EU Presidency Statement - Scales of assessments

Mr. Chairman,

I have the honor to speak on behalf of the European Union. The countries of Central and Eastern Europe associated with the European Union (Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia), the associated countries of Cyprus, Malta and Turkey and an EFTA country belonging to the European Economic Area (Iceland), align themselves with this statement.

Allow me first of all to thank the Chairman of the Committee on Contributions, Mr. Hugo Sessi, for his presentation of report A/56/11.

Mr. Chairman,

Resolution A/55/5 stipulates that the General Assembly should devote the main part of its fifty-sixth session to a study of the measures urging Member States to pay their assessed contributions payable to the Organization in full and on time, further to an agreement on the principle of amending the calculation as laid down in Article 19, whose implementing arrangements we must now discuss.

The European Union firmly believes that this issue of a reinforcement of Article 19 must be resolved by UN Member States during this session. Year after year, the Fifth Committee has faced the same debates and the same problems due on the one hand to the reluctance of a small number of countries to pay their contributions in full and on the other to late applications for exemption, in breach of Article 160 of the General Assembly's Rules of Procedure and Resolution 54/237 C.

The position of the European Union in this respect is well known and forms part of four series of measures presented in 1996: clearance of arrears in the short term, revision of the scale for the regular budget and of the scale for peacekeeping operations, increased administrative efficiency and, finally, a series of measures to encourage the prompt payment of assessments.

Regarding application of Article 19, the European Union applies three principles: equity and respect for the very vast majority of Member States which make the effort to meet their obligations on time, in full and with no conditions attached; firmness with those which persistently refuse to honor their obligations under the UN Charter; understanding for those faced with real difficulties.

The prompt, full and unconditional payment of contributions is essential to put the Organization permanently on a sound footing, to enable it to manage its resources effectively and efficiently and to shield it from arbitrary and unilateral decisions.

Article 19 is the only instrument at the General Assembly's disposal that can achieve this threefold objective. With limited resources at the Organization's disposal and when every contribution counts, this instrument must be used with discretion but also impartially.

Mr. Chairman,

We have noted with interest and paid careful attention to the observations and recommendations put forward by the Committee on Contributions. The European Union compliments COC members and the report's author on their careful handling of this issue. This report will enable the Member States to take an informed decision.

The European Union will implement with determination three types of measures:

net-net calculation, six-monthly calculation and other measures to improve timely payment and the elimination of overdue amounts. In so doing, it will be guided by two essential considerations:

Firstly, for the European Union, the full and timely payment of contributions indicates three things: responsibility for assuming not only the rights but also the duties of a member of the international community; determination to help strengthen that community by enabling the UN to fulfill its mandates; a desire to support the United Nations Organization and the values it embodies.

Secondly, reinforcement of Article 19 should not penalize States which want to pay but which have genuine exceptional financial difficulties that prevent them from doing so. The European Union will be particularly ready to listen to those States and will examine with them ways of preventing a decision on Article 19 from making those difficulties even worse. The European Union will be open to any proposal that will promote timely payment and reduce overdue amounts.

Mr. Chairman,

In conclusion, the European Union would emphasize that application of Article 19 is linked to the Organization's persistently difficult financial situation eleven out of twelve months of the year. The trends are still worrying, even though Under-Secretary General Joseph E. Connor had some good news for us. The European Union will have an opportunity to comment on this under Fifth Committee agenda item 129.

Thank you.

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