EU Presidency Statement - Scale of Assessments

Mr Chairman,

I have the honor to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Candidate Countries Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey and Croatia, the countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Former Yoguslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and the EFTA countries Iceland and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this statement.

First of all, allow me to thank Mr Sessi and Mr Halbwachs for respectively introducing the report of the Committee on Contributions and the report of the Secretary-General on multi-year payment plans.

Mr Chairman,

The financial stability of this organization concerns us all. Two major factors influence the financial health of the UN system: proper management of resources by the organizations, and the provision of predictable financial contributions by Member States. Much of this Committees' time is concerned with the first, much less with the latter. Nonetheless, the manner in which we as member states honor our financial obligations is crucial to the ability of the UN to achieve the goals the international community has set for it. As we have already stated, Member States should adhere to the rules we set for ourselves, including honoring our obligation under the Charter to pay all contributions on time, in full, and without conditions. We recognize that in some cases grave circumstances may prevent this. Nevertheless, we would expect that, as a practical demonstration of their commitment, in spite of the circumstances, to honor their obligations and reduce their arrears over time, all those MS concerned should make an effort to present multi-year payment plans to the CoC and make an effort to keep to them. In our view, these plans should be a necessary condition that has to be met, before granting future waivers under article 19.

Mr Chairman,

We note that the review of the current scale methodology is not due until the sixty-fifth and sixty-sixth session of the Committee on Contributions. The elements of the methodology are therefore not up for discussion during the 59th session of the Fifth Committee. In this regard, we have considered both the report of the Committee on Contributions, A/59/11, and the report of the Secretary-General on multi-year payment plans, A/59/67. We can endorse the observations and recommendations in both reports.

Thank you, Mr Chairman.

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• EU Presidency Statement - Scale of Assessments - specifically exemptions under Article 19 of the Charter of the UN (4/10/2004)
• EU Presidency Statement - Assessments for Peacekeeping Operations (23/10/2003)
• EU Presidency Statement - The Scale of Assessments (4/3/2003)