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“We must strengthen the UN”
Gunter Pleuger on the goals of reform and the interest in a seat on the Security Council Ambassador Pleuger, Germany’s two-year term as non-permanent member of the Security Council ends with the year 2004. What new emphases has Germany been able to introduce in this important organ of the international community? A consistent and constructive policy on the crisis areas in Africa, Afghanistan, the Middle East, the Balkans, eastern Europe and Iraq. We have primarily focused on observance of human rights, crisis management and humanitarian assistance and – as in Afghanistan – also contributed to the stabilization of crisis regions with military forces. Furthermore, we have, among other things, advocated greater transparency in the deliberations of the Security Council and introduced new thematic areas such as “The Role of the Economy in Crisis Management”. In all this, we have considered close coordination with our EU partners particularly important. In his address to the General Assembly in September, Federal Foreign Minister Fischer spoke in favour of a reform of the United Nations. Why is this challenge so important? The international community is confronted by great challenges: terrorism, the spread of weapons of mass destruction, disintegrating states, AIDS, climate change and extreme poverty. These threats can frequently only be countered effectively at the global level – to be precise, within the framework of the United Nations. If, however, the UN is to be able to do justice to this central task, we must reform it, strengthen it, and adapt it to the realities of the 21st century. We stand for a strengthening of multilateralism and UN organizations to implement the millennium goals and reform goals of the Secretary General. Germany is putting itself forward for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. What qualifies the Federal Republic to be a member of this body? The Federal Government’s ultimate goal is the reform of the United Nations as a whole that I have just described. In our opinion, it involves much more than merely the Security Council. Naturally, however, a reform would be incomplete if it excluded the Security Council, the UN’s central institution. We want to strengthen the legitimacy of the Security Council’s decisions by making it more representative. In its present composition it reflects the realities of the year 1945, not those of the 21st century. And in this context we believe that Germany can have a justified interest in a permanent seat on the Security Council as a convinced multilateralist and in view of its long-term commitment in and for the UN. The fact that our candidacy is supported by many UN member states has also been clearly demonstrated by recent UN debates. How do you answer the charge that a German permanent seat on the Security Council would make a European seat impossible? A European seat on the Security Council remains our long-term goal. A realistic appraisal of the current situation makes it clear, however, that this idea does not have any real chance of success. With France and the United Kingdom, there are already two European Security Council members. They will not want to give up their status in favour of a European seat in the foreseeable future. Furthermore, the membership of an association of countries would generate questions of a fundamental and practical nature within the UN and the EU itself to which answers cannot be expected today or even tomorrow. That is the reason for our national candidacy. Dr Gunter Pleuger is the Federal Republic of Germany’s ambassador to the UN. The trained lawyer and political scientist has represented Germany at the United Nations since November 2002. Pleuger was born in 1941 and studied, among other places, at the elite French university ENA. He has worked in the diplomatic service since 1969, completed postings in New Delhi and Washington, and was most recently state secretary at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. © “Deutschland” Magazine 6/2004 http://www.magazine-deutschland.de/issue/UNPleuger_6-04_ENG_E1.php |
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