ILO Governing Body, 356th session - EU statement - The ILO in a changing multilateral environment: Towards better effectiveness and efficiency
ILO Governing Body, 356th session
23 March – 2 April 2026
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The ILO in a changing multilateral environment: Towards better effectiveness and efficiency
GB.356/INS/7
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Geneva, 24 March 2026
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ILO Governing Body, 356th session
23 March – 2 April 2026
The ILO in a changing multilateral environment: Towards better effectiveness and efficiency
GB.356/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, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova and Georgia, the EFTA countries Iceland and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as the United Kingdom align themselves with this statement.
We thank the Office for the document on ILO reform, the consultations organised in February, and for the clear differentiation in documents INS/7 and PFA/4 between the structural reform measures and the contingency measures required in case of contribution shortfalls. This distinction enables the Governing Body to take better-informed decisions.
We support the reform to enhance the ILO’s effectiveness, efficiency, strategic focus, capacity and adaptability in the current multilateral environment.
We also recognise the additional challenges posed by substantial shortfalls in contributions and we welcome the preparation of contingency measures under item PFA/4. These contingency measures should follow the strategic vision of the reform.
We remain concerned about the high level of arrears and the uncertainty surrounding the payment of assessed contributions. We therefore urge all Member States to pay their arrears and assessed contributions in full and on time.
We invite the Office to continue exploring ways to strengthen the Organisation’s financial resilience, including through further development of financial regulations where appropriate.
We welcome the reprioritisation proposals, including the consolidation of fragmented initiatives. We commend the focus on the ILO’s core mandate, particularly its normative role and the supervisory mechanism. We also support enhancing synergies within the UN system under the UN-80 initiative and reinforcing field capacity.
We invite the Office to continue examining areas of work that overlap with other international organisations beyond what is listed in the GB paper through ongoing and structured dialogue with relevant UN agencies. This could lead to the identification of additional areas for de-prioritisation. What discussions has the ILO had – and what further steps are planned – to analyse overlaps, existing and emerging gaps, complementarities and possible synergies?
For this reason, we propose an amendment to the decision point by adding a new sub-paragraph (d) which would read: “requested the Director-General to continue examining overlaps and synergies with other UN agencies that could lead to identification of additional areas for de-prioritisation, thus contributing to additional savings”.
We note that any adjustment to ILO involvement in certain UN system-wide activities, such as on social protection, youth employment, and social and solidarity economy, including the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Social and Solidarity Economy, should be carefully balanced to preserve synergies under the UN-80 initiative and the promotion of ILO norms within UN system-wide work.
We reiterate the need to prioritise areas where the ILO has unique added value, namely: developing employment policies and promoting decent work opportunities, skills development, promoting social protection, strengthening labour market institutions, and tackling informality. We consider gender equality and non-discrimination as critical cross-cutting elements.
Regarding business processes, we invite the Office to engage with other UN agencies to explore opportunities for pooling certain services and aligning administrative policies, including in relation to the establishment of the Global Service Centre.
In parallel with the work of the task team, we encourage the Office to identify further administrative efficiencies that can commence immediately.
We welcome the clear reaffirmation in paragraph 46 that Geneva remains the seat of the Organization. We reiterate our support for relocations of teams or functions that are cost-effective, reinforce the ILO’s core mandate, and generate substantial lasting savings. We also look forward to the reassessment of potential partial relocation of organizational units to other cities.
We take good note of the creation of the Office of the Chief Economist. We would welcome further details on this new Office as well as clarification on how this function has been factored into the projected savings and its financial implications.
Finally, we welcome the commitment to report regularly to the Governing Body on the implementation and the effects of the reform. We reiterate the importance of keeping constituents informed in a timely manner of planned changes to departmental and regional structures and of the effects of the planned abolishment of the 120 positions and the positions relocated to the field on ILO’s work and activities.
We therefore request the Office to provide a document for information in June updating constituents on the implementation of the reform and propose to amend accordingly the last sub-paragraph of the decision point.
Thank you, Chair.
PROPOSED AMENDMENT INS/7:
The Governing Body:
(a) reiterated its concern regarding the financial and budgetary challenges facing the Organization;
(b) endorsed the strategic vision for the ILO and requested the Director General to take into account its guidance in the reform process;
(c) endorsed the proposals for reprioritization and other measures to generate efficiency gains in 2026 29, and requested the Director-General to ensure that any savings realized are managed prudently and applied strictly in accordance with the priorities set out in the approved Programme and Budget;
(d) requested the Director-General to continue examining overlaps and synergies with other UN agencies that could lead to identification of additional areas for de-prioritisation, thus contributing to additional savings;
(e) requested the Director-General to present a document for information on the reform process to the 357th Session of the Governing Body (June 2026) and an update on the implementation of the reform process to the 358th Session of the Governing Body (November 2026).
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North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.