C 47/132
EN
Official Journal of the European Union
7.2.2023
Wednesday 6 July 2022
C. whereas there is a need to renew the social contract and rebuild trust;
D. whereas in September 2015 all countries committed to an ambitious agenda on how to tackle global challenges together, the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development;
E. whereas, while multilateralism remains the best organisational system for solving global challenges, it must be recognised that it is struggling to find the path to effective implementation;
F. whereas the world has entered a new multipolar era with a great potential for turbulence, confrontation and instability characterised by great geopolitical competition involving non-traditional threats and conflicts, such as hybrid and cyber-attacks, hybrid warfare and disinformation, which often happen away from the public eye, but have significant implications for EU and global security, and which we do not have proper tools to counter and react to; whereas there is a risk of a gap between current global challenges and the current multilateral system’s capacity to deliver effective and inclusive solutions;
G. whereas at the same time the global order is increasingly confronted with policy issues and challenges that require action at international level, including effective global policy dialogue, cooperation and convergence of positions, in order to devise sustainable solutions that can deliver results, coordinated action and common standards within a rules-based order that can deliver effectively in the interests of all and promote human rights and the rule of law; whereas these standards should contribute to international peace, stability and sustainable development; whereas the EU stands behind international laws and norms;
H. whereas the world has become more interconnected, rendering actors on the international stage more interdependent and challenges more complex; whereas the resulting multi-level problems require collective action, flexible structures and the inclusion of all stakeholders;
I.
whereas the present multilateral order stems from the post-1945 global order, not necessarily fully reflecting today’s world, given that not all current global actors were properly taken into account in the design of the multilateral architecture;
J.
whereas global arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation policies and norms are being abandoned and weakened at a time when conventional arms sales are rising, the level of autonomy of weapon systems is increasing, and investments in new weapons of mass destruction are being made;
K. whereas multilateralism, as a peaceful means of organising relations among sovereign states, is increasingly being challenged, in part because of changes in the international system, such as the emergence of new actors on the global stage and hybrid threats emanating from them, the tensions derived from the nature of multilateral institutions and the need to overhaul decades-old institutions, the growing gap between public opinion and institutions, the rise of anti-globalisation sentiments, the decline of traditionally dominant geopolitical powers and the subsequent decline of global freedoms and democracy; whereas the COVID-19 pandemic and its unprecedented impact on the international community have both reinforced and accelerated these changes; whereas we are on the cusp of a new era that threatens to undermine more than 70 years of progress and relative peace and consolidate an era of strongman politics striving to undermine the international rules-based order based on international law and the rule of law, responsibility, democracy and human rights, gender equality and diversity; whereas the combination of national populist impulses, divergent and changing objectives and a lack of implementation and accountability methods is forcing the multilateral system to face three connected crises: a crisis of power, of relevance and of legitimacy, which are a result of a lack of political will and coordination, mostly in the West;
L. whereas the crisis of multilateralism can be an opportunity to rebuild consensus on an international order based on multilateralism and the rule of law through efficient cooperation, solidarity and coordination; whereas the EU should support initiatives aimed at incorporating the views of civil society in the decision-making processes in multilateral fora such as the UN; whereas the EU should advocate for the establishment of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly (UNPA) within the UN system in order to increase the democratic character, democratic accountability and transparency of global governance;