EU Statement -- Ad Hoc Working Group on GA Revitalization: Working Methods of the General Assembly

Excellencies, dear Ambassadors and Co-Chairs,

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

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.

First, allow me to salute the excellent leadership of our co-chairs, Ambassador Menissa Rambally and Ambassador Cornel Feruță, and for convening this meeting with the Co-Chairs of the Main Committees for the first time. We also want to thank the Committee Chairs for your briefings.

Enhancing the GA's working methods is in many ways key to achieve the overarching goal of revitalizing the GA, of making this body - and by extension the UN as a whole - more effective and fit for purpose. A modern UN that delivers on its core mandate, that opens up to its citizens and other external stakeholders, and one that promotes gender equality and gender balance, including by increasing the number of women candidates nominated for the subsidiary organs of the General Assembly.

In order to more efficiently prioritise the GA's work around the principles of the Charter, we need to continue implementing resolution 77/335, adopted in 2023. We should continue considering the clustering, elimination, bi- and triennialisation of items on the agendas of the GA and its six committees, notably in cases where items overlap or where the issues they entail are outdated. Such rationalization by no way seeks to weaken the General Assembly. To the contrary, it aims to focus its action, produce more tangible outcomes, and keep it relevant as a body that deliberates current challenges. In this regard, the Summit of the Future is a major opportunity to strengthen multilateralism and renew trust in the work of this Organisation and in the principles of the UN Charter, including through revitalising the General Assembly.

The way we work and allocate scarce resources is central to the effectiveness and efficiency of this body - and it will determine if we succeedin delivering on our agreed priorities, including reaching the Agenda 2030. Many of us have frequently referred to the over-burdened agenda - both of the GA and its six Committees. This is not conducive for transparency of UN processes nor is it for a work/life balance, especially for small delegation. The current liquidity crisis has forced us to rationalise to keep things manageable in terms of meetings, resolutions, informals, etc. Now is the time to assess and look at best practices to further improve the working methods of the GA. In this regard, we welcome the work done so far by the Secretariat and are encouraged not only by improvements of the e-delegates platform, but also of the launching of "iGov", the new portal to the work of intergovernmental bodies, which will allow more quality and availability of information on these bodies for MS and all stakeholders.

In regard to the working methods of the Main Committees, we would reiterate concrete suggestions for some of these Committees:

2C: In the Second Committee, the EU made suggestions including merging resolutions of similar themes, increasing the periodicity of resolutions, equipping all new resolutions with a sunset clause, asking the Secretariat for joint reports on several resolutions and avoiding resolutions with a regional focus. We have also identified room for improvement of working methods, namely by revising the blanket rule of six informals per resolution and by shortening the length of the general debate on each agenda item at the beginning of the session. We hope to reach consensus on some of those proposals and adopt a decision in June. All these initiatives aim at focusing our attention on initiatives with tangible real-life impact, first and foremost contributing to accelerate the implementation of the Agenda 2030 and the SDGs.As to ensure better delivery, it is essential to ensure better synchronization between the GA Revitalisation and other related processes, most notably the GA-ECOSOC alignment process as well as the HLPF. 3C: We fully support the efforts by the Chair of the Third Committee to continue the review of its working methods to ensure that it can handle the growing workload in an effective and transparent manner, and look forward to the informal consultations in this regard next week. But human rights are not just limited to the Third Committee, we must ensure that mainstreaming human rights is carried out across all Committees. We further encourage increased coordination and synergies,including the avoidance of duplication of resolutions and mandates,between 3C and the Human Rights Council in Geneva.5C: We remain strongly committed to reaching decisions by consensus. Fifth Committee has proven time and again its capacity to find agreement on technical issues with important political ramifications. Yet we are concerned to see the increasing trend of agenda items closing at no-action, with deferral, or just on "skeletal" for lack of any negotiated outcome. 5C needs to work better together towards consensus. This requires each of us to engage in a spirit of good faith, collegiality and constructive cooperation to find middle-ground positions that we can all join and support, even when they do not correspond to our preferred choices. 6C: The follow-up to the International Law Commission (ILC) products by the Sixth Committee remains difficult. There is ample scope to improve and deepen further exchanges and contacts between the ILC and the Sixth Committee so as to enable the Sixth Committee to give due consideration to all ILC products and to avoid over-politicization, while also noting that a one-size-fits-all approach for all ILC products is neither possible nor desirable. The EU would be open to more briefings and exchanges with the ILC during the advancement of its work on different topics stressing the importance of meetings with regional groups and organisations. We appreciate and support ongoing efforts in this regard.

Furthermore, in regards to the Charter Committee, we believe that there is scope to streamline the work and working methods of the Special Committee to deliver on its 2006 decision. This calls for a proper prioritization of the limited resources of the Secretariat and for a screening of all agenda items in terms of their relevance, aim and likelihood of reaching a consensus to avoid a duplication of efforts.

Finally, the General Committee is a cross-cutting Committee, that can orient us and prevent us from working in silos. We should continue making better use of the General Committee, trying to ensure due coordination between negotiating processes. The possibility to have live calendars of scheduled meetings and negotiations is useful in helping us to avoid overlaps between different processes.

To conclude, increasing the visibility of the GA's work is essential to enhancing public awareness of our agreed actions. This requires full respect to multilingualism and the availability of documentation on time and in all official languages. We further continue to promote NGOs' involvement in the work of the UN, including in the General Assembly, the Human Rights Council and other multilateral fora. We support and defend NGOs' right to speak and by promoting the open participation of civil society in high-level events held by the General Assembly. We would encourage the Co-Chairs to organize impactful consultations of the AHWG with civil society organizations, youth representatives, science-based knowledge centres and other relevant stakeholders.

The EU is a staunch supporter of the revitalization process and we will continue to work closely with you on this.

I thank you.