In line with Chapter VIII of the United Nations Charter, the United Nations engages actively with regional organizations, including key global actors such as the European Union (EU). Secretary-General Guterres has highlighted that cooperation with regional organizations is at the core of UN activities and that ensuring peace, security and development in a complex and rapidly changing world requires partnership from the local to the regional to the global levels.
Further, the Secretary-General has called for enhanced forms of cooperation and multilateral governance and argued that a more effective United Nations also depends on stronger and deeper cooperation with regional organizations. Secretary-General Guterres has argued that the EU must be an essential pillar of multilateralism in the new global order and that the partnership between the EU and the United Nations is a component of networked multilateralism – a concept that is set out in the Secretary-General’s New Agenda for Peace.
Over time, the UN and the EU have forged a strong relationship, based on shared principles and values. The EU Lisbon Treaty provides that "The Union … shall promote multilateral solutions to common problems, in particular in the framework of the United Nations.” The Global Strategy for the European Union's Foreign and Security Policy, unveiled in 2016, refers to multilateralism as its key principle and the UN as a core partner. In the EU’s Strategic Compass for Security and Defense, presented in 2022, the EU stressed that the strengthened strategic partnership with the UN is necessary to uphold rules-based multilateralism and the principles of the UN Charter. In this regard, the EU is actively supporting UN efforts in work relating to conflict prevention, mediation, peacemaking, peacekeeping, peacebuilding, the prevention of violent extremism and counter-terrorism. The Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) is in the lead on the dialogue with the EU on political affairs and conflict prevention, and several mechanisms of dialogue have been taking place over the years. DPPA also participates in dialogues led by the Department of Peace Operations (DPO).
Priorities for the UN-EU partnership in the area of peace and security include the Women, Peace and Security agenda and support to political processes.
The UN Liaison Office for Peace and Security (UNLOPS) represents the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA), Peace Operations (DPO), Operational Support (DOS) and the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT) in Brussels and liaises on all matters related to peace and security that fall under the remit of these four entities.
The EU Delegation in New York enjoys enhanced observer status at the UN, allowing it to present common positions on behalf of the EU member states.