European Ministers of Environment met in Greece at an informal Council Meeting where UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, Achim Steiner, delivered a presentation entitled "UNEP's Role as the Leading Global Environmental Authority in Post-2015 Processes in Light of the Upcoming First UNEA".

In his address, Mr. Steiner briefed the EU ministers about the upcoming UN Environment Assembly, given the EU's long-standing support for the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), and its advocacy for the inclusion of environmental aspects in the Post-2015 development agenda.

Environment Ministers and Government representatives from 193 UN Member States will gather from 23 to 27 June, 2014 for the inaugural meeting of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) - a new body designed to place environmental issues at the heart of the global agenda.

UNEA strikes new ground. It is the only UN General Assembly subsidiary assembly of a United Nations fund or programme and is intended to give green issues a similar status to those of peace, security, finance, health and trade. Mandated to determine policy and catalyze international action, the new body represents the new political arm for the protection of the environment and aims to ensure environmental sustainability is recognized as a global priority.

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