EU Presidency Statement - Summit Outcome Document: Revised Budget Estimates

EU Presidency Statement on the Summit Outcome Document: Revised Estimates to the Budget: (A/60/537; A/60/7/Add.13), by the Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, on behalf of the European Union, Fifth Committee, United Nations, NY

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the EU.

1. I should start by thanking the Controller and the Acting Chair of the ACABQ for their introductions. The EU is acutely aware that time is pressing, so we will make a very brief statement on the documents introduced this morning and will save our specific queries for the informal session

Mr Chairman,

2. The EU is committed to working with partners to approve a biennial budget for 2006-07 in this main session. But we wish to be very clear on our position: namely, that it is essential that any budget approved next week include provisions for various proposals of the Secretary General contained in the revised estimates presented to us in document A/60/537. We note that in some cases, the ACABQ has recommended a deferral pending the submission of further information or decisions by the General Assembly. We will bear those recommendations in mind when making provisions for the regular budget 2006-2007. However the EU reiterates that the General Assembly has been mandated by our leaders to act on the decision they took in September to strengthen the UN. So while, it is not possible to decide on every detail of the Secretary General's proposals before the end of this year, it is nevertheless crucial that we demonstrate our ability and collective will to move forward as soon and as fast as possible in all of these and other proposed areas in order to allow early decision making.

3. In practice, this means we will have to take swift decisions and reach agreement in a matter of days, before the closure of the main session on 23rd December. This is a tall order, but we point out that, while much of the detail has been some time in coming to us, the general principals and ideas that we need to address have been discussed at great length over the course of this year and earlier. We believe, therefore, that we can achieve a successful outcome in this session and stand ready to work to this end.

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• EU Presidency Statement - Mandate Review: UN General Assembly Consultations (14/12/2005)
• EU Presidency Statement - Follow-up to World Summit Outcome on Development  (13/12/2005)
• EU Presidency Statement - Support of UN system to Governments to promote and consolidate democracies (13/12/2005)
• EU Presidency Statement - Follow up to Summit Outcome on Development and ECOSOC reform (22/11/2005)
• EU Presidency Statement - Draft outcome document of High-level Plenary Meeting of General Assembly (28/7/2005)