EU Statement – UN General Assembly: UN80 Meeting on Rev.1 resolution

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Statement 

Distinguished co-chairs, colleagues, 

I deliver this statement on behalf of the EU and its member states. 

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

The European Union thanks the co-chairs for producing a revised text of the resolution, that clearly is a further step in the right direction of meaningful improvement of the mandate lifecycle at the United Nations. We appreciate the significant effort that has gone into the preparation of this revised draft and would like to thank the co-chairs for your meticulous coordination of this Working Group, and the collaborative approach taken to date. 

Let me offer some main observations on the revised text: 

1. First, the EU acknowledges that the co-chairs have taken on board many comments made during the workshops and in the written contributions, such as a strengthened focus on efficiencies and effectiveness throughout the text, as well as the more detailed section on principles (in OP1). Notably, we acknowledge the commitment to upholding balance across the three pillars and ensuring the full and equal participation of all member states, as well as references to future generations. However, we still miss references to systematic consultations of external stakeholders – including civil society, academia, and affected communities – as we have consistently raised for enhanced inclusivity of views and informed decision-making. Moreover, we would like to advocate for the integration of explicit links in the resolution to the need to ensure coherence and increase system-wide efficiency in other ongoing reform tracks, including the GA and ECOSOC Revitalisation, the humanitarian reset and the reform of the development system. We underscore our expectation that this resolution takes a step forward all complementary reform efforts and commitments undertaken already by Member States to improve efficiency and cut back on duplications. We therefore call for a more robust appeal in OP’s 19 and 26 (Decides instead of Agrees), which address one of the core elements of mandate proliferation: the perennial nature of most mandates and the responsibility of MS to exercise restraint with mandate proliferation under these circumstances. 

2. Second, on mandate creation (OP2-OP7), we strongly support the introduction of measures facilitating the drafting, adoption and implementation of clear, concise and effective mandates, taking advantage of Secretariat support. This should include signaling potential overlaps or collisions with previous decisions of Member States, while maintaining member states’ oversight and ownership of UN mandates: 

• We believe that concept notes represent an extremely valuable tool for member states during mandate creation and would appreciate receiving further details on the draft concept note currently under preparation. 
• Moreover, Secretariat support is essential at each stage of the mandate lifecycle. We strongly support the enhanced emphasis on digital tools as crucial elements for improving transparency, system-wide coordination and member states oversight of existing mandates. However, we recall the need to request the Secretariat to provide justification at the mandate creation stage whenever a mandate cannot be executed within existing resources, as well as to grant greater flexibility to the Secretary-General. 

3. Third, we appreciate the further details provided on the mandate implementation review and mandate review (OP8-OP27), which must be treated as an integral, crucial part of the mandate lifecycle for both new and existing mandates. We strongly support the proposal to transition towards the biennalisation and triennalisation of resolutions traditionally considered annually and biennially. However, in an effort to be as operational as possible in this text, we recall our suggestion for a default review cycle of three to five years, as well as for automatic review cycles for open-ended mandates. We would also like to include clear, firm and explicit links between mandated tasks, results and resources. 

Finally, we support the proposed new working group on mandate reform (in OP34). We do however suggest indicating that the development of the modalities to guide the review of the existing stock of mandates should be concluded by the end of June 2026. 

This draft resolution and the discussions we have had during the past months clearly show that there still is a lot to accomplish and a momentum now to forge ahead with that and achieve concrete and serious results in mandate reform in order to enable this organization to deliver on the ground as efficiently and effectively as possible. 

Dear colleagues, 

we acknowledge and appreciate how able the co-chairs have steered us through this negotiation process thus far and we look forward to continuing that constructive approach with a view to successfully concluding our work on this resolution by the end of March. 

The European Union and its member states are committed to ensuring that this resolution further deepens the essential foundation for a more effective, transparent, accountable and responsive organisation. 

Thank you.

*North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process. , Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as Armenia, Andorra and Monaco align themselves with this statement.