EU Presidency Statement - General Debate

Mr. Chairman,

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, the Slovakia and Slovenia and the Associated Countries Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey have aligned themselves with this statement.

First of all let me congratulate you on your election. Our congratulations also extend to the rest of the bureau, for whom we wish every success. We look forward working with you and other members of the Bureau to ensure a fruitful and successful session of the Second Committee.

Mr. Chairman,

The EU supports you and the Bureau in all your activities to ensure an effective and coherent organization of the Committee's endeavours in building better focus, visibility and participation as mandated by General Assembly Resolution 270/B.

Since this is the first time that the work of the Second Committee is to be introduced by the newly appointed Under Secretary-General José Antonio Ocampo, I would like to express a warm welcome to him on behalf of the EU: your appointment comes in the middle of a process of intense dialogue and great expectations for a change. We will listen carefully to your suggestions and input and we look forward to working with you.

Mr. Chairman,

The European Union's commitment to multilateralism is a defining principle of its external policy. The Millennium Declaration constitutes the overarching policy framework for the economic and social work of the UN. The Millennium Development Goals and the other internationally agreed goals provide us with clear objectives in the economic, social and environmental areas on which the international community needs to focus its attention and, above all, its action.

The attainment of these objectives cannot be delayed. We need to ensure that the implementation of these goals is set on track and supported by the efforts of all Member States and all other stakeholders.

In the last session of the General Assembly, as well as in the activities of the Economic and Social Council and its subsidiary bodies, more and more attention has been paid to the implementation of commitments undertaken by the membership.

A positive process was launched last spring with the work done by the ad hoc working group of the General Assembly on the integrated and coordinated follow-up to the outcomes of major United Nations Conferences and Summits in the Economic and Social fields. The initiative launched by the Secretary-General in his report on the follow-up to Millennium Declaration as well as his opening remarks on the occasion of the opening of the general debate of the General Assembly are a clear demonstration that the need for change is growing. As far as the Second Committee is concerned, we are convinced that in order to maximize the policy relevance and impact of committee deliberations, we need to rationalize the way we work. In particular we are bound, according to resolution 57/270B, to consider the work the Second Committee programme set forth in the annex to the resolution and take a decision thereon by December 2003. We do not have too much time to complete this task.

The European Union has already put forward its vision on how it feels the work should be reorganized. We approach this debate with an open mind but with the clear objective of strengthening the role of the United Nations. We understand that you want to take some time to consider this issue. Rest assured that you have our support in this respect.

Mr. Chairman,

We attach utmost importance to the items that will be discussed by the Second Committee. They deserve attention, focus and intense debate in order for significant deliberations to take place. At the same time, we believe that with the current organization of the Second Committee, there is less and less space for general debate. This is why we have largely refrained from referring to issues that will be dealt with under specific agenda items.

Consistent with our position, we will participate in the debate on the various agenda items presenting our views in a thorough and comprehensive fashion and especially on those issues that share a thematic common ground.

We expect that the work in this Committee over the next weeks and months will demonstrate to our leaders and capitals-and to UN development partners-the relevance of our work and our effective contribution to the implementation of the Millennium Declaration and the outcomes of Monterrey, Johannesburg and the other major UN Conferences of the last decade.

Thank You.

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