Summary:
Head of Delegation: Ambassador Fernando M. Valenzuela
Since 1964, the European Commission has had a presence in New York at the United Nations, first as an information office and, starting in 1974, as an official Delegation to the United Nations.
The UN General Assembly (UNGA) granted observer status to the "European Economic Community" (subsequently changed to "European Community") on October 11, 1974, represented by the European Commission's Delegation in New York. The European Community thus became the first entity other than a state to enjoy permanent observer status. This status enables the European Community to enjoy certain participation rights in the proceedings of the United Nations and especially in the General Assembly, the
Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and its functional commissions. Article 302 of the Treaty establishing the European Community provides that the European Commission shall ensure the maintenance of all appropriate relations with the organs of the United Nations and of its specialized agencies.
The general role of the Delegation in New York is to reinforce the coordination of common European Union (EU) policies and approaches at the United Nations, including the drafting of EU statements and the adoption of EU positions on Resolutions and other texts. These positions are generally established through EU coordination meetings. In all, some 1,300 EU meetings take place annually in New York. The European Commission plays an active role in defining EU positions, thereby contributing to
the enhanced role of the EU at the UN.
While in most cases the EU is represented by the EU Presidency in UN bodies in New York, the Commission speaks for and acts as negotiator for the EU and its Member States in areas where powers have been transferred to it (e.g. trade, fisheries, agriculture and aspects of development and environmental policy).
As an observer within the UNGA and most UN specialized agencies, the "European Community" has no vote as such, but it is a party to more than 50 UN multilateral agreements and conventions as the only non-State participant. It has also obtained a special "full participant" status in a number of important UN conferences outside the framework of UN standing bodies, e.g. the Rio "Earth Summit" and Kyoto (climate change). And it also enjoys "full participant" status in the in the ECOSOC's UN
Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), and in the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests (IFF). In 1991, the European Community was accepted as a full member of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization, the first time it had been recognized as a full voting member by a UN agency. In 2001, the European Union (Commission, Council Presidency and the European Parliament) hosted the third UN Conference of the Least Developed Countries in Brussels, the first time a major UN event has been hosted
by an entity other than a state.
In addition, the Delegation maintains relations with the UN funds and programs based in New York, the most important of which are the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and UNICEF. In 2001, the European Commission provided some 641 million euro in development and humanitarian assistance through UN agencies and affiliated organizations. To underline and to strengthen this productive collaboration, the European Commission and UNDP agreed to a new strategic partnership
in June 2004 to facilitate delivery of efficient, high quality aid to developing countries, particularly in the areas of governance, conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction.
Based on the EU's commitment to make effective multilateralism a central element of its external actions, the Commission's work at the UN has been further informed by its comprehensive Communication from Autumn 2003 on "The European Union and the United Nations: the Choice of Multilateralism", which was endorsed by the European Council. Another new element guiding the EU's partnership with the UN is the EU-UN Joint Declaration of 24 September 2003 on cooperation in crisis management,
which constitutes the basis for enhanced cooperation in this field.
This enhanced cooperation between UN Secretariat and the EU (including the Commission), particularly in relation to conflict prevention, crisis management (in cooperation with the Council) and post-conflict prevention, is not only here to stay - it is set to expand.
Another important, if subsidiary, task for the Delegation in New York is to communicate about the EU's policies to a wider community, especially the important and growing role the EU plays in international affairs and the EU-US relationship, aiming at key US decision-makers/opinion-formers living in the tri-state area (New York, New Jersey and Connecticut). This is accomplished largely through the EU@UN website and e-mail alert service, working closely with the EU Presidency, Council
Secretariat and Member State Missions based in New York, and with fellow European Commission Delegations in Washington DC and those serving UN bodies worldwide. The Delegation also arranges programmes and platforms for high-level EU visitors, provides speakers on EU-related topics and is engaged in the foreign affairs and media communities of the greater NY area.
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