General Assembly President urges Europeans to ‘stand up’ for the UN | EUROtoday

In a key deal with to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Annalena Baerbock repeated her name to uphold multilateralism amid “trying times” globally.

She famous that simply 40 days into 2026, the world has already seen crises round Venezuela, Iran and Greenland, on high of persevering with devastation in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and elsewhere.

International order ‘under attack’

“The international order is not only under pressure, it is under attack,” she instructed lawmakers.

“And we face a new and more troubling kind of crisis: conflicts waged not even under the pretence of self-defence or respect for international law but often carried out in open defiance of it.”

She warned that at exactly the second the world most wants cooperation and the UN, “powers – even those who have a special responsibility to protect peace and security – are pulling away from it or even outright attacking it.”

Protect the UN Charter

Ms. Baerbock recalled that 4 years in the past, when she was Germany’s Foreign Minister, she addressed the General Assembly and known as for the UN to face up for Europe’s peace as Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“Today, I’m coming as President of the General Assembly to Europe, calling for Europe to stand up for the United Nations because the world needs the UN. But right now, the UN and its principles as enshrined in the Charter, needs the world too,” she mentioned, referring to all continents.

“It needs you to form a cross-regional alliance to protect, defend and champion the Charter and the international rules-based system that benefits us all individually and collectively.”

Defend the reality

First and foremost, the EU should defend the reality in a world the place “fake news, falsities, mis- and disinformation” are in every single place.

“Defending the truth means we cannot negotiate the facts; we cannot ‘go along to get along’ in the hope that it will avoid a tariff,” she mentioned.

Ms. Baerbock acknowledged that defending the reality “is easier said than done, especially when you’re faced with blackmail or coercion, or threats and intimidation.”

European unity over Ukraine

She harassed, nevertheless, that “no one can do it alone”, highlighting European Union (EU) collective motion on this regard.

“Four years ago, Europe watched as 100,000 troops amassed on Ukraine’s borders, shocked into paralysis. Nobody could have imagined the EU, which has been described as ‘too slow and too bureaucratic, too divided’ would unite over a weekend,” she mentioned.

The invasion started on a Thursday and by that Monday morning “the EU collectively passed one of the largest sanctions packages ever recorded because it responded as one, with conviction and purpose.”

‘The world is calling’

But Europe didn’t act alone as she pointed to late-night calls and pleas made to different nations around the globe.

“Today dear colleagues, the world is calling. It’s not only about Greenland, it’s also about Latin America, about Africa. Once again, it’s about the international peace order, once again it’s about the UN Charter,” she mentioned.

“The UN needs Europe and I count on your answer to be a clear and resounding: yes, we will be there for our peace, for the international peace order, for the United Nations.”

Support UN reform

The Assembly President mentioned the UN additionally wants Europe “to reform it, to make it better, to make it more effective and efficient.” While the 80-year-old Organization shouldn’t be good, she insisted that the world wouldn’t be higher off with out it.

“Imperfection is an opportunity to strengthen and refine, not to cut down and demolish,” mentioned Ms. Baerbock.

“We cannot allow those who would weaponize failings or setbacks to use existing inefficiencies or duplications as justification to unravel all that we have built, nor allow exclusive clubs to hold responsibilities for world peace.”

Lead by instance

The UN can also be “dealing with an existential liquidity crisis,” with some Member States not paying their assessed contributions – whether or not late, or in no way, for years.

She famous that UN monetary guidelines additional require any “unspent” budgeted cash to be returned to Member States, even when it was by no means acquired within the first place.

“If the EU wants to preserve and strengthen the UN, then the EU should lead by example,” she mentioned.  This contains paying dues on time and in full and proposing methods “to overhaul this Kafkaesque financial rule of reimbursing funds never received”.

Similarly, the EU ought to step up relating to the choice of the following Secretary-General “as one might wonder how in 80 years the UN has never selected a woman to serve its highest office, despite there being four billion potential candidates on Earth.”