EU Speaking Points - Secretariat and Management Reform

Summary: EU Speaking Points - Secretariat and Management Reform (15 February 2006: New York)

Informal Consultations of the United Nations General Assembly on Secretariat and Management Reform; Statement by Ambassador Gerhard Pfanzelter, Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations, on behalf of the European Union, New York

The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, and the EFTA countries Iceland and Liechtenstein, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.

Our last exchange on 25 January was held in a constructive and positive spirit. It was promising to see that there is overall agreement on the mandate review to be a valuable opportunity to strengthen the United Nations. We would like to use the opportunity of today's meeting to comment on some of the points raised during our last meeting.
We reiterate our support for the template that has been presented by ASG Bob Orr. We were pleased to learn that the idea to distinguish mandates in the category" five years and older and with a low activity level" might help make the process more manageable and we would like to call on the Secretariat to pursue this idea further. Therefore, we would like to request the Secretariat to focus on active mandates that are currently implemented.
During our last meeting the idea was raised that data should be provided as an electronic database. We find this very useful as it will make the data better accessible and the process more user-friendly. We encourage the Secretariat to follow-up on this proposal. We also would like to reiterate our request for a presentation of mandates on a cluster-by-cluster basis.
We take note of the limited availability of information which we consider important, in particular on implementing entities, outputs and resource indications. At the same time, we assume that the provision of information on the status of implementation and on the reasons for non-implementation faces similar problems. Keeping in mind the enormous size of the task and the need for an early decision as requested in the Summit Outcome document, we propose to go ahead with the template presented by Bob Orr with as much data as realistically possible. We understand that relevant information might be provided at a later stage upon request.
It has been stressed that this exercise should neither be selective nor arbitrary in nature. We share this approach and recall in this context that paragraph 163 (b) of the Summit Document requests the Secretary General to facilitate the mandate review with analysis and recommendations. Such analysis is important. In the absence of it and with nothing provided than raw data, the process will be at risk of being subjected to decision making without the benefit of an assessment by the Secretary General.
We would like to reiterate our support for the mandate review: We see it as an indispensable exercise of self-reflexion and look forward to receiving a comprehensive and substantial review report from the Secretariat by the end of February. We must approach this exercise without any preconceived ideas and must work together to ensure a successful outcome.

* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

Ref: PRES06-029EN
EU source: EU Presidency
UN forum: General Assembly (including Special Sessions)
Date: 15/2/2006

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