Brussels, 09/12/2004 (Agence Europe) - The report of the high-level panel set up by the Secretary General of the UN, Kofi Annan, on the "Threats, Challenges and Change" awaiting the United Nations in the future is a "major contribution to the debate due to conclude in September next year at the UN Summit", said the European Commissioner for External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, at a conference held on 8 October by the European Policy Centre and the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung. Ms Ferrero-Waldner (a former member of United Nations staff) said that "in the long run, the EU should also have a seat on the Security Council", but acknowledged that this debate would continue for some time.
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, who said that as Austrian foreign minister, she had on several occasions supported the intentions of Secretary General Annan to instigate reform, shares his vision that "it is high time that the international community moves form a culture of reaction to a culture of prevention". The panel's report calls for a "new security consensus which is fully in line with my own personal commitment to the concept of human security", said Ms Ferrero-Waldner, who spoke of the EU's broad range of activities for conflict prevention and civil crisis management (referring in particular to the demobilisation, disarmament and rehabilitation of former soldiers, "an essential component of any peacebuilding activity"). The EU has a major role to play in the Peacebuilding Commission proposed by the panel, added Ms Ferrero-Waldner. The Commissioner, who also subscribes to the UN panel's view on the "economic and social dimension"' of the reform, welcomed the idea that the United Nations Human Rights Commission should be "de-politicised", whilst asking whether "universal membership of the Commission would enhance its effectiveness".