Mr. Chair,

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

The Candidate Countries North Macedonia*, Montenegro*, Albania*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina*, and Georgia, as well as Andorra, Monaco, and San Marino align themselves with this statement.

At the outset, allow me to pay tribute to the continued hard work, bravery, and commitment of all UN personnel – women and men, uniformed and civilian – who serve the United Nations around the world. We remain concerned with the increasing challenges to their safety and security, and honor those who have sacrificed their lives. In a world where millions of people continue to suffer from conflict, their dedication allows our Organization to remain a beacon of peace.

Mr. Chair,

It is our collective duty in the Fifth Committee to adhere strictly to the mandates set out by the UN Security Council and make sure peacekeeping operations remain fit for success, despite the many challenges they face and the increasingly demanding and complex environments in which they operate.

As the largest collective contributors to the UN, the European Union and its Member States are dedicated to ensuring that UN peacekeeping operations and their support functions are well financed, sufficiently staffed, and adequately equipped to carry out their important mandates. We remain concerned with the impact of the liquidity crisis, notably on payments to troop and police contributing countries and the ongoing hiring freeze. We look forward to making progress this year on measures to improve UN liquidity, including cash pooling and the liquidation and automatic disbursements for closing missions. We also call upon all Member States to pay their contributions to all peacekeeping missions – in full, on time and without conditions, as set out in the UN Charter.

The European Union and its Member States attach great importance to performance and the cost-efficient conduct of peacekeeping missions. We welcome, in this regard, the crucial role of the operational backbone of Peacekeeping Missions: the UN Support account, the UN Global Service Center, and the Regional Service Center of Entebbe. We encourage the Secretariat to continue to improve its support functions, taking into account their respective roles, and building on what already works to consolidate rare expertise, whilst reflecting the evolution of the UN footprint. We look forward to the upcoming review in this regard.

The Fifth Committee’s responsibility is not restricted to budgetary and financial matters. It also encompasses the administrative functioning of our Organization: our guidance helps the Secretariat carry out the peacekeeping operations efficiently and effectively. Two years ago, we adopted a milestone crosscutting resolution; it is now time to measure progress, and provide further guidance, for instance on the important operational issues of the women peace and security agenda, safety and security of peacekeepers, environmental footprint of missions, gender parity, human rights, the fight against misinformation and disinformation, the prevention of fraud and corruption, and the continued fight against sexual exploitation and abuse. We also look forward to resuming our discussions on the delivery model of the UN Mine Action Service, and on the secondment of active duty military personnel.

Beyond the funding of the peacekeeping operations, we also look forward to resuming our discussions on the Secretary-General’s funding proposals to ensure the proper functioning of the reinvigorated resident coordinator system.

Mr. Chair,

Through trial and error over the years, the Fifth Committee has identified the most productive path forward. We achieve better results by concentrating policy discussions only under “crosscutting”; mission-by-mission discussions allow us to make informed decisions; and a comprehensive approach may help closing our discussions and adopting an allocation. This year again, we will need this combination to successfully comply with our mandate and deliver on our collective ambitions.

Overall, we need to engage constructively and uphold timelines and deadlines in order to adopt, on time and by consensus, sustainable budgets and substantial resolutions that allow for effective mandate implementation.

I thank you, Mr. Chair.

* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.