The European Union has proposed a practical, action-oriented toolkit for reviewing UN mandates, including a checklist approach and a pilot exercise, as part of the UN80 initiative's Workstream 2 on criteria and modalities. In a statement delivered on 26 June 2026 at the UN General Assembly in New York, the EU urged an incremental, agile implementation of the culture shift envisaged in resolution 80/251, emphasising that mandates whose objectives have been fulfilled or which no longer provide added value should be considered for sunset or termination.
The EU's proposal centres on a practical checklist to guide review discussions across the UN system, helping to answer straightforward questions such as whether a mandate continues to be actively implemented, generates measurable outputs, has achieved its objectives, overlaps with substantially similar activities elsewhere, or remains relevant given developments since its adoption. The EU stressed that any criteria should be clear, objective, and evidence-based, and that thorough reviews could lead to a reduction in the overall number of mandates by reducing overlap and duplication, which would reduce the burden on the system and make the UN more effective.
On modalities, the EU supports a pilot exercise to test methodologies in a low-risk environment, building confidence among Member States and generating practical lessons before wider application. One idea is to review all UN Observances, including International Days, Weeks, Years, Decades, and Anniversaries, as a pilot theme. The EU argued that the urgency reflected in resolution 80/251 calls for an agile approach, with pilot exercises, Secretariat analysis, and review methodologies evolving in parallel.
The EU also advocated for thematic or clustered reviews to identify duplications, gaps, and opportunities for greater coherence while reducing politicisation, while fully respecting balance across the UN's three pillars. It encouraged strengthening the Mandate Registry into a more comprehensive tool providing implementation status, reporting requirements, and indicative resource implications to allow Member States to take more informed decisions. On institutional arrangements, the EU sees merit in the Working Group serving as a reporting hub to promote coherence across review efforts, with lessons learned and methodologies shared across the system.
The statement, delivered on behalf of the EU and its Member States, reflects the bloc's commitment to making the UN more effective and cost-efficient through mandate review, a key component of the UN80 reform process.