EU Explanation of Vote – UN General Assembly: Resolution on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response
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President, Excellencies,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its 27 Member States.
The Candidate Countries North Macedonia, Montenegro*, Serbia*, Albania*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Georgia, as well as San Marino align themselves with this statement.
We have more tools than ever to advance pandemic prevention, preparedness and response (PPPR). Yet the fragmentation of our action and challenges beyond health risk undermining the fight against pandemics. Action requires consensus and respect of international rules.
The text before us offers salient elements to advance PPPR, yet also contains setbacks towards our crucial, shared goal: a safer, healthier world for all.
The text usefully stresses the primary responsibility borne by States for strengthening PPPR. It promotes the integration of PPPR action into health systems and underscores the need for effective regulatory systems, science-based communication, and vaccination. It further enshrines the One Health Approach as essential to prevent zoonotic spillovers and antimicrobial resistance.
We also welcome the resolution’s support for coordination among the World Health Organization as the central pillar of the global health architecture, global health initiatives like the Pandemic Fund, and other actors. Action should support global PPPR networks, enabling effective response.
And, as the text indicates, it is important to operationalise the Coordinating Financial Mechanism.
These elements of the resolution are embodied in the amended International Health Regulations and in the Pandemic Agreement. They allow Member States that have accepted these instruments to strengthen the IHR implementation and to give impetus to the finalisation of the negotiation of the PABS annex – without prejudging outcomes – which will enable the signature and ratification of the Pandemic Agreement. Of course, nothing in the resolution can modify the provisions of these important instruments.
President, Excellencies,
Having said this, as indicated in our statement at the High-Level Meeting on 25 September, there are several elements that set us back in reaching a healthier and safer world for all, and that we cannot agree with.
First, we have to continue to dissociate from uncaveated references to technology transfer, which can only be undertaken on a voluntary basis and on mutually agreed terms. Moreover, the EU and its Member States can only recognise references to the World Trade Organization Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health that are comprehensive and fully aligned to its text.
We also dissociate from paragraph 36 as regards the quantification of the financial gap, which is no longer current and paragraphs 54 and 60 as complementary international financing should be reflected in a balanced manner.
While we support the overall political declaration, we do not consider that paragraphs 11, 24, 34, 50, 52 and 63 set a precedent for future negotiations to the extent expressed when we broke silence, and regret the resolution’s lack of reference to the WHO Hub for Pandemic and Epidemic Intelligence in paragraph 42, a global financial tracker, and to the Operational Playbook.
President, Excellencies,
While the resolution before us today falls short of our goals, the EU remains fully committed to the important overarching objective of the text, and it is for this reason that we voted in favour.
I thank you.
- North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.