EU Explanation of Position – UN High Level Political Forum: Adoption of the Ministerial Declaration

Thank you Mr President,

I have the honour to deliver this Explanation of Position on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

We thank the co-facilitators, Her Excellency Ambassador Suela Janina, Permanent Representative of Albania, and His Excellency Ambassador Michael Imran Kanu, Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone for their sincere efforts in the pursuit of a consensus-oriented Ministerial Declaration.

The EU and its Member States are pleased to support the Ministerial Declaration as this year's contribution to our common follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda.

During the negotiations, the EU aimed for a robust and realistic state of play on, and recommendations for, the five critical SDGs under review.

Specifically, we stressed the need to

• strengthen global water governance, including transboundary water cooperation and system wide coherence in the United Nations water agenda (SDG6);

• expand clean, affordable and resilient energy access and investment (SDG7);

• bridge divides and boost inclusive, sustainable investment in infrastructure, innovation and digital transformation (SDG9);

• promote resilient, inclusive, well-funded cities including through integrated, participatory and coherent planning, strong multilevel governance, and climate-smart development,(SDG11);

• strengthen partnerships, and mobilise financing from all sources to close the SDG gap (SDG17).

Furthermore, the EU sought to underline the three following cross-cutting priority issues.

Firstly, gender equality, not as SDG5, but as a critical enabler of all sustainable development efforts across the Agenda. In this regard, we regret that the text does not clearly recall the importance of a gender-responsive implementation of the 2030 Agenda.

Secondly, climate change is an existential threat which jeopardizes the achievement of all SDGs. At the same time, we see that in their implementation, all SDGs can contribute to climate action, both mitigation and adaptation. We are disappointed, for example, that references to climate resilient infrastructure were not retained in the text despite the reality of dire impacts of climate change that we all face.

Finally, we also sought to better reflect the content and spirit of the Sevilla Commitment on financing, especially in the context of SDG17.

Overall the text reflects all these elements. However, we would like our positions on certain issues to be reflected in the report.

With regard to partnerships, we regret that the text contains caveats undermining the participation of stakeholders and a whole-of-society approach, notably in paragraph 27. These caveats contradict the 2030 Agenda itself. We recall that enhancing a whole-of-society approach and meaningful participation and engagement of all stakeholders is a prerequisite to the achievement of the SDGs. The EU and its Member States disassociate from these unhelpful new caveats. We are also disappointed that the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, as recognised by the UN General Assembly, remains absent from this important text.

Finally, we also sincerely regret that the reference to the UAE Consensus, a document unanimously adopted in Dubai by 197 countries less than 3 years ago, and which is explicitly relevant to the achievement of SDG7, was deleted.

Excellencies, while we support the text and recognize that a number of our priorities were included, we regret that elements that we have consistently disagreed with were also retained as part of the final text.

Notably,

• We regret the inclusion of paragraph [15], relating to "unilateral economic measures", in this year's Declaration and disassociate from including this paragraph, as we have done previously. This is based primarily on the false narratives propagated by some countries that are subject to legitimate and legal restrictive measures, sanctions carefully targeting blatant violations of international law, and which include exceptions on humanitarian grounds. Such false narratives result in the politicisation of various UN processes and discussions - and sacrifice the interests of the many for the few. The EU will continue calling on all States to refrain from all violations of international law and of the Charter of the United Nations, including the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, as these violations create obstacles to the achievement of social development, particularly in developing countries.

• We also regret the standalone inclusion of paragraph [17], which singles out the principle of "common but differentiated responsibility" from all of the principles of the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. The Rio Declaration is a balanced text, built upon the articulation of 27 principles among which the principle of "equity", which guides us forward in ensuring sustainable development of present and future generations. Isolating one principle is an unfaithful reflection of this important consensus.

• Finally, we also recall the position of the EU and its Member States that any and all references to the transfer of technology should note that technology transfer should be voluntary, not forced or coerced, and on mutually agreed terms. We are concerned and regret that appropriate qualifiers have not been included and that these inappropriate references have doubled compared with last year's Declaration.

We ask that the records of this meeting take note of the EU's positions on these paragraphs, especially on paragraphs 15, 17, 27, and all incompletely-referenced mentions of technology transfers.

Colleagues, excellencies, the EU strongly supports the High Level Political Forum as our joint platform to review and accelerate the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. This role is more important than ever at this critical time that remains in the run up to 2030.

Thank you.