Band Foreign Minister Heiko Maas believes the UN Security Council is only able to act to a limited extent and is urgently calling for reforms. The last two years in which Germany was a member of the Security Council were “difficult and sometimes sobering,” said the SPD politician. The cooperation between the United States, China and Russia did not work. The most powerful UN body is urgently needed today. “The way the Security Council has acted in the two years, it is only able to act to a limited extent.”
German membership in the UN Security Council ends on December 31 after two years. Five countries are permanent members of the United Nations’ main body responsible for conflict resolution and peacekeeping: America, China, Russia, Great Britain and France. Some of the other 188 Member States take turns in the other ten seats every two years. Germany applies for a seat every eight years. The past two years have been marked by mutual blockades by the United States, China and Russia on key issues.
Reform discussions for decades
The Federal Government sees its call for a fundamental reform strengthened in which Germany and other countries would get a permanent seat. However, such a reform has been discussed for decades without any real progress.
Maas is betting that after the change in power in the White House from Donald Trump to Joe Biden, something could happen. “This could create a new basis for seriously and purposefully discussing the reform of the Security Council or the reform of the United Nations as a whole,” he said. “But it’s not just down to the United States. So far, Russia and China have blocked everything that has been presented by Secretary General Guterres. ”Nevertheless, he hopes that in six years’ time, when Germany applies again for the body,“ some of the reform processes will not only be approved but also implemented is “.