Following Germany’s failure to secure a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, the Vice President of the European Parliament, Katarina Barley (SPD), has advocated for the long-term ambition of a shared European Union seat. Speaking to newspapers from the Funke media group, Barley asserted, “The critical question is whether Europe speaks with one voice to exert democratic and rules-based global influence”. The former federal minister added that a joint European seat on the Security Council would be a logical next step toward greater European capacity for action, provided the European Union achieves stronger integration in foreign and security policy.
Germany’s candidacy for the non-permanent seat was decisively unsuccessful in New York on Wednesday. It did not receive the necessary two-thirds majority in the General Assembly. Instead, Portugal and Austria are set to occupy the positions in the powerful UN body within the next two years for the regional group of Western European and other states. The defeat represents a significant political setback for CDU leaders Friedrich Merz and Johann Wadephul, who champion the idea of boosting Germany’s weight in global affairs.
