EU Statement – UN General Assembly 2nd Committee: Informal meeting on Programme planning

Mr Chair, Excellencies, distinguished delegates,

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the European Union and its Member States. The Candidate Countries North Macedonia*, Montenegro^*, Serbia^*, Albania^*, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina^*, and Georgia align themselves with thisstatement.

We welcome this discussion, in application of GA resolution 76/236 and 77/254, although it represents a heavy addition to an already busy workload and risks shifting the focus away from the core of the Second Committee's work.

We want to emphasize that this informal discussion should not be duplicative to the Committee for Programme and Coordination (CPC), nor should it aim to replace it, as this would undermine the important role of the CPC in the future.

We reiterate that the agenda item "programme planning" is not meant to relitigate the work of the CPC, let alone reopen the substantive mandates that underpin the programme plans.

We insist that the CPC should strive to reach consensus on all 28 programme plans, and regret that consensus could not be found on a programme as important as legal affairs for a few limited sets of reasons. This situation should not arise again.

We recall that planning is a consensus-based exercise and that the Fifth Committee is responsible for overseeing the implementation of mandates and, as such, has the final responsibility to adopt the programme plan and the programme budget.

Mr Chair, Excellencies, distinguished delegates,

Let me conclude by saying that the programme plans 10, 11 and 17 faithfully transcribe the relevant mandates from Member States, that we oppose any alteration of the proposed plans, and we ask the Chair to recommend, on behalf of the Second Committee, to the Fifth Committee, that the General Assembly approve those programme plans as proposed by the Secretary-General.

I thank you.

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