EU Presidency Statement - UN Fifth Committee: Organization of Work

Statement on behalf of the European Union, Ms. Katja Pehrman, First Secretary, Permanent Mission of Finland to the United Nations, Fifth Committee, UNITED NATIONS, Organization of Work, New York

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union.

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, Montenegro, Serbia, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.

Mr. Chairman,

The EU warmly congratulates you on your election to the Chair of the Fifth Committee as well as your bureau colleagues, the Vice-Chairmen Mr. Ilgar Mammadov, Mr. Ram Babu Dhakal, Mr. Alexios Mitsopoulos, and the Rapporteur, Mr. Diego Simancas. We are confident that under your capable leadership and with the collaborative support of the bureau, the negotiations in the Fifth Committee during this fall as well as next year will reach a successful and timely conclusion.

Mr. Chairman, we are faced with a series of important negotiations in this main session. We need to decide on Scale of Assessments by December 2006 in order to provide the basis for the future financing of the United Nations. Under this agenda item we also must deal with the issue of the unpaid assessed contributions of the former Yugoslavia, which has been deferred a number of times.

We have ahead of us discussions on the report of the Secretary-General containing the independent comprehensive review of governance and oversight as well as the related OIOS report. It is now our task to define the terms of reference of the Independent Audit Advisory Committee and to provide an independent budget for the OIOS. These are vital issues in improving the transparency, accountability and internal controls of the United Nations. We will also consider the proposals to establish an accountability framework for executive management and to introduce an enterprise risk management framework.

Mr. Chairman,

During this session we will also continue to discuss other reform proposals put forward by the Secretary-General. We are convinced that only through better management and strengthened accountability will the United Nations become a stronger and more effective organization. We look forward to further advancing, in cooperation with our colleagues, the procurement reform including strengthening internal and financial controls over the procurement process, optimising UN acquisition, procurement management and strategic management of UN procurement as well as considering possible amendments of procurement rules and regulations.

This session is dedicated to issues related to Human Resources. There are almost 90,000 personnel serving on 18 UN peacekeeping operations on four continents in ten time zones, directly and indirectly impacting the lives of hundreds of millions of people. Thus we recognise the need for an integrated and mobile global workforce and look forward to a fruitful exchange of opinions with regard to the Secretary-General's proposals.

Given the number of the Human Resources Management related reports we believe it is essential that we concentrate our efforts on working efficiently in order to conclude the issues in a timely manner. Let me assure you, Mr. Chairman, that the EU stands ready to recapture and continue the successful outcome of the HRM discussions that took place two years ago. At that time the discussions were concluded before the end of the main session.

We look forward to discussing the report of the redesign panel of UN system in the context of Administration of Justice as well as the Secretary-General's report thereon at the first resumed session.

Mr. Chairman,

The EU believes that priority should also be given to those agenda items with financial implications where decisions are time-bound. This applies of course, among others, to the various peacekeeping budgets. We understand that the items of the Strategic framework for the biennium 2008-2009 and the budget outline, which presents preliminary resource estimates for the proposed programme budget for the biennium 2008-2009 need to be agreed upon by the end of this year. Other important issues are the financing of the International Criminal Tribunals for Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda (ICTY and ICTR), reports on auditing bodies and After Service Health Insurance.

Mr. Chairman,

Let me also touch upon an issue which has been on our agenda far too long. The EU has repeatedly expressed the need for urgent renovation to make the UN Headquarters in New York safe. We have a responsibility to ensure the safety and security of the UN staff, visitors and all of us working in the premises and therefore must proceed swiftly with the Capital Master Plan. We would like to reiterate our support for strategy IV as decided in July. In order to implement this decision we need an agreement on funding of the Capital Master Plan during the main session.

Mr. Chairman,

We note that the programme of work lists the 8th of December as the last day of this session. Maybe this year we could surpass expectations related to the Fifth Committee of always passing the deadlines and instead enjoy holidays in December, as our colleagues in other Committees do. We believe the Committee should complete its agenda without the need for meetings outside regular working hours. We favour making maximum use of our time including starting meetings punctually. We are grateful for the briefings on HRM and Scale of Assessments next week that will help to clarify these key issues ahead of us this session.

The EU looks forward to working with you, Mr. Chairman, and all our Fifth Committee colleagues in a spirit of constructive cooperation during this 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly. We also look forward to working with the Secretariat of the Committee and the representatives of the Secretary-General. With such a full agenda, the goodwill and flexibility of all delegations will be crucial to the success of our negotiations. The EU is ready to enter into discussions on the merits of individual issues. On behalf of the European Union I wish to convey our willingness to dialogue and cooperation.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.


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

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• EU Presidency Statement - United Nations: Programme of Work  (5/3/2007)
• EU Presidency Statement - Human Resources Management (30/10/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - UN Common System (25/10/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - Pattern of Conferences  (17/10/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - Programme budget for biennium 2006-07 (16/10/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - Programme Planning (16/10/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - Report on the Activities of OIOS (11/10/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - Joint Inspection Unit (10/10/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - Fifth Committee: Scale of Assessment (9/10/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - Fifth Committee, Investing in the UN (7/7/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - Fifth Committee, Programme of Work  (6/3/2006)