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EU Presidency Statement - UN reform and revitalization

Mr. President,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Acceding Countries Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia, the Associated Countries, Romania and Turkey, and the EFTA country, member of the European Economic Area, Iceland align themselves with this statement.

The European Union welcomes the decision to hold today's joint debate as it brings together different strands of work on UN reform. Through the initiatives launched by the Secretary-General and others, as well as thanks to your personal engagement, Mr. President, there is an encouraging sense of momentum to take forward our common interest in strengthening the UN. The initial reactions by Member States have been very positive and they provide an indication of their commitment to move the process forward. We have in front of us a common path and the EU wants to walk it together with others.

The European Union supports the process set in motion by the Secretary-General. We want a strong and efficient UN system. We believe that multilateral institutions should be updated and strengthened. We are ready to contribute actively to the goal of building an international order based on effective multilateral institutions, within the fundamental framework of the U.N. Charter and our joint vision for the UN, as articulated by our Heads of State in the Millennium Declaration. The EU gives its support to the establishment of a High-Level Panel of Eminent Personalities and we look forward to receiving recommendations from the Secretary-General in 2004, based on the work of the Panel.

The EU further believes that reform should extend to the main UN policies in order to make them more effective in face of new and evolving global challenges. In this regard, the EU and its Member States continue to work to strengthen the coherence and consistency of their collective actions in principal UN organs, with a view to ensuring greater respect for multilateral decisions and greater determination in their implementation. While recent improvements in the working methods of the Security Council should be further developed, there is a need for a comprehensive reform that makes it more representative, more effective and more democratic.

GA revitalization

The EU would like to express its appreciation for your leadership and commitment in steering the revitalisation process. We welcome your recent non-paper as an excellent basis to make real progress during this General Assembly. We share your views, both on substance and on process, and are heartened by the positive response they received during the first informal consultations last week. The proposals now need further elaboration with a view to taking decisions as soon as possible. We should be ambitious, and at the same time focus on issues where progress can be made.

We agree with your proposal to hold informal consultations grouping the issues under two headings:

1. Enhancing the authority and role of the General Assembly, including to restore its central role in international debate and decision-making;

2. Improving the working methods.

In this framework we are ready to work with you in achieving concrete decisions to be adopted already during this GA.

Enhancing the authority and role of the General Assembly is first and foremost a matter of political will. It is our shared responsibility to create the conditions in which the Assembly can fulfil its role as defined in the Charter.

The General Assembly requires improvements in its working methods. But improving the GA working methods is not an end in itself. It will underpin our efforts to enhance the General Assembly's authority and role.

We would like to highlight the following priorities:

• Strengthening the role of the President and his Office. We would, for instance, welcome temporary secondment of additional Secretariat staff to the President's office. We also would suggest exploring the possibility of extending a President's term or of introducing the Troika system in order to draw upon experience and provide continuity.
  
  
• Enhancing the role of the General Committee. We welcome the initial steps that the President has taken. We could envisage a 'bureau' function for the Committee, in support of the President. One of the specific, additional roles of the General Committee could be to come up with recommendations to streamline the reporting requirements.
  
  
• Working in the Main Committees to strengthen their functioning, and encouraging each Committee to find efficient ways of organising their work. Of course these proposals should be consistent with the wider context of revitalisation of the Assembly as a whole.
  
  
• Developing constructive interaction with and between the Bureaux of the main Committees, for example by joint Bureaux meetings to identify potential areas of overlap and to review their respective programmes of work. We could also consider election of the Bureaux earlier in the year, as is now the case for the President of the Assembly to facilitate continuity and planning.
  
  
• Communicating more effectively the decisions of the Assembly to Governments and agencies, and also disseminating information thereon to the broader public.
  
  
• Looking again at how to do better in implementing past GA resolutions on efficient working.
  
  
• Establishing a closer link between the Assembly's agenda and the global challenges of the outside world. Debates in the plenary and in the main Committees should focus on a limited number of key issues of common interest. The Millennium Declaration and the MDG's should provide the overarching framework in that regard. Prominent outsiders could be invited to give their views on these issues. The General Debate could set the stage, by focusing on key themes Member States agree upon beforehand, ideally building upon priorities indicated by the Secretary general in his report on the work of the organisation.
  
  
• The EU also believes that some items do not require annual debate. Considering them every two or three years would make room for more in depth debates as well as topical new items. We suggest that under your guidance specific ideas to that effect could be elaborated.

Debates should become more interactive, for instance by using more often alternative formats like High Level dialogues and panels.

The General Assembly should become more action oriented. Resolutions and decisions should be shorter and less repetitive and focus on implementation within a given time frame. Furthermore, their implementation by Member States, Secretariat and other parts of the UN-system should be monitored more vigorously. The EU seconds the suggestion that Member States proposing a resolution become the "focal points" for its follow-up.

ECOSOC

In the same spirit we support efforts to strengthen ECOSOC so it can perform its role as the central mechanism for system-wide coordination. A lot has been done already for example to improve its methods of work.

The priority should be to implement the GA resolution 57/270B in particular in the following areas:

• to elaborate a Programme of work based on cross-cutting themes for the Follow-up to major UN Conferences and Summits, in light of the MDG's achievement;
  
  
• to review the functional Commissions methods of work before 2005 in order to better pursue the implementation of the outcomes of the major UN Conferences and Summits, while recognizing that there is no need for a uniform approach for all functional Commissions;
  
  
• to enhance the interaction with its subsidiary bodies;
  
  
• to review the role of the annual Spring meeting and its articulation with the biannual High-level Dialogue, in the relationship with the Bretton Woods Institutions and WTO.

The EU welcomes the initiative of the President of ECOSOC to stimulate thinking on the functioning of ECOSOC. There is need for an essential leadership role by the President and the bureau in taking forward these ideas.

We hope this debate will address wider issues, such as:

• The articulation of ECOSOC's work with that of the GA and its main Committees in the economic and social sphere.
  
  
• ECOSOC's interaction with the Security Council, for example on post-conflict issues.

Strengthening the United Nations

Turning to implementation of the Secretary-General's proposals on strengthening of the United Nations, the E.U. fully supports the General Assembly's resolution 57/300.

We welcome the Secretary-General's analysis on a single stage approach to budgetary and programming decisions, to streamline budgetary documentation and reduce the complexity of budget procedures.

We have made clear that the E.U. believes that the basic structure of the General Assembly's decision-making process is valid. The decision-making process must continue to be transparent and representative of the full membership, allowing for full consideration of budgetary and programmatic issues. Within that framework, we should be ready for a frank appraisal of how well the existing structures operate, in order to guarantee the efficient functioning of the CPC, the ACABQ and the Fifth Committee. The monitoring and evaluation role of the CPC could be enhanced in parallel with a more effective contribution on programmatic issues.

There are serious questions on the usefulness of the medium term plan and the budget outline. There is any number of ways to proceed to agreed outcomes this autumn, whether conjoining the MTP with the programme budget as some have suggested, or harmonising the MTP more effectively with a rejuvenated budget outline as part of a dual component strategic framework. Both would better align programming and priority setting with resource implications, which should be one of the primary objectives of this reform process.

How to move the process forward

Strengthening, enhancing and reforming the United Nations, as the only universal organization, is necessary and urgent. We believe that to ensure continuity of this process, there should be regular overall reviews on progress being made in shaping the reform.

The EU is ready to work for more concrete improvements in the efficiency of UN bodies, policies and processes. We are willing to cooperate with the broader UN membership, reaching out to other groups and Member States with the aim to deliver tangible results as of the current session of the General Assembly.

Let us not put off what we can do today. The present momentum will not last forever. 2005 presents itself as a natural accumulation point for many UN processes. We support a comprehensive review in 2005 of major UN Conferences, within the overarching framework of the Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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• EU Presidency Statement - Revitalization of the Work of the General Assembly (19/12/2003)
• EU Presidency Statement - UN Reform (23/7/2001)
• EU Presidency Statement - UN reform (19/9/2000)