EU Presidency Statement - Review of peacekeeping operations

I have the honor 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, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia), and the associated countries of Cyprus, Malta and Turkey, align themselves with this statement.

Mr. Chairman,

I would like to thank Assistant Secretary-General Halbwachs, Controller, and Ambassador Mselle, President of the ACABQ for the report of his Committee.

At the end of the Millennium Summit, our Heads of State or Government adopted a Declaration in which they resolved to make the United Nations more effective in maintaining peace and security by giving it the resources and tools it needs in order to do so more successfully.

The European Union is strongly committed to United Nations peacekeeping, a core function of the Organization, and we commend all those who every day risk their lives in the effort to create a more peaceful and secure world. The European Union has troops, civilian police and other personnel throughout United Nations peacekeeping missions. The European Union's large and recently increased share of the financing of peacekeeping operations, as well as its contribution to training of peacekeeping personnel, is further testament to our unwavering commitment to this effort. In this connection, I would like to add that the European Union and Associated countries' collective share of the financing of United Nations peacekeeping is more than 40 percent.

The United Nations peacekeeping effort is global. To be able to continue to meet this crucial task the capacity of the United Nations must be strengthened, to ensure that adequate structure and staffing is in place. The fact that peacekeeping operations in recent years have been given increasingly multifaceted tasks - including the civilian component, reconstruction of institutions, human rights issues, humanitarian affairs, Gender mainstreaming, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes rights of women and children in armed conflicts - must be taken into account.

UN support for conflict resolution is only one of the UN's many tasks. UN action to foster development, in particular, is another priority. These two approaches are, however complementary and even indissociable. The effort required of us to begin to put into practice the recommendations of the Comprehensive review of the whole question of peacekeeping operations in all their aspects and the recommendations of the Brahimi report, is in no way a substitute for our efforts to assist development.

Mr Chairman,

On numerous occasions, the Secretary General has appraised the Member States with what is needed so that UN peace operations meet present and future challenges. The EU concurs with the Secretary General that additional resources, as well as the better use of existing ones, are needed in order to get a better functioning peacekeeping department with sufficient capacity to engage in long term strategy, policy and capacity development, mission support for rapid and efficient deployment, as well as relations to troop contributors.

This is why we have been fully engaged in the process that was initiated last year with the recommendations of the Report of the Panel on UN peace operations thanks to the efforts of the team chaired by H.E. L. Brahimi. The work done by the General Assembly in the fall of 2000, to address the most urgent of these recommendations, was an important step in the right direction.

The Special Committee on Peacekeeping Operations recognized the need for further strengthening DPKO to undertake its core functions. In its report A/55/1024, the Special Committee made important conclusions and recommendations for the management, strategic planning, policy and capacity development, operational planning, mission support, rapid deployment and changes to the organizational structure that were approved by the Fourth committee.

Furthermore, in line with the Special Committee and the ACABQ, the EU endorses the concept of a strategic reserve at the UN logistic base as a significant element in enhancing the United Nations' ability to address peace keeping. We therefore request the Secretary General to submit proposals for the required resources as soon as possible.

This being said, the EU remains particularly attached to important issues such as the Peacekeeping Best Practices Unit, the need for enhanced coordination between DPKO and other Departments, the gender mainstreaming, human rights and international humanitarian law.

The EU attaches great importance to the fact that the budgetary decisions of this committee should reflect the political consensus reached in the Fourth Committee. The EU takes note with great interest of the conclusions and recommendations of the ACABQ report. We appreciate the budgetary rigor shown by the ACABQ and its efforts to formulate recommendations that are intended to facilitate negotiations in the Fifth Committee.

Thank you, Mr Chairman.

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• EU Presidency Statement - Review of Peacekeeping Operations (16/10/2003)