General Assembly, Newsletter

Key diary dates

• Monday 22 - Saturday 27 September: Opening of the United Nations' 80th General Assembly in New York.

• Tuesday 23 September: European Parliament's legal affairs committee to consider parliamentary immunity of MEPs Ilaria Salis and Peter Magyar.

• Wednesday 24 September: European Parliament's trade committee to debate implementation of the EU-US trade deal.

In spotlight

“The EU is, and will remain, the UN’s largest collective supporter,” Ursula von der Leyen posted on X late on Sunday following a meeting in New York with Secretary General Antonio Guterres, alongside Council President Antonio Costa.

Von der Leyen’s statement of EU collective support for the organisation outstripping any other country reflects withdrawal of US engagement from the organisation.

Donald Trump’s White House has slashed US funding for the UN along with other global organisations. But the relative boost in EU backing for the organisation does not translate into influence.

The EU needs to project a clear and unified message at the UN, and yet on one of the issues set to dominate the opening of the body's General Assembly this week – recognition of Palestinian statehood – its two largest members, France and Germany, are at odds.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s keynote address to the assembly on Monday is expected to highlight France’s decision to recognise Palestine. Meanwhile the German Chancellor has sent Germany’s foreign minister to the gathering and has not recognised Palestinian statehood.

Back in the EU, von der Leyen’s Commission’s proposal to end Israel’s preferential trade treatment – to sanction breach of the EU-Israel Association Agreement – would require a qualified majority in the European Council, where the support of Germany and Italy seems very unlikely.

Meanwhile US withdrawal for funding has been exploited by China and its allies.

Earlier this month, a former Chinese UN official wrote in the state-owned China Daily, that with the “doubts and challenges facing the UN, it is notable that China has been a steadfast supporter of the UN’s global governance endeavours, standing firm in shaping solutions to global challenges.”

Last week a New York Times investigation found that at meetings in the UN’s Geneva offices, China has joined with Cuba, Iran, Russia and Venezuela to propose saving money by scaling back human rights inquiries.

US withdrawal from the UN may have created a power vacuum at the global body, but it’s far from clear that the EU will be the chief beneficiary.

Policy newsmakers

Commission sued for lack of transparency over food scoring

Two transparency groups took the European Commission to court last week for refusing to release documents on a shelved plan for an EU-wide nutrition label. “Why has the EU Commission silently buried its plan to present a Europe-wide nutrition label as planned in the Farm to Fork strategy? What influence does the food lobby have?” asked Suzy Sumner, head of foodwatch international's Brussels office. “The requested documents are legislative in nature,” said Carlos Cordero, President of Access Info. “According to case-law of the General Court of the European Union, such documents are subject to the highest level of transparency and the principle of the widest possible access. This standard, however, has not been applied to the Nutri-score documents."

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