Thank you for giving me the floor Mr/Ms Co-facilitator.

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the EU and its Member States.

The European Union welcomes this deep dive on internet governance and the need to avoid internet fragmentation, which is of crucial importance for the global community. The internet has transformed our world, connecting people and businesses across borders, and enabling innovation and progress. It is a powerful tool for social, economic and cultural development, and has great potential to support as well as to accelerate the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The European Union believes that, if it is to continue to benefit the global community, the internet must remain open, global, free, interoperable and decentralized. We strongly support the multistakeholder approach to internet governance, which ensures that all actors, including governments, the private sector, civil society, and technical communities, are involved in shaping the future of the internet. We believe the multistakeholder model is best able to allow for inclusive and consensus based decision making, whereby no actor is dominant or assumes all responsibility for the future development of the internet.

A positive example of furthering the multistakeholder approach was the successful IANA stewardship transition to ICANN in 2016. All stakeholders, including governments, are welcome to participate in ICANN and can help increase the security and stability of the global domain name system DNS

The open, global, free, interoperable and decentralized nature of the internet that has made it so successful is constantly under threat. Concerted or independent actions of some governments and private actors have sought to abuse the openness of Internet governance and related processes to advance a closed vision, undermining respect for and protection of human rights and democratic institutions and overall reduce socio economic benefits.

 We believe that the governance of the internet must be protected from political interference, and that fundamental principles such as human rights, freedom of expression, and privacy must be respected. It is important that national and international legislation and government practices affecting the internet are in accordance with international law as well as designed to not just to protect but also to promote and fulfil human rights.

In this context, we believe that the United Nations, and its Member States through its Global Digital Compact, have a key role to play in promoting a common vision of the internet and ensuring that it continues to evolve as an open network of networks.

The EU proposes that the Global Digital Compact promote the following four commitments:

1. First, the Global Digital Compact should ensure the participation in and strengthening of the multi-stakeholder approach through an inclusive system of Internet governance and support the development, deployment, and management of the internet's main technical protocols and other related standards and protocols.  
2. Second, given its place as the premier independent forum for multistakeholder input, the GDC should support the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and its potential to grow into an ever more incisive, inclusive, and sustainable model. In turn, the IGF can play an important role in the GDC process as well as other digital initiatives that require a strong multi-stakeholder component.
3. Third, the GDC should aim to preserve the technical infrastructure essential to the general availability and integrity of the Internet, including by refraining from internet shutdowns or degrading internet access.
4. Fourth, the GDC should put the human being at the centre of digital transformation by committing to strengthen the democratic and participatory framework, ensuring the protection of and respect for human rights online and offline, fostering responsible and diligent action by all digital actors, public and private, as well technological capacity building for a safe and secure digital environment.

Ladies and gentlemen, we urge the UN to formulate an efficient and effective approach  to address the challenges as well as to make use of the opportunities posed by the digital age and to promote an inclusive, human-centric, rights-oriented and green vision of digital transformation.

In conclusion, the European Union remains committed to promoting a free, open, and secure internet that benefits all of humanity. We believe that the UN has a crucial role to play in promoting a multistakeholder approach to internet governance and ensuring that the internet remains a global public good. We stand ready to work with all partners to achieve this goal. In this context, we invite all to have a look at the Declaration on European Digital Rights and Principles for the Digital Decade and the Declaration for the Future of the Internet. Thank you.