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GERMANY-FRANCE-UN-EU
Germany urges France to turn UN seat into EU one
BERLIN, Nov 28, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz on
Wednesday proposed that France give up its permanent seat on the UN Security
Council and turn it into an EU seat to allow the bloc to speak with one voice
on the global stage.
“I realise this will take some convincing in Paris but it would be a bold
and smart goal,” Scholz said in a wide-ranging Berlin speech on the future of
the European Union.
To lessen the pain of losing the powerful seat, France could become “the
permanent EU ambassador to the United Nations”, added Scholz, who is also
Germany’s vice-chancellor.
France has been one of the five permanent Council members since the body
was first established in 1945 in the wake of World War II to prevent another
large-scale conflict.
The permanent members, including Britain, China, Russia and the United
States, are the most influential countries in the 193-member United Nations
because they hold the right to veto UN resolutions.
There have been repeated calls in the past to reform the UN Security
Council, with large emerging nations in particular clamouring for a place at
the table.
In 2010, then-US president Barack Obama voiced support for India’s efforts
to become a permanent Security Council member.
Brazil and Japan have expressed similar ambitions, while African nations
have called for two permanent seats to better represent a continent they say
has been historically overlooked.
– Europe at a crossroads –
French President Emmanuel Macron called on lawmakers in the German
parliament last month to help create a “stronger, more sovereign Europe”.
“Europe cannot play its role if it becomes the plaything of great powers
and contents itself with a supporting role on the global stage,” he said.
Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed Macron’s speech, saying Europe was “at a
crossroads” over its future.
In the past, she and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas have both called for
individual EU countries’ seats on the UNSC to be “europeanised”. When Germany
was selected to hold one of the 10 non-permanent seats for two years from
January 2019, Maas promised Berlin would “interpret it in a European way.”
“We want to show that we take the common European seat seriously. Because
that remains our aim,” he added.
Scholz’s Wednesday sally was the latest way Germany has sought to dispel
accusations it has failed to respond to Macron’s ambitious hopes to reform
the EU and the euro single currency.
While German leaders appear open to deeper cooperation in fields like
defence, many have deep reservations about Macron’s plans to equip the
eurozone with a centrally-managed budget, fearing wealthy countries could end
up footing spendthrift neighbours’ bills.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1950 hrs