L'UE aux Nations Unies

The presence - and representation - of the EU at the UN has multiple faces:

the 27 EU Member States;
the EU Presidency;
the Council of the European Union;
and the European Commission.

The EU Member States, the Council, and the Commission meet regularly to coordinate their positions on various issues. The EU Treaty requires them to uphold common positions so their collective weight can have more impact in the world.

Coordination now encompasses the six main committees of the General Assembly and its subordinate bodies, including ECOSOC and its subsidiary functional commissions. More than 1,000 internal EU coordination meetings are conducted each year in both New York and Geneva.

EU Member States work together with the Council and the Commission to prepare and finalize EU statements, and the Member State holding the Presidency presents the EU position to the General Assembly, whether in negotiations or debates, in the form of a Presidency statement. The European Community, represented by the European Commission, can also take the floor as a permanent observer at the General Assembly.

In cases involving trade, agriculture, and fisheries, the European Commission negotiates and makes statements at the UN on behalf of the EU and can also do so in other cases involving predominantly European Community competences.

EU candidate, potential candidate, and accession countries usually align themselves with EU statements. Commonly, almost one-sixth of UN Member States now align themselves with EU statements at the UNGA.

Together, the 27 EU Member States comprise more than one-eighth of all votes in the UN General Assembly. And EU member and candidate countries account for one-third of the UN Security Council’s current membership.

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