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Excellencies, Co-facilitators,

I have the honour to deliver this statement on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The Candidate Countries Türkiye, North Macedonia^*, Montenegro^*, Serbia^*, Albania^*, Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina^* and Georgia, and the EFTA countries Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Andorra, Monaco and San Marino align themselves with this statement.

The GDC offers a key opportunity to achieve consensus on our shared digital future. With UN Member States already agreeing in many areas, we can craft ambitious, tangible commitments. While acknowledging the challenges ahead, the GDC is an opportunity to find common ground and deploy our vision for the next decades.

The EU acknowledges the commendable effort that has gone into the proposed structure, recognizing its balanced approach towards establishing a framework of key principles with specific commitments and follow-up.

This structure promises to advance global digital cooperation, focusing on a human-centric and human rights-based digital future aligned with the UN's strategic goals, notably achieving sustainable development and bridging digital divides, while improving digital coordination across the UN system, including special organizations.

We see several critical areas needing refinement to fully embody our shared values and objectives, particularly regarding emerging technologies and artificial intelligence. To this end, I will outline 4 key priorities:

1. Matching principles with commitments: each principle outlined within the GDC should be mirrored by corresponding commitments and targets, to be implemented via existing appropriate institutions and fora. This alignment would ensure that our ideals are matched by concrete actions, facilitating a clear and actionable roadmap for digital cooperation.
2. Human Rights are an enabler of the digital future: Human rights and sustainable development are intertwined, making the enjoyment of human rights crucial for an inclusive, safe, and responsible digital future. The promotion and protection of human rights, fundamental to the UN, must be central to our collective digitalization strategy for sustainable development, and integrated throughout the GDC, highlighting our shared commitment to a human rights-based digital future that leaves no one behind. The principles should also translate into tangible commitments to advance human rights in the digital space – linking principles with implementation in key areas such as global connectivity and digital public infrastructure. Similarly, gender equality should be placed at the core of the GDC.

3. Ensuring a global and inclusive digital future for sustainable development: To foster an inclusive digital future, we must maintain a global internet. This is vital for all individuals to enjoy the benefits of digital technology and engage in the global digital economy. However, the global digital divides and the risks of internet fragmentation pose a significant challenge to this vision, which needs to be reflected within the GDC's principles. The EU underscores the importance of incorporating strategies to close digital divides and avoid fragmentation, ensuring the internet remains a global, open, accessible, neutral, free, inclusive, interoperable, reliable, secure, privacy-protective and environmentally sustainable public good for all. The GDC should also emphasize specific actions to promote digital commons and digital public infrastructures. We stress the need to safeguard multilingualism and protect the role of less widespread languages in a digital world. Overall, we would like to see a stronger emphasis in the GDC structure on sustainability, solidarity, inclusion and safety. We must strive towards stronger global cooperation to ensure a sustainable digital and green twin transition.
4. Multistakeholder approach: The EU strongly supports the value of a multistakeholder approach to digital cooperation, such as internet governance, as a key GDC principle, leading to concrete commitments. This approach ensures that all relevant stakeholders are engaged in shaping the digital landscape. The GDC should explicitly reinforce this inclusive and collaborative governance model while recalling the importance of existing fora and processes, highlighting its significance in achieving a democratic, transparent, inclusive, sustainable and effective digital ecosystem, to stimulate new partnerships, responsible innovation and increased investment in digital development. The Internet Governance Forum must remain the primary platform for public policy debates pertaining to the Internet. Beyond this, the multi-stakeholder model should apply to other digital areas such as AI and platforms.

We will share more detailed edits and suggestions to the proposed structure in our written contribution.

Finally, we underline the importance of digital cooperation being part of the GDC, to avoid duplication with ongoing negotiations on the Pact for the Future.

The EU remains fully committed to participate constructively with all stakeholders in the creation of an ambitious GDC, ensuring it becomes a powerful instrument for global digital cooperation, rooted in human rights, gender equality, inclusivity, and sustainable development.

Thank you.

* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.