, on the Programme budget for the biennium 2002-2003: Revised estimates arising out of resolutions and decisions of ECOSOC. FIFTY-SEVENTH SESSION OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY - FIFTH COMMITTEE: Item 112 (New York)
Mr. Chairman,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe associated with the European Union - Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Associated Countries - Cyprus and Malta, as well as the EFTA Country of the European Economic Area - Liechtenstein, align themselves with this statement.
The EU takes note of the report of the Secretary-General in document A/C5/57/13 and the explanation of the delayed submission due to the need to consult on the possibilities for absorption of costs. Due to the restricted amount of time we have had to engage in detailed consultations within our group on this issue, I shall limit myself to a few general observations.
The EU commends the Secretariat for the exceptional efforts it has made to accommodate the extra expenditures deriving from decisions of ECOSOC within the existing resources of the Secretariat. We hope these efforts will form the standard for future such occasions.
We take particular note of the discussion in Section IV of the report on the Contingency Fund. We shall also consider in this session other additional expenditures deriving from programme budget implications documents. We believe, therefore, that substantive discussion of the items raised in this report will be more productive once we have a clear picture of the entirety of the amount being sought and its implications for the Contingency Fund.
Mr. Chairman,
A number of items previously thought to need extra appropriations are now identified as being possible within existing budgets. This is very satisfying, but we should point out certain proposed structures or programmes, even where no extra appropriation is required now, that could have budgetary consequences for future programme budgets. We therefore may wish to express our view on some of these issues in the current session in this Committee.
We commend in particular the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management for its flexibility in accommodating a number of unforeseen meetings and express the view that this is a beneficial result of the more disciplined management of these services this year, which the EU fully supports. We look forward to solid further progress in this regard in 2003 and in this connection, we support the Secretariat's recommendation in Section V to invite the Economic and Social Council to
review its decision requiring additional meetings of the Commission on Human Rights. This is consistent with our call for a better, more efficient use of conference services.
I thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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