Mr. Chair,

I have the honor to speak on behalf of the Member States of the European Union.

The Candidate Countries Türkiye, Montenegro*, Serbia*, Albania*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, and Bosnia and Herzegovina*, the potential candidate country Georgia, as well as Monaco and San Marino align themselves with this statement.

I would like to thank the Secretary-General for the vision he laid out, and the chairs of the Committee for Programme and Coordination, and of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions, for the presentation of their reports on the 2024 Proposed Programme Plan and Budget.

Mr. Secretary-General,

It is the fundamental responsibility of the Fifth Committee to ensure that the United Nations have the means to match the ambitions we collectively set and deliver the mandates we adopt.

As staunch proponents of effective multilateralism, we commend the forward looking vision you laid out in your three-pillar reform, and we welcome the General Assembly’s decision to endorse your proposal to annualize the UN budget last year. A cornerstone of management reform, the annual budget cycle has already fostered a culture of performance and accountability in the Organization, and it has enhanced its much needed reactivity in the troubled times we are witnessing.

We also subscribe to “Our Common Agenda” and your call to ensure the sustainable financing of the UN. To that end, we will seek to adopt the 2024 Programme Plan and Proposed Programme Budget in a timely manner.

On the programmatic side, we regret that the Committee for Programme and Coordination could not reach consensus on ten important programmes, despite the extension of its session, now as long as the deliberations of some of the Main Committees. The role of the CPC should be upheld, not diluted and transferred to other main committees of the General Assembly, which already have heavy programmes of work of their own. We therefore reiterate our plea for CPC members to actively seek consensus and provide recommendations on all 28 programme plans in the next session of the Committee, as mandated by the resolution of the General Assembly.

On the resource side, we welcome your efforts to make the budget presentation less fragmented. We believe that the planning and budgetary process can be further improved, and should provide you with enough flexibility to strategize and manage for performance and results. We ask that you continue to strive towards even more transparency and early completeness of all resources requested, so the budget provides an accurate and full picture of the resources you need to deliver mandates.

The UN budget covers a vast array of priorities, which are all instrumental for the Organization to perform. The budget is not a zero sum game of competing preferences and inclinations, but a shared political responsibility to ensure the proper functioning of our United Nations. It is therefore important that all three pillars of the Organization be treated equally. For that reason, we welcome the proposal to mend the chronic underfunding of Human Rights, and the efforts to adequately fund OHCHR and consolidate its resources, as we celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 30th anniversary of the Vienna Conference on Human Rights. We will spare no effort for a consensual outcome on this important political commitment, and pledge to engage in the budget discussions constructively, in good faith, and with trust.

Our commitment to adopt a budget by consensus must be met by an equal commitment to fulfil our financial obligations: the Organization can only fully deliver results if it has adequate liquidity. We are deeply concerned that late, partial, and unpredictable payments beget liquidity challenges, hamper the United Nations ability to deliver on its mandates, and corner the Organization into systemic underperformance. We therefore call upon all Member States to pay their contributions in full and on time, and when facing temporary difficulties in fulfilling their annual financial obligations, to communicate with the Secretariat and ensure predictability.

On other crucial budgetary matters, the European Union strongly advocates to approve sufficient resources for the orderly withdrawal and liquidation of MINUSMA. We consider of utmost importance to ensure the safety and security of peacekeepers and civilian staff, who are bravely operating despite hardship and heightened security risk.

Coming on the issue of peacebuilding, we hear your appeal to conclude our discussions on Peacebuilding financing, and reiterate our shared commitment to provide adequate, predictable, and sustained financing to the peacebuilding fund.

Mr. Secretary-General, we commend your continued efforts to make the UN more effective, efficient, result-oriented, transparent, accountable, and focused on delivering to all its peoples. We would like to conclude by thanking all the UN staff, for their continued dedication and hard work to deliver the Organization’s mandate.

I thank you, Mr. Chair.