Dear co-facilitators, Excellences, colleagues, 

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the EU and its Member States. 

The Candidate Countries North Macedonia*, Montenegro^*, Albania^*, the Republic of Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina^*, the potential candidate country Georgia, and the EFTA country Norway, member of the European Economic Area, also align themselves with this statement.

Dear co-facilitators, we thank you for convening us today for this first consultation on your roadmap towards agreeing a Declaration for Future Generations, which we view as an essential element of the Pact of the Future. Given the substantial preparatory work already done on this file, we would also be supportive of considering this as a deliverable for the Ministerial alongside possible other elements that are considered ripe and enjoy support.

Let me start by congratulating you on your re-appointment as co-facilitators, which is very welcome news given the able steer you already provided during the previous session on this important file. We commend the well-structured and inclusive way you have handled the intergovernmental process to date, engaging thoroughly with the membership and with external stakeholders alike, including civil society and academia. 

The latter is vital for the inclusive and networked multilateralism that we support, especially on a file that directly concerns ‘Future Generations’. The voices of these stakeholders must be heard. Engaging with them in no way undermines the intergovernmental nature of these consultations, or Member States’ prerogative to decide. On the contrary, we fully believe that we Member States benefit from external input in shaping decisions. 

The EU firmly believes that consultations on a Declaration on Future Generations provide a unique forum to look ahead and – on the one hand – to try and anticipate the main global issues and trends affecting future generations and, and to identify the tools and measures needed - at the national and global level - to promote and safeguard the interests of those generations.

Those discussions should not simply replicate the consultations we are going to have on the outcome document of the Summit of the Future, but reflect a sincere effort to focus on concerns expressed by our citizens in the context of the UN75 Global Consultations, including issues related to areas such as peace and security, also in outer space, the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, education and digital literacy, equality and the empowerment of women, girls and youth more broadly.

This project will be closely watched by our citizens and our young people in particular who have the expectation for fresh thinking on their behalf.  It presents a responsibility, but also an opportunity if we get it right. The Elements Paper you prepared based on the various inputs received, including from the EU, provides a good basis for further discussions during this session. 

We trust in your facilitation and leadership in steering this file in the right direction, based on the very thorough roadmap you circulated on 8 February. 

We stand ready to continue to engage detail constructively with all of you and other stakeholders in the coming weeks and months in an inclusive and transparent process, which will hopefully conclude with an ambitious and action-oriented Declaration that responds to the challenges of future generations and safeguards their interests.

We have heard those voices that argued “why the rush on a file that is meant to be part of a ‘Pact for the Future’ 19 month from now, while there are already so many pressing files on the agenda?”.  We acknowledge that it is not going to be a light process, but to be fair to our distinguished co-facilitators, they have simply responded very professionally and thoroughly to the tasks given to them by the previous and current PGA, based on the consultations we held a year ago.

Excellences, Colleagues, 

As the Secretary-General so rightly said when he briefed us about his priorities for 2023: Today’s threats undermine the rights of future generations. Too often, future generations are barely an afterthought. This has to change! Let us work together over the next months on a meaningful Declaration for Future Generations that will make a difference.

I thank you.

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