I speak on behalf of 40 Member States of the European Region.

Albania, Germany, Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Denmark, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, North Macedonia, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Norway, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Czechia, Romania, United Kingdom, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, and Ukraine.

We wish to express our collective position regarding the recent nomination put forward by the Russian Federation for a seat on the Executive Board for the term 2026–2029.

Following successive rounds of voting at the Seventy-Fifth Session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe, Member States reached a clear and unified outcome. The European region agreed to nominate Georgia and the United Kingdom as its candidates for Executive Board seats allocated to the Region for the 2026-2029 term.

This decision reflects the collective will of the Member States of the European Region, exercised in line with established rules and practices. The General Committee’s recommendation further reconfirms the outcome of the regional process.

This regional process is a cornerstone of our shared governance framework. It reflects the principles of fairness, representation, and mutual respect that underpin cooperation within and across regions. The emergence of an additional nomination outside this agreed process risks undermining the integrity and credibility of the regional mechanism. Accepting such a nomination would set a concerning precedent, weakening established procedures that ensure orderly and equitable representation not only in the European region, but across all WHO regions.

We therefore reaffirm our commitment to the outcomes of the European Region’s deliberations and stress the importance of upholding agreed regional processes. Respect for these procedures is essential to maintaining trust among Member States and ensuring the effective and predictable functioning of our governing bodies.

We call upon all Member States to give due weight to the decision of the European Region and to the importance of respecting regional autonomy and collectively agreed practices. By doing so, we safeguard not only the integrity of this specific process but also the broader principles of multilateral cooperation ton which the World Health Organization depends.

Thank you.