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The 75th UN General Assembly is not going well. In the Security Council in particular, the members block each other. Foreign Minister Maas says I am ARD interview: The body no longer reflects the balance of power in the world.
ARD: In the general debate on the 75th anniversary of the UN, his status is particularly questioned. There are strong calls for reform. What does it take to get the stalled event moving?
Heiko Maas: Above all, something should change in the Security Council. For a few years now we have found ourselves in a situation where we block each other. That we can no longer draft resolutions on the major crises in this world, such as the war in Syria. It took us months to agree on a joint resolution in view of the Corona crisis. The Security Council also needs reform because it no longer reflects the world and the balance of power in the world today as we would like.
Seats to take responsibility
ARD: Chancellor Angela Merkel said that even after her current membership in the Security Council, Germany would be ready to continue assuming responsibilities there, preferably in an expanded Security Council. How realistic is that?
Maas: I can only support that. The states of Africa, the countries of the global south and the states that do a lot for the UN, that make it viable in the first place, should have a permanent place at this table, precisely because they are willing to take on more responsibilities. This applies in a very special way to Germany. We are working on this reform together with other states that see it in a similar way. We would like this debate to finally move forward; It is not even possible to base the negotiations on adequate texts. Something has to happen.
ARD: Are there veto powers also on board in the Security Council? Would you like to give up power?
Maas: Certainly, permanent members of the Security Council who have the right to veto will always carefully consider how much power they are giving up. Ultimately, the Charter of the United Nations must be changed by a reform of the Security Council, and this requires a majority of two-thirds of the UN members in the General Assembly. And of course, the five veto powers must also want to go down this path. We have many discussions about this. Talks with countries like China are extremely difficult.
Look at the achievements
ARD: Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta has criticized: The UN is now older than most of the world’s population. And by that he also refers to representatives …
Maas: I don’t think that the age of the representatives in the Security Council or in the UN in general is the problem. The problem is that the Security Council in particular no longer reflects the balance of power in today’s world and therefore must be changed. Of course we would like more young voices to be heard.
Calling the United Nations as a whole obsolete is a neglect of what it has accomplished in the last 75 years. I do not know of any other organization in which the conflicts, crises and wars of this world can be dealt with as in the UN. All challenges (globalization, climate change, migration, digitization) are international challenges. For this we need organizations like the United Nations. You are more necessary than ever.
“Those who want more cooperation will prevail”
ARD: The UN Secretary General, António Guterres, warns: The crisis in the Crown is dividing the world, into states that depend on cooperation and states that do it alone. Who will set the tone in the end?
Maas: I am absolutely sure that those who want more international cooperation will prevail, because in the long run no one can solve the world’s problems alone. To accelerate this process, we founded the “Alliance for Multilateralism”, in which there are now more than 60 states that are also grappling with current issues, including the issue of health: instead of mutually receiving the vaccine, hopefully It will be developed at some point. To buy, you have to try to understand the vaccine as a global good and make it available to those who need it but cannot afford it.
Those who are convinced that we can only overcome problems with greater international cooperation must now join forces and ensure that their approach remains the visible alternative to the formation of camps of confrontation and that it prevails. But we have to take care of that. It will not work on its own.
The interview was conducted by Antje Passenheim, ARD Studio New York
