German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has expressed optimism despite the uncertainty surrounding Germany\u2019s bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am approaching this vote with confidence. Competition always stimulates business,\u201d Wadephul said on Tuesday on the sidelines of his visit to the United Nations in New York.<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cWe are running a positive campaign. We are promoting our strengths. We are promoting our expertise.\u201d<\/p>\n
Germany faces competition from two other European countries, Austria and Portugal, for a seat on the UN’s most powerful body for the 2027\u201328 term.<\/p>\n
Only two rotating seats are available for Western European countries, and both are considered to have a good chance of topping Germany in a secret ballot in the General Assembly on June 3.<\/p>\n
When asked whether he would take it personally if the bid were to fail, the minister said: \u201cIt is not about Johann Wadephul\u2019s personal feelings, but about the Federal Republic of Germany, the federal government, and us standing here with all our professional expertise.\u201d<\/p>\n
He emphasized: \u201cWe are all fully committed. Firstly, to the candidacy and secondly, should we be elected, to the tasks we will then face.\u201d<\/p>\n
Germany has run for a seat on the Security Council every eight years since reunification in 1990.<\/p>\n
Wadephul also visited the Permanent Observer Mission of the African Union (AU), where he outlined Germany\u2019s bid to representatives of the 54-member African Group at the United Nations.<\/p>\n
Germany backs the group\u2019s push for Security Council reform. It is calling for at least two permanent seats with veto power, along with two additional non-permanent seats.<\/p>\n
Fast-paced promotional clip<\/p>\n
At a reception, Wadephul wanted to present the short film \u201cMore than a Seat\u201d (German: \u201cMehr als ein Sitz\u201d), produced for the candidacy, to his UN guests.<\/p>\n
The fast-paced clip states: \u201cWe are ready to take our seats – to stand up. For respect, justice, and peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wadephul also met with Argentina’s Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno and later with the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi.<\/p>\n
The central justification for the US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February was to deprive Tehran of the ability to develop a nuclear weapon.<\/p>\n
Wadephul is also likely to discuss the need for UN reform with Grossi, who is in the midst of a campaign. He aims to succeed UN Secretary-General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres in 2027 and is campaigning, among other things, on a platform of restoring the UN\u2019s significance.<\/p>\n
Seat offers greater influence in global crises<\/p>\n
The Security Council comprises 15 of the 193 UN member states.<\/p>\n
Five are permanent members and hold veto power: the US, China, Russia, the UK and France. Russia and China often block important decisions.<\/p>\n
Five of the 10 non-permanent seats are filled each year and distributed among regional groups: five to African and Asian states, one to Eastern European states, two to Latin American states, and two to Western European and other states.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has expressed optimism despite the uncertainty surrounding Germany\u2019s bid for a non-permanent seat…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8304,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[8161,8159,473,5,468,7762,4953,8160],"class_list":["post-8303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-germany","tag-bid","tag-general-assembly","tag-german-foreign-minister","tag-germany","tag-johann-wadephul","tag-un-security-council","tag-united-nations","tag-western-european-countries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8304"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}