EU Speaking Points - ECOSOC Reform

Informal Consultations of the Plenary of the United Nations General Assembly on ECOSOC reform; Statement by Ambassador Gerhard Pfanzelter, Permanent Representative of Austria, on behalf of the European Union, New York

• On behalf of the EU I would like to thank you for convening this further round of consultations on ECOSOC reform. The EU attaches, as you know, great importance to revitalising ECOSOC along the lines set out in the Summit Outcome Document.
  
  
• I would also like to thank the two co-Chairs for their excellent work and welcome warmly the draft elements for a General Assembly resolution on ECOSOC reform presented in your letter from 9 January. We think that these draft elements are a good basis for further negotiations towards a consensus-based outcome. The EU is confident that negotiations will quickly yield results.
  
  
• We consider the following basic guidelines as important elements for ECOSOC reform:
  
  
  • ECOSOC has a vital system-wide co-ordination role for UN work on economic, social, environmental, humanitarian and related issues including the mainstreaming of human rights in the UN. This coordination role includes ensuring that there are no overlaps or gaps within the UN system as well as promoting consistency of UN policies in these areas. ECOSOC should coordinate the work of its subsidiary bodies and ensure overall efficiency. ECOSOC reform should focus on added value for overall co-ordination and avoid duplication with other bodies or proliferation of meetings or activity.
    
    
  • ECOSOC has to make full use of its comparative advantage as a multi-stakeholder-forum in order to foster substantive debates among high-level representatives including those from the international financial institutions (IFIs), the private sector and civil society. For this reason as well as to enhance political visibility ECOSOC's substantive session should be improved to ensure high-level participation. Open dialogue and exchange of lessons learnt should be important components of a revitalised ECOSOC. The value of its meetings should not solely be judged by whether they lead to a negotiated outcome.
    
    
• Let me now comment on some of the particular draft elements suggested in your text.
  
  
  • The EU welcomes the promotion of a global dialogue at the ECOSOC's Spring Meeting with the Bretton Woods Institutions (BWI) and at a biennial high-level dialogue as part of the revitalized ECOSOC High Level Segment. ECOSOC should organise the global dialogue so as to facilitate participation and interactive discussions between Member States, the BWI, other relevant UN agencies, the private sector and civil society. This dialogue should not be restrained in scope but open to a broad range of issues. The practice of a presidential summary of the Spring Meeting has proven useful and should be continued. The outcome of the high-level dialogue could be a ministerial declaration. As for the last paragraph under this section we feel it could be omitted.
    
    
  • The EU welcomes the biennial Development Cooperation Forum (DCF) as part of the renewed High-Level-Segment. As for the periodicity the EU believes that the DCF should take place in alternate years to the global dialogue of the High-Level Segment and should not coincide with other relevant meetings, such as the GA High Level Dialogue on Financing for Development (FfD). Some further organisational aspects regarding the High-Level-Segment in the relation to the Development Cooperation Forum might need to be determined.
    
    
  • The EU supports an annual ministerial-level substantive review (AMR) to assess progress in the implementation of the outcomes of the major UN Conferences and Summits. The AMR could have a ministerial declaration as an outcome. ECOSOC subsidiary bodies should organise their work as to contribute to the AMR. The AMR should be organised focusing on thematic clusters. The coordination segment should be reorganised accordingly by ECOSOC. As for national presentations and/or voluntary reviews of the MDGs the EU remains open to this potentially interesting concept but believes that the feasibility of this idea should be subject to practical arrangements made by ECOSOC.
    
    
  • The EU considers that, in addressing humanitarian emergencies ECOSOC should act on a case-by-case basis and support and complement international efforts undertaken by relevant actors in particular by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Not all briefings automatically will need to have a written outcome. The EU regards meetings and/or briefings on humanitarian emergencies as a potentially valuable contribution especially in analysing lessons learnt. However, these ad-hoc meetings/briefings should not address coordination or policy implications, since those should be better dealt with on a more general basis within the humanitarian segment of the annual substantive session. Possible duplications with the work of the GA or its committees should be avoided.
    
    
  • EU sees coordination of funds, programmes and agencies as one of the main tasks of ECOSOC as currently performed and welcomes the suggestions made by the co-chairs.
    
    
  • The GA should encourage ECOSOC to improve its general segment of its substantive session. We also regard the adaptation of ECOSOC's working methods as an important part of the reform. We also believe that duplications with other processes should be avoided and that ECOSOC reform should take place within existing resources.
    
    
• In conclusion, the EU supports a strong linkage between ECOSOC and the new Peace-building Commission as decided in GA-Resolution 60/180. ECOSOC should highlight in particular the medium and long-term economic, social and environmental dimensions of post-conflict/peace-building situations.

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• EU Speaking Points - Mandate Review, ECOSOC  (23/5/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - ECOSOC Spring Meeting (24/4/2006)
• EU Speaking Points - GA Revitalization (3/3/2006)
• EU Detailed Speaking Points - ECOSOC Reform  (20/2/2006)
• EU Speaking Points - ECOSOC Reform (9/2/2006)
• EU Speaking Points - Development Follow-Up (8/2/2006)
• EU Speaking Points - Informal Consultations on ECOSOC Reform  (30/1/2006)
• EU Speaking Points - UN Secretariat and Management Reform (30/1/2006)
• EU Speaking Points - Follow up to Development Commitments contained in 2005 World Summit Outcome  (16/1/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - ECOSOC Reform (20/12/2005)
• EU Presidency Statement - ECOSOC reform (8/12/2005)
• EU Presidency Statement - Follow up to Summit Outcome on Development and ECOSOC reform (22/11/2005)
• EU Paper on ECOSOC Reform (24/10/2005)