Summary: February 24, 2003: Statement by H.E. Ambassador Adamantios Th. Vassilakis, Permanent Representative of Greece to the UN, on behalf of the European Union. Briefing for the 11th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (New York)
Mr. President,
I have the honor to speak on behalf of the European Union. The acceding countries Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and the associated countries with the EU-Bulgaria and Romania- have aligned themselves with this statement.
Allow me to thank the Secretary General for the very thorough and stimulating report, that goes right into the heart of the difficult issues of the functioning of the Commission on Sustainable Development in the post Johannesburg era and the follow-up of WSSD.
The EU welcomes the report, recognizing the positive effort of the Secretariat, and believes that overall the ideas contained in it form a very good basis for engaging in the constructive endeavor to define the future of CSD. Once more, as in 1993, after Rio, we must now take innovative steps that will ensure that the Commission strengthens and enhances its role, so that it can respond to the new demands that emerged from the Johannesburg Summit.
According to the report we will have to address four vital issues in this session in order to implement the outcomes of WSSD through the revitalization of CSD.
1. We will have to look closely at the future multiyear programme of work of the Commission, the grouping of issues that appear in Agenda 21 and the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and our options for narrowing the focus within the future CSD two-year work cycles.
In that respect, we are in favor of defining the scope of work in CSD, the interrelationships and intersections of issues and having sector-specific and goal oriented contexts. However, we agree that we cannot have a "watertight" compartmentalization of issues. The attempt for a matrix of issues is well taken, but it seems to us necessary to stay somewhat closer to the chapters contained in the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation and to ensure that the work that is being done within the
Open-Ended Ad Hoc Working Group of the General Assembly on the Integrated and coordinated implementation of and follow-up to the outcomes of the major United Nations conferences and summits in the economic and social fields is reflected in the appropriate manner.
We see merits in the solution that provides a mix of predictability and flexibility. The experience of a multi-year programme that we already had within CSD was a good one. At the same time we should be prepared to address emerging sustainable development issues within CSD.
2. Another issue of great importance is the new organizational arrangements of the Commission. We find the proposal presented for a series of two-year cycles a very interesting one.
On the one hand, a Review Session that would assess progress, identify obstacles and areas of concern prepared by CSD Implementation Forums could certainly identify specific issues for in depth analysis. On the other hand, a Policy Session examining options for action at all levels, prepared by Expert Forums could produce specific measures to overcome constraints. Both sessions would form a review-implementation unity, contributing to the efficient follow-up of WSSD. We believe that each
session should preserve its own identity avoiding thus the risk of negotiating in review years and engaging in generalizations and abstract discussions during policy years.
Nevertheless, further clarification and in depth discussion of the issue of re-organizing CSD will be necessary.
3. Participation at the new type of sessions of CSD is of paramount importance. Continued High-Level political engagement is crucial to the follow-up process. Regional inputs and involvement is justifiably highlighted, since we've seen already the valuable contribution of UN Regional Commissions in the WSSD process and they can efficiently link national and international levels of implementation. We support the idea of national and sub-regional presentations and experiences. We welcome
coherent system-wide approach to the follow-up of WSSD by the CEB and we look forward to the finalization of its work in 2003.
We are in favor of strengthening the role of major groups in the preparation of the sessions, in the examination of partnerships and, in the concluding of the sessions. We feel that the 700 new organizations that were accredited to the Summit in addition to the nearly 3000 that already had access to the process through ECOSOC accreditation or by being part of the CSD list should be allowed to seek fast-track accreditation by ECOSOC. We agree that the role of educators in shaping the worldview
of younger generations is crucial and that they should be involved in inter-active discussions. Also eminent scientists could be invited as panelists or lecturers to give keynote addresses on evolving issues.
In addition, we would like to see an enhanced role for what is called in the report, "the legislative and judicial branches of governments and the media". As the experience in the WSSD process has shown, we have a lot to gain from involvement of parliamentarians and local government authorities.
Furthermore in discussing the involvement of all stakeholders and especially that of the UN system we should stress the need:
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