During his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday 27 September, European Council President Donald Tusk gave the EU's support to the reform of the UN.
"The European Union firmly supports the current effort to reform the UN. These reforms are badly needed and overdue. The urgency is clear and implementation is essential", he said in his speech. "As leaders, we must equip the United Nations with the means to fulfil its mandate successfully", he stated.
Tusk said that the EU was fighting intensely to preserve the rules-based international order, "which is currently under great strain, in terms of trade, security, climate change or human rights". He added that "more unity and collective action are needed in the struggle against conflict, poverty and famine, terrorism and mass displacement of people, of the kind we see in Venezuela, Syria, Myanmar and many other places".
"Only collective responsibility can offer effective solutions to global phenomena such as migration and forced displacement", Tusk said, hoping that the recent UN debates on the future governance of migration and refugee protection represent a step in the right direction.
Tusk also highlighted the EU's support for the Action for Peacekeeping initiative, expecting this UN initiative "to produce more effective and better resourced global security solutions".
Similarly, the UN should help expose the phenomenon of disinformation and outside propaganda in open democratic elections, and should help "attribute responsibility and increase democratic resilience", Tusk said.
He also underlined the need for a meaningful political process under the United Nations auspices in Syria, and the role of the UN in nuclear non-proliferation and environmental protection. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)