Summary: May 5, 2003: Statement by Mr. Dimitrios Zevelakis, Counselor, Permanent Mission of Greece to the UN, on behalf of the European Union, on "Organization of Work" at the 2nd Resumed Session of the Fifth Committee of the 57th UNGA (New York)
Mr. Chairman,
I have the honor to speak on behalf of the European Union and the acceding countries Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. The associated countries Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey as well as the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway associate themselves with this statement.
I would like to welcome back the Chairman and the other members of the Bureau, as well as the Committee secretariat, to the second resumed session of the Fifth Committee. We would like to extend our congratulations to the new Secretary of the Fifth Committee, Ambassador Movses Abelian, to whom we express our best wishes for success in his mission, to the benefit of the Fifth Committee and the Organization in general. The European Union is looking forward to working closely with you and all
delegations in order to have a fruitful session.
Let me at the outset express our dissatisfaction with the fact that many documents, in particular reports of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, reached us very late. We cannot stress enough the importance of the ACABQ reports, on which we rely heavily in order to examine in depth the issues at stake.
The May session is mainly devoted to the financing of United Nations peacekeeping. This is the priority issue.
The European Union has always attached great importance to peacekeeping as a core function of the Organization. There are large numbers of troops, civilian police and other personnel from the European Union Member States in the UN peacekeeping missions. The European Union also, collectively, contributes to a very large percentage of the peacekeeping budgets. We have actively supported the strengthening of this activity resulting from the Brahimi report in 2000 and will continue to do what is
necessary to ensure that UN peacekeeping is effective and serves the needs of international peace and security. But rigorous budgeting and sound management must go hand in hand with that political and financial commitment.
Allow me to turn to some specific issues in the context of peacekeeping.
Concerning the support account, a significant increase has been requested, corresponding to a larger number of posts. The European Union has noted that most of the new posts are requested for the Office of Internal Oversight Services. We will examine these requests very carefully.
The European Union is positively inclined toward adopting a "chapeau" and including in one legislative text, where appropriate, Resolutions on active peacekeeping missions. We think this will streamline the drafting of Resolutions and improve coherence. We stand ready to discuss its specific form with other delegations. This discussion should not, however, occupy too much of our time, to the detriment of other important issues. We rely on the Bureau to provide clear and early guidance on how we
are to proceed, not least to ensure that individual coordinators are aware of the final product to which we are all aiming.
We will examine the budgets of the peacekeeping missions with the view to providing them with adequate financing.
Concerning the report on the possibility of consolidation of the accounts of peacekeeping operations, the European Union notes that such a consolidation would not be compatible with current financial practices. Consequently, a lot of relevant issues need to be clarified at this point. We look forward to the Secretariat's explanations to this effect.
The European Union stresses once again the importance it attributes to gender mainstreaming in peacekeeping activities and will examine in this spirit the relevant report of the Secretary-General (A/57/731).
After the landmark decision of the Fifth Committee last year on the financing of strategic deployment stocks, we will follow closely this issue, and the Logistics Base at Brindisi, which are, in our view, of crucial importance to the future of United Nations peacekeeping.
Concerning the rates of reimbursement of troop-contributing countries, the European Union will examine carefully the relevant documents and will make its evaluation, taking into account the operational and financial implications of the proposals.
In addition to peacekeeping, there are other issues in our program of work, some of them deferred from March. The European Union will discuss them with other delegations with a view to a successful outcome.
We are particularly looking forward to the presentation by the Under-Secretary-General of Management, Ms. Bertini, on the financial situation of the United Nations. The improvement of the financial situation of the Organization is in the forefront of our interest and impacts directly on peacekeeping, including prompt reimbursements to troop and equipment contributing countries.
The European Union is ready to engage in a constructive dialogue with all delegations on the issues before us. We are confident that our hard work, and the spirit of harmonious cooperation that prevails in the Fifth Committee, will enable us to finish our deliberations speedily and with satisfactory results.
I thank you Mr. Chairman.
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