Statement on behalf of the European Union at the United Nations GA Informal consultations of the plenary on the report of the Secretary-General entitled "Mandating and delivering: analysis and recommendations to facilitate the review of mandates" on 13 July 2006

Statement by H.E. Ambassador Jarmo Sareva, Deputy Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations, on behalf of the European Union, in New York. United Nations GA Informal consultations of the plenary on the report of the Secretary-General entitled "Mandating and delivering: analysis and recommendations to facilitate the review of mandates" (A/60/733 and A/60/733/Corr.1) (New York: 13 July 2006)

Mr. Co-chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union.

The Acceding Countries Bulgaria and Romania, the Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, the EFTA country Iceland, member of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this declaration.

First and foremost, I would like to thank the Co-chairs Amb. Akram and Amb. Rock for the efforts they have invested during the recent months in guiding the work on Mandate Review and we welcome their interim report as an effort to take the process forward.

The European Union wishes to congratulate Amb. Cooney on his recent appointment and thank him for engaging in this - not always easy - process. We assure Amb. Akram and Amb. Cooney our full support and continued cooperation.

Let me briefly recall the EU's vision of Mandate Review and the way ahead.

Mr. Co-chair,

For the EU, the Mandate Review is an essential element of the Reform process, which would make the United Nations more efficient, more effective and more accountable for the benefit of all member states. In this regard, the EU wishes to reiterate its position, namely that the Mandate Review is not intended as a cost-cutting exercise but as an ongoing process to improve the effectiveness and quality of the organisation's work. We have emphasised that in our view politically sensitive mandates should be approached accordingly. Furthermore, we believe that the Mandate Review must be seen as complementary to other ongoing processes such as Management Reform, the High-Level Panel on system-wide coherence and GA revitalisation, all of which are interlinked and mutually reinforced.

To ensure that Mandate Review covers in a meaningful way the tasks the organisation is effectively performing, we believe that all currently active mandates which originated more than five years before the Summit, whether reaffirmed or not, should be covered by this effort. As we have emphasised, the EU is examining with an open mind all mandates falling under this review, including those initiated or co-sponsored by its members.

Mr. Co-chair,

The EU has often stated that the Mandate Review should take place in an inclusive and transparent process. We therefore welcome the progress that has been made to date in this forum and in the Ad Hoc Working Group. We believe that fruitful discussion took place in the Working Group and that a good momentum exists to further build on. We remain ready to work closely with the Co-chairs and other delegations to achieve meaningful and early results.

We fully support the way forward proposed by the Co-chairs. We believe that the Working Group should continue to meet and discuss how to deal with mandates that are five years old or more and have not been renewed. We appreciate that this will require careful analysis, but hope that this can nevertheless be achieved by the end of July.

We encourage the Co-chairs to continue consultations in the hope that agreement can be reached on a way forward as soon as possible.

Thank you, Mr. Co-chair