Christoph Heusgen, the former German Ambassador to the United Nations, has advised the Federal Government to abandon its pursuit of a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Speaking to “Der Spiegel” following Germany’s unsuccessful campaign for non-permanent membership in New York, Heusgen urged the government to conduct an honest self-assessment. He suggested that it was time to revise Germany’s 25-year-old position advocating for a permanent seat on the Security Council, noting that pursuing the claim further would not be credible given the backlash it encountered.
Heusgen argued that it was neither geographically nor economically justified for Europe to have three permanent members on the Security Council, alongside France and the United Kingdom. Instead, he recommended that Germany forego the permanent position and instead initiate a reform movement for the Security Council, proposing measures such as longer voting periods. He recalled that as an external and security policy advisor to former Chancellor Angela Merkel, he felt that abandoning the goal would allow the government to gain the support of partners like Spain or Italy, who were resistant to Germany obtaining a permanent seat. He concluded, “Instead of nursing wounds, we should launch a reform initiative”.
Furthermore, Heusgen advised the government to immediately prepare a new candidacy. While characterizing the failure in New York as a minor setback, he conceded that the German political approach had some fault, though one UN ambassador had told him that the effort had been “too little, too late”.
He stressed that the government now needed to make a decision: “We have to start there and decide now: We will be running again in eight years” Heusgen stated. He added that they must immediately commence a targeted and determined campaign to build support.
