Brussels, 08/05/2002 (Agence Europe) - Adopted through unanimity by the Parliamentary Development Committee, the Joaquim Miranda Report (Portugal, GUE/NGL) on the Commission's Communication entitled "Building an Effective Partnership with the United Nation in the fields of development and humanitarian affairs", considers the Commission's document to be "a good starting point for in-depth discussion", but regrets that it does not broach fundamental issues such as conflict prevention, security and peacekeeping, crisis management, yet which are closely linked to the two aspects dealt with. The draft resolution, to be submitted to vote in plenary on 16 May, pleads in favour of the EU and its Member States providing themselves with the means for increased political influence and visibility at the United Nations, in relation with their status as foremost donor of humanitarian aid in the world and main provider of public aid to development.
According to the Miranda Report: - the Union must consider the United Nations as a reference and essential pillar for its external action in general, and in particular for implementing international legislation at economic, social and environmental levels, as well as in the field of human rights; - Member States and the Union must play a more pro-active role in UN programmes, by participating in the initial stage of needs-assessment, the definition of measures to take, as well as the implementing stage of decisions. The opportunity offered by the next Intergovernmental Conference should be seized upon to clarify the legal basis of the Union's external action in the framework of international law, notably be strengthening the European Commission's legal status and securing that it be granted the status as full member in the specialised agencies of the United Nations (status it already has within the FAO); - Member States must substantially beef-up their co-ordination within the UN; - the European Commission, for its part, should co-ordinate its country-by-country strategy documents with the United Nation's evaluations of these same countries; - as foremost trading power, the EU should play a driving role in world economic development, playing in favour of the sustainable development of third countries, in synergy with specialised agencies of the UN; - the introduction of an effective partnership between the United Nations and the EU presupposes enhanced strategic political dialogue for defining policies and programmes, enhanced co-operation on the ground in developing countries, the creation of a stable financial framework (to remedy the inconveniences of the financial regulation which, thus far, has prevented the Union from co-funding programmes conducted by agencies of the United Nations) and the conclusion of a new framework-agreement between the two institutions; - before the holding of thematic conferences or sessions at the UN, the Commission should present Parliament and Council with a document on the topic to be debated to enable them to formulate political conclusions, guaranteeing the complementary nature of the stances of the Union and its Member States.
Furthermore, the draft resolution urges the Union and the United Nations to improve their reaction capabilities in cases of major disasters in different parts of the world, notably by setting up joint rapid reaction units, and engage more in dialogue to adopt a common approach to the assistance of displaced persons.