EU Presidency Statement - First performance report and proposed budget outline

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 Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, align themselves with this declaration.

At the outset, allow me to thank the Controller, Mr. Halbwachs, for presenting the documents in front of us today, and the Chairman of the ACABQ, Mr. Kuznetsov, for introducing their related reports.

Mr. Chairman,

1. In this statement we will address the first performance report and the budget outline. Together they bring home to our delegations the major increases in funds now required by the United Nations to carry out its mandates.

2. The initial appropriation for the biennium 2002-03 was $2625 million. By last year, when we approved the appropriation for the current biennium, this had risen to $3160 million. And by the time we take a decision next year on the programme budget for 2006-07, we will be looking at proposals in the region of $3700 million. The delegations of the EU pay collectively 37% of these costs and so the $1 billion plus increase in just four years is a significant challenge for us.

3. We recognise the increasing demands on the UN and the need to fund these responsibilities. We also appreciate the efforts of programme managers and the Secretariat in the proposal contained in the budget outline to restrain to a great extent calls for additional resources. In our view, this background of pressing need makes it all the more vital that the Secretariat and membership together identify ways to concentrate and reallocate resources to the UN's priority areas.

4. We also wish to see the UN make more flexible use of those resources it has. We should, like the ACABQ, have liked to see further progress by now in using the additional flexibility for redeploying staff granted to the Secretariat in the budget resolution last year. We hope that this will be pursued vigorously in 2005.

5. We note with concern the comments of the Secretariat that the freeze on General Service recruitment has led to a gradual increase in the realised monthly GS vacancy rate and to difficulties in implementing planned programmes of work. This, of course, was not the intention of the proposal, which aimed at encouraging a reduced dependence on GS staff across the board through better management of processes and functions and more use of information and communications technology by Professional-level staff. We will study closely the promised report on the situation next year, which outlines the problems that have resulted.

6. On safety and security, we are prepared to incorporate the additional costs for 2004-05 to be decided this session, into the total appropriation needed for 2005. Furthermore, we acknowledge that ongoing security costs beyond 2005 will need to be additional to those figures we approve in the context of the budget outline for 2006-07.

7. In summary, Mr. Chairman, the EU is prepared to approve the SG's proposals and the ACABQ recommendations regarding the performance report and the budget outline for 2006-07. In doing so, we emphasise that we continue to monitor closely the ongoing process of reform within the UN and especially those reform elements set in train in Resolution 58/268 on the programme budget. We fully support the comments of the Secretary-General in paragraph 7 of the budget outline in A/59/415 in this respect to the effect that budget proposals will reflect the benefit of further reviews of possible obsolete activities, additional cost-effective measures and simplified procedures. As we turn towards the next biennial budget, we look forward to working with the Secretariat and colleagues to ensure the optimal use of the resources provided by Member States.

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