EU Presidency Statement - Fifth Committee - Item 127

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 and Turkey and the EFTA countries, members of the European Economic Area, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway declare that they align themselves with this statement.

Let me first of all express our deepest appreciation to Mr. Harold Agyeman, the distinguished representative of Ghana, for his excellent work in guiding us through the difficult and sensitive negotiations on the issues raised in connection with the Secretary-General's bulletin ST/SGB/2004/4. I also want to take this opportunity to thank the representatives of OHRM and OLA for their assistance during the deliberations.

We appreciate the efforts made by all delegations to arrive at this consensus outcome.

Having adopted the resolution before us, I would like to make the following brief remarks.

The resolution does not infringe on the authority of the Secretary-General, the Chief Administrative Officer of the Organisation.

The long-established principle that matters of personal status are determined by reference to the law of nationality of the staff member concerned will continue to apply.

The resolution before us represents a compromise. The solution found is very far from all our initial positions, but by adopting this resolution, we put an end to a lengthy and difficult discussion on this topic, whilst preserving the working procedures of the Fifth Committee.

Thank you Mr. Chairman.

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• EU Presidency Statement - Organization of Work of the Fifth Committee at its First Resumed Session (10/3/2004)