Chair,

Director General,

Excellencies,

Colleagues,

I am delivering this statement on behalf of the European Union and its 27 Member States.

The candidate countries North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova* and Georgia align themselves with this statement.

The EU and its Member States remain fully committed to an equitable and inclusive global health architecture that is predictably and sustainably financed and secures the necessary functions required for improved health outcomes for all countries, including through increased national ownership.

Based on its constitutional mandate and near universal membership, the WHO is the cornerstone of this ecosystem. We fully support WHO’s constitutional roles including standard setting, providing technical guidance and supporting health security .

The reform of the global health architecture and the UN80 Initiative, as well as WHO’s recent reprioritisation process and internal reforms , are strongly interconnected and need to be coherent. Regular reporting to Member States on their potential implications for WHO, including additional tasks, is required.

The EU strongly supports WHO’s proposal to host a joint process that helps connect these and other related discussions. An inclusive, transparent, and evidence-based process gathering views of all relevant global stakeholders, is needed to move beyond fragmented conversations.

As a next step, we request the WHO secretariat to design an informal joint process through proactive engagement and consultation of global health actors, as listed in the DG’s Report, with due attention to the prevention of conflicts of interest.

The EU and its Member States are ready to support and actively participate in this process, including in its design during the intersessional period.

This process should be lean and resource-efficient. It should aim at promoting clarity and coherence between initiatives and reforms, and at increased cooperation and synergies among actors. This includes identifying areas of responsibility of different actors based on their comparative advantage and a focus on the essential global functions of the global health architecture.

The constructive collaboration of all relevant stakeholders, engaged as equal partners alongside WHO, is crucial. A division of labor according to defined work packages, with responsible “lead agencies” for each package, could facilitate shared ownership. We expect frequent reporting on progress, including a first joint report from heads of agencies at the upcoming World Health Assembly.

We recognise Member States’ driving role in bringing key global health organisations together through consistent action across their governing bodies, as partners, donors and representatives, and we commit to doing our part.

Thank you.