EU Statement – UN General Assembly: Monthly Information Briefing on the UN80 Initiative

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Madam President, distinguished colleagues,

I deliver this statement on behalf of the EU and its member states.

The Candidate Countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as Monaco and San Marino align themselves with this statement.

USGs Ryder and Pollard, Assistant Secretary-General Leighton-Kone, Executive Directors Skau and Andersen and Executive Secretary Stiell, 

We thank you for this update and are grateful for your efforts to bring about a more effective, cohesive, resource-efficient and – above all – impactful United Nations.

Today’s session underscores a fundamental truth about the UN80 process: our success hinges on our ability to work together – across work packages, programmatic themes, and UN entities.

Work package 27 on the environment is a clear example of this: a cross-cutting theme that touches on all of the UN’s three pillars, bringing together up to 29 entities working on issues ranging from sustainable growth and health to peace and security. This work package thus offers a unique opportunity to strengthen coordination across UN entities and bring coherence to implementation.

Similarly, work package 14 has the potential to be a gamechanger for the UN’s delivery on-the-ground. If implemented at scale, this initiative will allow organizations to redirect scarce resources from administration to programme delivery, an important outcome of the UN reform.

First, the EU fully supports the Secretary-General’s ambitions on the Unified Services Roadmap (work package 14). The UN system should continue to leverage existing centers of excellence and mature service providers to deliver at scale for the benefit of multiple entities. 

In this regard, we commend WFP and UNICEF’s leadership in developing integrated and shared supply chains, on common logistics arrangements, and pooled back-office functions. We encourage all agencies to continue these efforts at global and country level, as well as to scale up where pilots demonstrate clear gains and enhanced impact.

Taking into account previous efforts, such as the 2019 Business Operations Strategy, which has already laid out similar objectives, we would like to know how your efforts gain renewed momentum under UN80 and what difficulties you face when it comes to implementation?

Second, on the environment work package the EU commends efforts to strengthen multilateral environmental governance and acknowledges the ten recommendations based on a thorough assessment conducted by the UNEP and the UNFCCC in collaboration with other relevant UN agencies. We reiterate that the environment represents a system-wide priority that should be adequately reflected across the UN’s three pillars.

Accordingly, the reform should result in a more effective, coherent and better coordinated multilateral environmental architecture that enhances the UN’s impact on the ground while remaining consistent with existing mandates.

The EU recognizes that this is no simple task. We are especially supportive of a stronger nexus between science, policy and operational delivery, as well as a strengthened UN Environment Assembly, with stronger links to the UN Environment Management Group. We underline that we should build upon existing mandates and structures, not add new institutional layers to the system. Could you elaborate on Recommendation 8 on establishing a coordination architecture for UN system wide policy coherence and delivery?

The EU reaffirms that reform must be led by legal feasibility, governance implications, cost-efficiency and effectiveness. Could you clarify the next steps in the process, including when and how the Member States will be informed and consulted about concrete proposals on possible structural changes and programme realignments on international environmental issues?

Madam President, Co-leads, 

Taken together, these work packages represent a shift from institution-specific optimization to system-wide optimization. The Unified Services Roadmap invites us to measure success by how effectively the UN system delivers services collectively. The work package on the environment, on the other hand, represents a systemic opportunity to maximize impact on a key cross-cutting issue through increased coordination and specialization.

We recall that alignment and collaboration across work packages is accounted for throughout the reform process. We also call upon all UN system organizations and entities to support system-wide cooperation to make the system as a whole more impactful.

The European Union reiterates its steadfast commitment to the success of this reform. As always, we are eager to hear from you on the role that Member States can play to accelerate implementation and make sure that UN80 delivers on its promises, in line with the UN Charter.

Thank you.