Europa > European Union in the World > European Union @ United Nations > EU Presidency Statement - UN Reform

Site map | A-Z Index | Internships/Jobs | Links | Contact us

English Español Français

 

 

EU Presidency Statement - UN Reform

Mr. Chairman,

Allow me to address you on behalf of the European Union. The Central and Eastern European Countries associated with the European Union - Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia -, and the other associated countries Cyprus, Malta and Turkey, endorse this statement.

Mr. President,

1. First of all I would like to express our gratitude and thanks for your personal commitment to the smooth running of proceedings regarding this item on the agenda.

2. As mentioned by the Secretary-General in his report, the matter of restructuring and revitalization of the United Nations in economic and social fields was referred to the Council in 1997. The issue has been dealt with in five reports of the Secretary-General. General Assembly Resolutions 50/227 and 52/12 B, and follow-up Resolutions 1998/46 and 1999/51 of the Economic and Social Council have paved the way for considerable progress by the UN system in its efforts to achieve reform and coherence. The European Union nevertheless considers that much still remains to be done to enhance the efficiency of the various bodies concerned, and regrets that members of the Council have tended to adopt an overly cautious, wait-and-see attitude in recent years, in particular in the absence of substantive decisions at its 2000 session. On several occasions in the past the EU has voiced its determination to relaunch the process in 2001.

3. Before commenting on specific recommendations by the Secretary-General, allow me to highlight some of the principles underlying the EU's thoughts on the issue of reforms and their implementation:

• First and foremost, the EU feels that the fundamental aim of UN reforms in the economic and social fields must be to strengthen the organization at all of its levels - at intergovernmental level, at management level, and on the ground - to enable it better to meet the general objectives of sustainable development as defined in the Millennium report. There is an obvious need for a more integrated, efficient and effective UN system in the economic, social and environmental fields, in humanitarian aid, conflict prevention and peace-building, and in the field of human rights.
  
  
• This requires, in particular with regard to the Economic and Social Council, flexible, effective and lightweight intergovernmental machinery which can meet the modern-day challenges of development and globalization. The EU would point out at this juncture that it is the responsibility of Member States satisfactorily to discharge their obligations in the economic and social fields under the United Nations Charter. It is the responsibility of Member States to make progress on the principles of coherence and coordination within the UN system.
  
  
• The UN system in the economic and social fields has, under the direct authority of the Council, 15 commissions (functional and regional), 17 committees (standing and ad hoc committees, expert bodies) and, under the aegis of the General Assembly, 11 funds and programmes or standing bodies, and two ad hoc bodies. This huge intergovernmental complex, which has taken shape over the years, poses major challenges for the coherence of policies, within the Secretariat as well as for the Member States. The process of implementing the reform initiated by General Assembly Resolutions 50/227, 52/12B and ECOSOC Resolutions 1998/46 and 1999/51 is therefore of crucial importance for the EU.

Mr. President,

4. The EU would like to comment on specific recommendations made in the report of the Secretary-General. It would like to take this opportunity to commend the quality and readability of the report.

With regard to proceedings in the General Assembly, the EU is pleased with the reforms undertaken since the adoption of Resolution 50/227, but is convinced that there is room for improvement, in particular in respect of the following:

• it is desirable that coordination should be strengthened between the Second and Third Committees of the General Assembly, in particular through intensification of the dialogue between their bureaux, and joint meetings on specific topics between the two Committees. In the opinion of the EU, certain subjects such as human rights, globalization, equal opportunities and social security standards, suffer from being "committee-ised". Greater coherence and complementarity between the Committees, and certainly between experts, should be ensured. Some cross-cutting topics such as globalization and interdependency should not necessarily be referred to the Second Committee but kept in plenary. The EU also questions the custom of adopting the draft work programmes of the committees one year in advance.
  
  
• the EU would like to draw attention to the follow-up to the Millennium Declaration, and the follow-up to conferences in general as a frame of reference for proceedings in the Second and Third Committees. The idea mooted in paragraph 27 of Resolution 50/227, namely choosing a principal theme by "cluster", should be developed further. Having a central theme would raise the political visibility of the Second Committee, in particular in the context of the "roadmap" which is to be drawn to keep track of the Millennium undertakings.
  
  
• rationalizing the Second Committee's work, particularly reducing the number of items on its agenda and making more frequent use of "omnibus" resolutions. The possibility of reducing the frequency with which certain items are examined by means of biennialisation or triennialisation should be given serious consideration.

5. With regard to the Council's proceedings, the EU would like to urge the following measures and recommendations:

• 
  
  
• reorganization of the summer session: four weeks in July divided into five segments with an overburdened, overcomplicated agenda should be rethought.
  
  
• the EU regrets the scantiness of interaction between the Council and the ACC (Admin Coord Council). Current arrangements should be reviewed so as to give ECOSOC - ACC relations the political clout they deserve. The EU calls on the Secretary-General to participate personally in the exercise, as he has done in the past. The EU would also stress the need to persevere in the efforts already undertaken to establish harmonious working relations on complementary issues between ECOSOC and the Security Council.
  
  
• the EU is convinced of the need to appraise the quality of negotiated instruments such as outcomes of proceedings, in the form of agreed conclusions, in the Council as well as its subsidiary bodies. We must be clear in admitting the difficulties that have been encountered in negotiating agreed Conclusions this year. The EU insists on the importance of Resolution 1998/46 Annex II on the subject, while emphasizing that agreed conclusions should never be used as an opportunity to redefine the acquis of the major conferences.
  
  
• the Cooperation Forum: the EU is willing to take a closer look at the idea of creating a high-level "Biennial Cooperation Forum" involving civil society. Its sole concern is to avoid a proliferation of similar exercises. In this context the process of "renewal of the dialogue" launched at the General Assembly on a biennial basis could usefully be transformed into a forum of this kind.
  
  
• the EU unreservedly supports all efforts to reform the agenda of the general segment so as to restore to it a minimum of coherence and effectiveness.
  
  
• the EU would underline the importance of the coordinating role played by the Council vis-à-vis its subsidiary bodies. The Council should in particular ensure that the proceedings of the multitude of commissions and committees, including their multi-annual programmes, are complementary and coherent, and avoid duplication of work and contradictions so as to provide effective monitoring of the major conferences. The EU sets great store by Resolution 1998/46 Annex II, and its implementation.
  
  
• the follow-up to the IIIrd Conference on the Least Developed Countries will now appear as an annual agenda item of the Council, allocated to its coordination segment, in accordance with the recommendations adopted in Brussels in May of this year (paragraph 111 of the Programme of Action for the LDCs 2001-2010). The EU, which hosted that important conference, fully supports this measure, which has the merit of moving the issue of least developed countries to the top of the agenda.

Mr. President,

6. The European Union is naturally delighted with the deepening of cooperation between the Economic and Social Council and the Bretton Woods institutions. Interaction between them has intensified this year with the preparatory process for the Conference on Financing for Development. The EU would like to consider the possibility of raising the profile of the high-level ECOSOC?Bretton Woods meeting in April further still. It could serve to follow-up the Conference on Financing for Development by involving senior officials of the IMF, the World Bank and, if possible, the WTO.

The European Union will closely follow the debate launched today on the process of reforming and revitalizing the United Nations in the economic and social fields. We assure you, Mr. President, that we are fully prepared to listen and contribute to the dialogue, provided that the issues raised and decisions taken can serve the cause of sustainable economic and social development in a coherent manner.

Thank you.

| Top |

Advanced search

• EU Presidency Statement - UN reform and revitalization (27/10/2003)
• EU Presidency Statement - Improving the financial situation of the UN (15/3/2002)