EU Statement – UN General Assembly 5th Committee: Scales of Assessment

Madame Chair,

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

The Candidate Countries North Macedonia*, Montenegro*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina*and Georgia align themselves with this statement.

At the outset, we wish to thank the Chairman of the Committee on Contributions, Ambassador Bernardo Greiver for presenting the Committee's report of its 84^st session, as well as the Controller, Mr. Chandru Ramanathan for his presentation of the Secretary General's reports on multi-year payment plans.

We are grateful of the work of the CoC and the valuable contribution and technical ground that their analysis will bring to our discussion. It reinforces our understanding that the current methodology could be improved to better reflect the capacity to pay.

Madame Chair,

The EU Member States are the largest collective financial contributors to the Organization. We honor our responsibility to pay in full and on time. The financial sustainability and liquidity of the United Nations are sine qua non conditions for enabling the Organization to fulfill its mandates.

We believe it is also our responsibility to continue seeking ways to improve the financial methodology in line with the principles established by the Charter, particularly Article 17, and based on the Committee on Contributions (CoC) analysis.

In this context, the General Assembly must work towards an equitable and balanced distribution of financial responsibilities, according to each member's effective capacity to pay. We renew our call to the Membership to enhance the current cost-sharing methodology, and we look forward to further discussions on how to achieve this goal.

Regarding the regular budget,the report of the Committee on Contributions highlights several areas for improvement in the scale formula. The Member States of the European Union will build upon these recommendations, complementing them with our traditional technical assessments, with the aim of refining the scale of assessments methodology.

For example, we were particularly interested in the Committee's observations regarding the use of verifiable and comparable public external debt flow data in the debt burden adjustment. This approach would allow the relief measure to more accurately reflect the reality of financial flows, as originally intended, and better target the relief to countries in need.

Additionally, while we agree that the Low Per Capita Income Adjustment should remain a key component of the methodology, it currently does not provide targeted relief to the low-income countries that are in genuine need of this adjustment.

Regarding peacekeeping operations, the Member States of the European Union actively contribute troops, civilian police, and other personnel to missions worldwide. We remain committed to ensuring that adequate financial resources are provided for these missions.

As with the regular budget, the rates of assessment for peacekeeping should reflect the capacity of Member States to pay, while recognizing the special responsibility of the permanent members of the Security Council. In line with this principle, we will propose modernizing and updating the formula to better reflect today's realities. For example, peacekeeping discounts should be based on justifiable, objective, and comparable criteria, providing relief to countries with limited capacity to pay.

Madame Chair

Funding the United Nations is a shared responsibility of all its members, as outlined in Article 17 of the UN Charter: the payment of assessed contributions is a fundamental duty of every Member State.

However, we recognize that some Member States may encounter temporary difficulties in fulfilling their annual financial obligations to the United Nations. It is worth noting, though, that several countries requesting Article 19 exemptions have faced such difficulties recurrently. Therefore, we strongly encourage these Member States to consult with the Secretariat to develop and submit practical multi-year payment plans. By doing so, they would not only fulfill their duty but also demonstrate solidarity with other countries that face financial challenges yet continue to meet their commitments to the Organization.

In conclusion, we would like to assure you, Madame Chair, and the members of this Committee of our traditional/long-lasting readiness to cooperate and engage constructively, in a spirit of compromise and through a technical approach, alongside all groups and delegations during the upcoming negotiations.

I thank you, Madame Chair.

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