EU Presidency Statement - Implementation of Decisions from 2005 World Summit

EU Presidency Statement on the Implementation of Decisions from the 2005 World Summit (A/60/568) by the Permanent Mission of the United Kingdom to the United Nations on behalf of the European Union, United Nations General Assembly 60th Session, Fifth Committee, 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 Country Turkey, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, EFTA countries Iceland and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.

The EU thanks the Secretary General for his report (A/60/568) providing details of the Ethics Office, the proposed terms of reference for an Independent Audit Advisory Committee, and proposals concerning the external evaluation of oversight structures. We are grateful also to the ACABQ for their oral report on the document.

The EU is committed to the early establishment of an Ethics Office in the Secretariat, along with the finalisation of related policies applicable within the UN, such as whistleblower protection policy, fraud prevention policy and changes to financial disclosure regulations. It is important that the Organisation shows that it is taking concrete steps to address weaknesses that have been identified in transparency and accountability. This should be a Secretariat-wide priority: there must be co-operation across all departments to ensure the mainstreaming of ethical behaviour. We also want to start the process of strengthening oversight. The EU supports an external evaluation of oversight, and consider that the terms of reference for such an evaluation seem broadly sensible to us. The first step would be to ensure the operational independence of OIOS. We believe that the creation of an independent advisory body should contribute to that process and assist the GA in its oversight functions.

The EU is mindful of the letter of 9 December from the President of the General Assembly to the Chairman of the Fifth Committee (A/C.5/60/19), in which he requested that the 5th Committee undertake deliberations on the proposals contained in document A/60/568 and report back to the plenary by 19 December with its recommendations. To that end, the EU stands ready to move to informal consultations as soon as possible, so that a timely and constructive outcome may be achieved.

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• EU Council Conclusions on the Implementation of the Outcome of the UN World Summit (10/4/2006)
• EU Presidency Statement - ECOSOC Reform (20/12/2005)
• EU Council Conclusions - UN World Summit (7/11/2005)
• EU Presidency Statement - UN 2005 World Summit  (14/9/2005)
• The EU at the UN Summit (12/9/2005)