EU Statement on Agenda item 3: The 2025 Internal Audit, Management Services and Investigations Report and the 2025 Programme Evaluation Report

Chair,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Republic of Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine align themselves with this statement.
The EU and its Member States attach great importance to the valuable work of the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS). Internal audit, evaluation and investigation services are essential for transparency and accountability. They also allow Member States to gain more insight into the Agency’s governance.
We have taken good note of the findings set out in the 2025 Internal Audit report and we thank the Director and his team for the informal briefing on 16 April. It is encouraging to see that the results of internal oversight work during 2025 showed again a continuing improvement of the management of programmes and operations.
We welcome the findings regarding the implementation of mechanisms to support cross-departmental collaboration, a practice we have long advocated to enhance the Agency’s effectiveness and efficiency. With a view to further reducing the risk of silo-based decision-making, we encourage the Secretariat to thoroughly consider the latest recommendations made by OIOS in this regard.
We note with concern the OIOS findings indicating that the pressure imposed by the current Zero Nominal Growth budget may lead to a fragmentation and dispersion of the Agency’s efforts. The EU has always advocated a sufficient and sustainable funding to enable the IAEA to implement its crucial mandate. Management of trade-offs between new and legacy activities, highlighted by the OIOS, should not impact the delivery of the Agency’s mandate regarding core activities. We once again encourage the OIOS to continue looking into resource mobilization with a view to identifying further areas of enhancement.

Chair,
With regard to the audit of the Agency’s activities under the comprehensive assistance programme to Ukraine, we welcome the general conclusion that significant complexities of this portfolio had been handled successfully, and we look forward to effective and timely implementation of the OIOS recommendations to address continuing challenges.
Turning to the Programme Evaluation Report, the EU and its Member States appreciate attention to reviewing and reassessing IAEA flagship initiatives and we thank OIOS for a comprehensive evaluation of NUTEC Plastics. We also value the insights provided in the evaluation of the COMPASS Initiative. The EU and several EUMS sustain this programme through extrabudgetary funding, thereby demonstrating their commitment to IAEA and Safeguards Department’s capacity building services.
The EU and its Member States welcome a continued focus on gender and look forward to the results of the evaluation of the Lise Meitner Programme planned for 2026.
We are reassured by the consistent overall progress with the implementation of Programme Evaluation Recommendations and we note with satisfaction a significant decrease by nearly 50% of recommendations “in progress” compared to last year’s report.
Chair,
In conclusion, we encourage the Secretariat to continue to seriously consider all findings, including those of a systemic and cross-cutting nature. We welcome the good progress achieved with the implementation of recommendations made in previous years.

Thank you, Chair.