EU Statement on the occasion of the sixty-ninth session of Working Group A of the Preparatory Commission of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organisation
Chair,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iceland, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Republic of Moldova, San Marino, Serbia, and Ukraine align themselves with this statement.
The EU thanks the Executive Secretary, Dr. Robert Floyd, for his opening statement and for the reports presented and expresses its appreciation to Ambassador Lourdes Bernas of the Philippines, as Chair, as well as to the Provisional Technical Secretariat (PTS) for preparing this Session.
The entry into force and universalization of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) remains a priority for the EU. We urge all States that have not yet done so to sign and ratify the CTBT. We consistently call upon the remaining Annex 2 States, which still need to sign and ratify the Treaty in order to bring it into force, to do so without any preconditions or further delay. In the meantime, it is crucial for international peace and security that all States fully observe the moratorium on nuclear test explosions or any other nuclear explosion, and refrain from any action contrary to the object and purpose of the Treaty. In this regard, we continue to call on all concerned States to honour their commitments.
As the 11th Review Conference of the Parties to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) takes place in New York, the EU reiterates its unequivocal support to the NPT as the cornerstone of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime and emphasizes that the CTBT is an essential pillar of the global non-proliferation and disarmament regime and lies at the heart of NPT. To further advance and strengthen this priority commitment, the EU submitted at this NPT Review Conference a Working Paper on the CTBT with recommendations for the Review Conference, co-sponsored by a significant number of Participating States.
Chair,
We take note with appreciation of the report of the recent session of the Advisory Group. We express support for its recommendations. We also thank the Provisional Technical Secretariat (PTS) for providing the 2024-2025 Programme and Budget Performance Report and the 2027 Budget update proposals. The EU supports the 2027 Budget Update Proposals of the PTS.
We share the Advisory Group concern regarding the impact of the approved Zero Nominal Growth (ZNG) budget for 2026-2027 on programmatic activities, notably International Monitoring System (IMS) sustainment. The long-term sustainment of the IMS is a priority for the EU. We support the continuation of the discussion by the Preparatory Commission regarding the available options to address the difficulties in the sustainment needs of the IMS network, the increase in the technical debt and associated risks and the impact on the performance of the network. We recall that ensuring the sustainability and effectiveness of the verification regime, through an adequately funded IMS Sustainment Strategy, remains essential.
The EU takes note of the Medium Term Strategy for 2026-2029 and shares the Advisory Group concern regarding the impact of the Zero Nominal Growth budget on the ability of the PTS to advance the respective strategic objectives and supports the Group’s recommendation that the PTS develops options for necessary adjustments over the period covered by the Medium Term Strategy.
The EU urges all States Signatories without exception to pay their outstanding contributions and arrears without further delay. Paying assessed contributions is crucial in order to enable full support of all pillars of CTBT, an efficient operation of the verification regime and the financial health of the PTS. Therefore, all efforts should be made towards timely payments of assessed contributions and any arrears. We take note of the slight improvement in the collection rate since 31 December 2025 and of the mitigation measures under consideration. We underline the importance of programmatic activities being adequately implemented and continued. We invite the PTS to take into consideration and share information on potential contingency planning proposals if assessed contributions continue to remain unpaid.
The EU continues to support CTBTO monitoring and verification activities through Council Decisions. Since 2006, the voluntary contributions of the EU amounted to more than 36 million EURO in support of the IMS, IDC, the inspection capabilities and the TeST Centre in Austria, through equipment that will be part of the next Integrated Field Exercise in Namibia this year, as well as training and capacity-building activities. The EU also continues to support the Technical Experts Support Programme (TESP), the CTBTO Mentoring Programme for Early Career Women in STEM and the CTBTO Youth Group.
We thank the PTS for the consolidated report on the 2025 human resources management and equal opportunities and encourage the PTS to continue efforts to pursue gender parity and equitable geographical representation while recruiting highly qualified professional staff and to increase the proportion of women in the higher level categories. The EU will continue to support the STEM mentoring programme of the CTBTO, which in 2025, as mentioned in the Report, had the largest cohort of mentees – 40, out of which 32 from under-represented regions. We commend the measures taken by the PTS to improve the average recruitment time and overall modernization efforts of its human resources.
Chair,
The EU takes note of the 2025 Financial statements of the Preparatory Commission, including the report of the External Auditor, and of the fact that the management agreed with all new recommendations of the External Auditor.
On Multilingualism, which is also a strong commitment inside the European Union as the crucial pillar for multilateralism, we thank the PTS for its comprehensive report and we look forward to continued discussions and invite the PTS to continue efforts in this field.
In Conclusion, Chair,
We assure you of the EU’s full support and cooperation and underline that the Report of this Session should be factual and concise, focusing on the administrative and financial issues included on the Working Group A’s agenda.
Thank you.