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EU Presidency Statement - In-Depth Review of the Joint Inspection Unit Statute and Working Methods

Mr. Chairman,

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 Stabilization and Association Process Countries, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Serbia and Montenegro, the Associated Countries Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and the EFTA countries, members of the European Economic Area, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, declare that they align themselves with this statement.

The European Union would like to thank the Chairman of the Joint Inspection Unit, Mr. Ion Gorita, and the other inspectors for the presentation of their latest report on the reform of the JIU, A/58/343/Add.2.

In the main session, the Unit did an excellent job in providing us with serious analysis of the areas of potential reform and a list of proposed actions. Unfortunately, this Committee did not conclude its deliberations on the reform process in the Fall. Instead, it was decided to defer this item to the resumed session. The EU agreed to this reluctantly, having been assured by our partners that the discussion this Spring would be constructive and produce concrete results.

Meanwhile, the inspectors have not waited for our continued deliberations. Eager to seize this opportunity for change, they are already in the process of implementing a number of reform measures that do not require legislative approval. These measures include:

• the adoption of internal working procedures;
  
  
• the development of new mechanisms to implement the strategic framework of 2003;
  
  
• the work on the establishment of a methodology for spreading risk assessment exercises over the participating organisations;
  
  
• the development of a thorough validation process whereby proposed subjects of a report or note will be tested against set criteria, complemented by a peer review process and provisional measures relating to collective wisdom;
  
  
• several IT-related projects; and
  
  
• some measures to strengthen the role of the chairman.

We sincerely welcome the excellent work carried out by the Unit in this regard. We expect that these implemented or planned measures will contribute to improving the efficacy of the Joint Inspection Unit. But these measures are not enough. We concur with the statement on page 4 of the English text, that "it is of great importance that the General Assembly now pronounce itself on those issues that were highlighted in the Unit's preliminary and in-depth reviews".

Mr. Chairman,

Now is the time for the General Assembly to shoulder its responsibility and initiate the necessary changes in the working methods of the Unit and some crucial amendments of its Statute. The EU is of the view that the main problems of the JIU can be addressed by reforming the mode of selection of new inspectors, by strengthening the Chairman and by establishing a collective responsibility for the work of the Unit.

The European Union believes that the reform of the JIU is one of the most important items before the Fifth Committee. Let us work on this together, constructively, in the interest of the high purposes for which the Unit was created. Let us enable the Joint Inspection Unit to fulfil its mandate as the only system-wide external oversight body. Let this be the legacy of the first part of the resumed session of this great Committee.

I thank you.

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