Remarks by the President of the General Assembly,
H.E. Ms. Annalena Baerbock
Opening of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary Committee)
9 October 2025, 10 AM
[As Delivered]
Good morning everybody,
Your Excellency Ms. Zsuzsanna Horváth, Permanent Representative of Hungary, and Chair of the Fifth Committee,
Under-Secretary-General Ms. Catherine Pollard,
Excellencies,
Distinguished guests,
Allow me to begin with warm congratulations to the Chair and the members of the bureau on their election.
And by wishing you every success as they assume these important responsibilities.
The work of the Fifth Committee is central to the effective functioning of our organization.
It is here that decisions are taken on funding, on management, and on human resource policy.
Even in normal times, this Committee carries a special responsibility: ensuring that the United Nations has the resources it needs to operate.
That responsibility takes on greater urgency today, in an era of budgetary constraint.
However, as I said at the General Debate: this is not an ordinary session.
Our house of dialogue and diplomacy needs a renovation.
Our house is also under heavy pressure.
We are literally at a crossroads.
A make-or-break moment.
Politically and financially.
This is why the UN80 initiative—and the wider reform process—are not luxuries but necessities.
We have to deliver a United Nations that is agile, cost-effective, and fit for purpose.
The program budget before you includes the revised estimates linked to this initiative.
These proposed budgets are a critical first step in advancing the goals of the UN80 initiative, to revive the efficiency and credibility of this institution.
I encourage all delegations to approach the Committee’s deliberations, as well as the wider processes of the 80th session, in a constructive manner.
I also remind you of the commitments made in the resolution on General Assembly revitalization: to review working methods during this session and to submit concrete proposals to the General Committee on how to make our work more efficient and effective.
I have likewise encouraged the other thematic committees to think carefully before simply repeating resolutions and working methods of the past.
Instead, we should ask ourselves each time: does this paragraph still make sense in our times? Or do we have more efficient methods and technologies?
Drafting resolutions is not just a copy and paste exercise.
We have to ask ourselves especially if we call for another SG report – when so many are not even funded – if we need another one, which will not be funded and therefore implemented in the end.
Excellencies
On the other hand, I would like to strongly underline that this is not only an exercise in cutting costs, but an exercise in doing better, together.
The reason for this reform is to make our organization fit for the future, fit for purpose.
And the purpose is clear.
It is defined in our charter: serving humanity by delivering on peace and security.
And also delivering on sustainable development, human rights, and justice.
As they are highly interlinked.
Without delivering on the 2030 Agenda on the SDGS, lasting peace will never be reached.
So amid all the discussions—and even disputes—over commas, numbers, and cuts, let us not lose sight of our larger responsibility, especially in this committee.
For those of us – and I hope all of us – who believe in the Charter, or like myself have sworn the oath to our Charter, our duty goes in these times and days beyond finalizing the budget.
It is to ensure that the budget, first and foremost, serves always the Charter, our principles, and makes the work of our United Nations possible.
If we are saying that we are at a crossroads, this is now the moment to take the right decisions.
To do otherwise – to cut just for cutting sake with not considering the results of some of the cuts – that would also mean shredding the very principles and functions of this Organization.
Excellencies,
As we also know, the financial health of the Organization goes beyond the 2026 budget.
The liquidity crisis has been years in the making.
A sustainable solution requires the aforementioned reforms and budget adjustments; but it also requires that Member States meet their obligations in full, on time, and without conditions.
When contributions are delayed or withheld, the United Nations is weakened and risks paralysis – it cannot deliver on its principles.
With practical and sometimes dramatic consequences on the ground.
We can see it with our own technique here in the room; but the consequences around the world are even heavier.
So cutting funds to the World Food Program means people quite literally go hungry to bed, or people starve.
Halving the budget of a peacekeeping mission can imperil the mission itself, fueling the risk of renewed conflict.
In the end it all comes down to this: we either make it together or we suffer alone.
The good, thing, the Fifth Committee’s long tradition of consensus is the embodiment of the theme of this Session: Better Together.
Your ability to reach across the aisle and find common ground is a testament to your dedication and leads to strong and lasting results.
This is the heart of diplomacy, this is the heart of compromises, and consensus.
We all know this Session will not be easy.
It’s an extraordinary session.
But I encourage you to redouble your commitment to this tradition of finding compromises.
To show that the world wants to see that the United Nations is still capable of reforming itself. That the United Nations is possible of working together. Of delivering results, even in the most difficult circumstances.
So, no pressure, even though the whole world is watching.
But yes, we have to finalize the budget, in the remaining last weeks – and it’s still some months.
I wish you the very best as you hit the ground running and encourage you to make the most of each day of this session, especially now in autumn fall season.
I remain at your disposal to support you at any time, and of any help, if you need.
Not only to reach hard-won consensus, but also for the sake of finishing in time, so everybody could also enjoy your December holidays!