EU Presidency Statement - Programme Planning

EU Presidency Statement on Item 125: Programme Planning by the Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom to the United Nations on behalf of the European Union, Fifth Committee, United Nations, New York

Thank you Mr Chairman. I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Countries 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, EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.

The EU thanks once again the Vice-Chair of the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC), Mr Yoo Dae-Jung from the Republic of Korea for having introduced last week the report prepared for the CPC's 45th session. We are also pleased to see the Chair of the Committee, Mr Markiyan Kulyk with us today and should like to thank him once more for his efforts during the 45th session, and for his additional comments this morning.

Mr Chairman,

A number of EU Member States participated in the 45th session of the CPC as members or observers and contributed to some of the outcomes. The Biennial Programme Plan for Safety and Security was discussed and we note that the Committee did not have any substantive amendments to propose. Also on the agenda was the first thematic evaluation by the OIOS, which was on the subject of the linkages between headquarters and field activities; a review of best practices for poverty eradication in the framework of the UN Millennium Declaration; and a number of other agenda items on review of efficiency, evaluation and co-ordination.

The EU notes the conclusions and recommendations that appear in the report, being the consensus result of sometimes lengthy negotiations between the different members. But we feel that these conclusions and recommendations on a number of occasions fail the test, recommended by the OIOS and JIU, for CPC recommendations to be action-oriented and to enhance relevance, usefulness and effectiveness of United Nations programmes and sub-programmes. We are also concerned about what is not in the report. I refer here to the issue of working methods of the Committee, which has featured in the CPC and the 5th Committee agendas on several occasions. In 2004 the Committee itself decided that it would deal with the issue as a matter of priority this year. The 5th Committee in both the 58th and 59th sessions instructed the Committee to do so also. And yet we see once again a failure to agree any conclusions and recommendations on the modus operandi of the Committee. Furthermore, the EU also believes that it is time to consider the continuation of the travel and subsistence allowances for CPC members that were originally authorised on a trial basis in 1978, and will take this up in the context of the discussions on the proposed programme budget.

Mr Chairman,

We also wish to comment on the procedural aspects of the conclusion of the 45th session. GA Resolution 41/213, which guides us on procedural matters concerning this committee, specifies that it should reach decisions by consensus. We regret the absence of consensus on working methods as well as the procedural confusion at the end of the session. This situation has led a number of member states to review their membership of the Committee. We therefore feel that, in the circumstances, the appropriate step would be to take note of the report of the 45th session as a whole.

In his report (A/60/430) on the implementation of decisions from the 2005 World Summit Outcome, the Secretary-General recommends that the Committee for Programme and Coordination reschedule to August/September 2006 its consideration of the proposed strategic framework. In this respect, the EU believes that the CPC must demonstrate its capability to provide recommendations that are action-oriented, relevant and useful.

Mr Chairman,

I turn now to the report A/60/73 on the strengthening and monitoring of programme evaluation for which we should like to thank the OIOS and JIU. We especially welcome the fact that programme managers are now to be asked to conduct preliminary performance assessments in the last quarter of a biennium and use them as reference for formulating the subsequent proposed Strategic Framework. We believe it important to understand how well programmes are performing when planning for the next programme period. We look forward to hearing more in the future on the implementation of the plan of action annexed to the report for strengthening monitoring and evaluation.

Thank you.


*Croatia continues to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.

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• EU Presidency notes - Informal meeting on UN Management Reform (6/12/2005)
• EU Presidency Statement - OIOS report (13/10/2005)
• EU Presidency Statement - Joint Inspection Unit (10/10/2005)
• EU Presidency Statement - 5th Committee: Programme of Work (10/10/2005)