Excellencies, Dear Co-Facilitators,
Dear Colleagues,
Let me again congratulate to the two newly appointed Co-chairs, Ambassador Khiari and Ambassador Jinga. Hungary as a long-time supporter of the Security Council reform supports open dialogue, - as always - looks for common ground, brave and win-win compositions. We support the distinguished Co-chairs in their noble wish and commitment to moving forward the process.
We reiterate that a strong and representative Council is needed. Without a strong and representative Council, this Organization, we Member States, will not be able to reach the goal set by the Secretary General: to make 2017 'a year for peace'.
A reformed Council is better suited to address challenges and opportunities of the evolving geopolitical and security landscape. Naturally, any meaningful reform requires the political will and active engagement of the P5. That is in the interest of all stakeholders or could be tweaked to result in a win-win situation. Hungary as an active member of the ACT Group supports all efforts in this regard.
We need a reasonably ambitious but realistic agenda, with result-oriented practical discussions in all five clusters.We should not get caught in a loop of repeating the same IGN session over and over again – the results achieved must be clearly passed on to the next Assembly as concrete proposals. Hungary is looking forward receiving the work program and the schedule of the sessions of the IGN from the Co-Chairs.
Excellencies,
Let me now underline a few general points of the Hungarian position as far as the five clusters are concerned.
As regards the relationship between the Security Council and the General Assembly and the size of an enlarged Council and its working methods, the convergences emerged have to be transformed into proposals soon in order to energize the reform process. We reiterate our call for clear and detailed rules on the Council’s coordination and cooperation with the main organs of the UN, member states and other stakeholders. The integrated nature of today’s threats and the need to come up with lasting solutions evidently requires that.
Taking into account the debates on the size and configuration of the Security Council, the main convergence is perhaps that enlargement is timely and warranted. Hungary continues to support the enlargement of the Security Council in both permanent and non-permanent categories, while at the same time we are ready to examine all practical proposals aiming for interim solutions as well.
Enlargement must be based on the regional groups and on their equitable geographical representation. We call for a second non-permanent seat for the Eastern European Group, which requests stands under any enlargement model. Enlargement will necessarily mandate an overhaul of the Security Council’s working methods. We witnessed positive developments in this field, the work done by –among others – New Zealand, Uruguay or recently Sweden should be built upon.
Last year the question of veto emerged as a possible stumbling block for further progress, but even here the divergent views can also be crystalized around main options. A consolidated text would assist us in moving closer to find compromise solutions. We are encouraged by the growing support of member states for the ACT Group’s Code of Conduct to prevent or stop atrocity crimes as well as for the French-Mexican proposal on the voluntary restraint of veto power. The practical implementation of these two proposals is not tied to the reform process, but must be pursued by the Council every occasion.
Dear Co-Chairs,
We look forward to further discussing the specific issues of the process and wish you good luck with consolidating the proposals of Member States into a compromised document. I thank you for your attention.
Excellencies, Dear Co-Facilitators,
Dear Colleagues,
Let me again congratulate to the two newly appointed Co-chairs, Ambassador Khiari and Ambassador Jinga. Hungary as a long-time supporter of the Security Council reform supports open dialogue, - as always - looks for common ground, brave and win-win compositions. We support the distinguished Co-chairs in their noble wish and commitment to moving forward the process.
We reiterate that a strong and representative Council is needed. Without a strong and representative Council, this Organization, we Member States, will not be able to reach the goal set by the Secretary General: to make 2017 'a year for peace'.
A reformed Council is better suited to address challenges and opportunities of the evolving geopolitical and security landscape. Naturally, any meaningful reform requires the political will and active engagement of the P5. That is in the interest of all stakeholders or could be tweaked to result in a win-win situation. Hungary as an active member of the ACT Group supports all efforts in this regard.
We need a reasonably ambitious but realistic agenda, with result-oriented practical discussions in all five clusters.We should not get caught in a loop of repeating the same IGN session over and over again – the results achieved must be clearly passed on to the next Assembly as concrete proposals. Hungary is looking forward receiving the work program and the schedule of the sessions of the IGN from the Co-Chairs.
Excellencies,
Let me now underline a few general points of the Hungarian position as far as the five clusters are concerned.
As regards the relationship between the Security Council and the General Assembly and the size of an enlarged Council and its working methods, the convergences emerged have to be transformed into proposals soon in order to energize the reform process. We reiterate our call for clear and detailed rules on the Council’s coordination and cooperation with the main organs of the UN, member states and other stakeholders. The integrated nature of today’s threats and the need to come up with lasting solutions evidently requires that.
Taking into account the debates on the size and configuration of the Security Council, the main convergence is perhaps that enlargement is timely and warranted. Hungary continues to support the enlargement of the Security Council in both permanent and non-permanent categories, while at the same time we are ready to examine all practical proposals aiming for interim solutions as well.
Enlargement must be based on the regional groups and on their equitable geographical representation. We call for a second non-permanent seat for the Eastern European Group, which requests stands under any enlargement model. Enlargement will necessarily mandate an overhaul of the Security Council’s working methods. We witnessed positive developments in this field, the work done by –among others – New Zealand, Uruguay or recently Sweden should be built upon.
Last year the question of veto emerged as a possible stumbling block for further progress, but even here the divergent views can also be crystalized around main options. A consolidated text would assist us in moving closer to find compromise solutions. We are encouraged by the growing support of member states for the ACT Group’s Code of Conduct to prevent or stop atrocity crimes as well as for the French-Mexican proposal on the voluntary restraint of veto power. The practical implementation of these two proposals is not tied to the reform process, but must be pursued by the Council every occasion.
Dear Co-Chairs,
We look forward to further discussing the specific issues of the process and wish you good luck with consolidating the proposals of Member States into a compromised document.
I thank you for your attention.
