EU Statement - ILO 355th GB - The ILO in a changing multilateral environment: Towards better effectiveness and efficiency

ILO Governing Body, 355^th session 

17 – 27 November 2025

The ILO in a changing multilateral environment: Towards better effectiveness and efficiency

GB.353/INS/7

EU statement

Chair,

I speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The candidate countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania[1], Ukraine, Republic of Moldova, Georgia, and the EFTA countries Iceland and Norway align themselves with this statement.

Director-General,

1. We thank you and the Office for the GB document and for the consultative process in the run up to the Governing Body and appreciate the extensive preparatory efforts to date. We encourage you to continue consulting the Staff Union in line with the Guidelines on Managing Change and Restructuring Processes. The ILO must be faithful to the values it promotes, taking a human-centred approach. The reform process has to be transparent, inclusive and meaningful. 

2. The ILO has been facing a serious liquidity crisis. At the same time, it is expected to implement substantial reforms aimed at enhancing effectiveness and efficiency in the framework of the UN-80 initiative. The ILO reform is therefore essential. We should aim for an ILO that is fit-for-purpose and resilient for the future, with a strategic vision based on the ILO mandate. Resilience also means to shield ILO from headwinds and requires a serious consideration of the worst case scenario of 20% budget reduction. We strongly support measures that make the ILO effective and efficient with greater impact in the field, and fully aligned with the UN-80 work streams to seek synergies and efficiencies across UN agencies.

3. Reform entails a demanding but necessary exercise of reprioritisation so that the Office ensures that ILO effectively and efficiently implements its core mandate and concentrates on its comparative advantage. This includes de-prioritisation.

4. While we note that this Governing Body has not been presented with a proposal of reprioritisation, we welcome the planned establishment of a task team and look forward to its proposal. We express our trust in the Director-General to be bold in this exercise and expect that the task team will proceed swiftly with its work, consult with sister UN agencies, and present concrete proposals for consultation and decision as early as possible. Could the Director-General give more information on the composition, mandate and timeline of work of the task team? Could the Director-General provide us with information on how the reprioritisation exercise will be approached and how it will be aligned with the broader UN-80 reform process? 

5. At the centre of the ILO mandate lies a strong normative role – standard-setting backed by an impartial, independent, strong and effective supervisory system, which is an essential pillar for the ILO to be able to deliver on its core mandate. The normative agenda goes hand in hand with the development agenda of the ILO, which is geared towards building knowledge and capacities for better implementation of the normative framework, with improved synergies between headquarters and the field. 

6. While waiting for the urgent discussion and decision on reprioritisation, we remain committed to ensuring that the supervisory system’s integrity is fully maintained through inclusive consultation with constituents. We are deeply concerned that some parts of the supervisory work are being effectively de-prioritised without consulting constituents. Notably, the Commission of Inquiry for Nicaragua, established at the June GB, has not yet started its work due to cost-containment measures. We call for a swift rectification of this situation.

7. Due to the serious financial situation of the ILO, we need to agree at this GB on measures that the Office can implement as soon as possible to keep the ILO afloat while the reprioritisation exercise is being conducted. These measures may include non-staff savings, relocation of teams and functions and targeted staff adjustments where necessary, balanced by ongoing consultations and a focus on retaining valuable expertise. While a parallel process is needed on detailed reprioritisation based on a clear strategic vision, we support the Director-General, given his prerogative on these matters, to implement the agreed measures as he sees fit.

8. When identifying savings, priority should be given to correcting the disproportionate share of administration costs. Should savings be required in policy areas, they should primarily target topics lacking relevance to normative and field work. In this context, programming should be optimized, with outcomes more strongly influenced by field needs to better reflect demand.

9. On relocation, we support cost-effective moves of teams or functions where these reinforce the ILO core mandate and generate lasting savings, while giving due consideration to prospective host countries’ record on fundamental principles and rights at work, notably tripartism and social dialogue. 

10. We encourage savings on staff benefits and among non-staff related costs to also consider reducing travel expenses. 

11. We welcome reduction of management posts to make the Office less top-heavy. More importantly, the management portfolios must be balanced, with adequate checks, and ensure that the ILO’s core mandate can be effectively and consistently upheld at every management level.

12. We anticipate that the Office will share concrete outcomes from all these efforts with the Governing Body within the next year, building confidence in the reform’s momentum.

13. We have noted that, in the proposed organigramme, the ILO International Training Centre is placed under the “Corporate Services” cluster. In light of the Centre’s autonomy and status under its Statute, we would appreciate additional clarifications on this aspect, including from the Legal Adviser.

14. We call on all Members to pay assessed contributions in full and on time. 

15. Beyond paying our assessed contributions on time, we are firmly committed to technical assistance around the world. And we walk the talk. The EU and its Member States consistently provide around half of ILO voluntary contributions and this year we are expected to reach more than two thirds.

16. We thank Switzerland as host state for all the support it provides to the ILO and the UN overall in these exceptional circumstances. 

17. We also encourage enhanced resource mobilisation from non-traditional sources and stronger results-based management across the ILO.   

Thank you, Chair.

[1] North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process