Hello oneeu
The consensus seems to be that, although there are various proposals
for reforming the Security Council, replacing the French and UK seats
with a single European Union seat is not likely to happen in the near
future.
The question of "one EU seat" on the Council is entwined with
discussion of an EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). Some
commentators see the Security Council question as a major problem for
the CFSP, since adopting a common foreign policy would lead logically
to having a single EU seat at the UN, but this would be unacceptable
to some European governments.
I'm going to answer the specific part of your question first by
offering you excerpts from online commentary and discussion of the
"one EU seat" issue. Then I'll make some suggestions in answer to your
request for general information on EU-UN interaction. When you've had
a chance to read the excerpts and follow up links, please let me know
if you think there is anything important missing which you expected to
find in this answer.
==================
The European Commission itself is not proposing a single EU seat on
the Security Council, although it encourages "common EU positions".
The most recent document I could find on EU-UN relations is worth
reading for general background as well as for insight into the
one-seat question. A small quotation from it:
"The presentation of common EU positions should be stepped up in all
UN bodies, including the Security Council."
Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament
The European Union and the United Nations: The choice of multilateralism
Brussels, 10.9.2003
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2003/com2003_0526en01.pdf
In 2001, the EU said:
"Member States which are permanent members of the Security Council
will, in execution of their functions, ensure the defence of the
positions and interests of the Union, without prejudice to their
responsibilities under provisions of the UN charter?."
The EU, and how it works at the UN
http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/un/publ/pack/2.pdf
Last year a journalist writing in "The Guardian" saw things this way:
"The commission has proposed that the 15 pool their representation on
the IMF board to boost their joint voting power to US levels. That may
not happen. But no one even dares suggest Britain and France surrender
their anachronistic seats on the UN security council for a single EU
seat."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,10551,688410,00.html
These remarks from Javier Solana seem to go further than any other
official EU comment:
"In an interview with Die Welt, the EU's high representative for
Common Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, offers some
suggestions for how the current crisis in the European Union could be
avoided in the future. A "possible cause" for the rift between the EU
fifteen is the fact that the EU is not represented by one seat in the
United Nations Security Council. "The EU is not represented by one
seat in the United Nations. But the problems were created in the
United Nations."
He noted the differences of opinion ran exactly between the four
members of the Security Council - the UK and France (as permanent
members) and Spain and Germany (as non-permanent members). "Imagine
what influence Europe could have had if it had spoken with one voice?"
asked Mr Solana. Speaking with one voice is not just something for the
Union in the UN but for "the EU as a whole."
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/reform/cluster1/2003/0324eu.htm
It's interesting to note that, according to UK MEP (Member of the
European Parliament) Daniel Hannan, the majority of those who work at
the EU are in favour of a "one EU seat" policy:
"A poll of the staff working for EU institutions in the current issue
of European Voice shows that, by a margin of two-to-one, they want the
British and French seats on the UN Security Council to be replaced by
a single EU seat. These, remember, are the people who are in a
position to do something about it."
http://www.hannan.co.uk/news.htm
==================
The British are most unlikely to agree to any proposals that the
French and UK seats should be combined.
Peter Hain, UK Government Minister, as reported here:
"Hain also bluntly ruled out communitisation of foreign policy and
warned against reducing external representation to one EU seat in
international bodies, as suggested in the report. His remarks,
together with other sceptical comments about the defence document,
were a warning that broad agreement or consensus at working group
level or even in the Convention could still run into stiff opposition
from powerful member states."
http://www.eurocomment.be/download/Briefing_Notes_11.pdf
Debate in UK parliamentary committee:
"(Sir Stephen Wall) [...] If you take the most extreme example, which
is not an active issue at the moment, nonetheless it is more than just
theoretical: membership of the Security Council. If you have a single
EU seat on the Security Council, from the point of view of a large
number of EU Member States that would be a big advantage. From our
point of view it would be a massive loss of influence and interest
that is unacceptable to us.
[...]
[Lord Harrison]On the Security Council, clearly we are not going to
give up because there would be a loss of British interest, but there
is a compelling logic from the EU that they ought to have some form of
representation, is there a way that we could finesse this one?
(Sir Stephen Wall) I think it is very difficult. For those of us who
are permanent members we make a real effort on the vast majority of
issues to co-ordinate closely with our partners, so when we speak in
the Security Council we speak if not on their behalf at least knowing
what their positions are and hopefully in a way that is consistent
with our common interest. There are obviously certain issues like Iraq
where that cannot happen."
http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/ld200203/ldselect/ldeucom/80/3021303.htm
==================
Germany supports the idea of a single European seat on the Council. On
the website of the German Federal Foreign Office it says:
"The Federal Government abides by the idea that a European seat on the
Security Council would be desirable."
But the writer concedes this is not likely to happen:
"To date, the EU member states, with a few exceptions, have [...]
advocated additional new permanent seats but not a European seat. At
present, it seems unlikely that these interests will be subsumed in
favour of a European seat."
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/www/en/aussenpolitik/vn/vereinte_nationen/d_im_sicherheitsrat/faq_reform/frage3_html
Also from Germany:
"For Britain and France, permanent membership of the UNSC is ?a unique
privilege that buys them exceptional influence, clout, and prestige
(it is one reason why it is very difficult to envisage them ever
agreeing to exchange their two seats for one ?EU? seat).? Obviously,
the composition of the UNSC reflects the power realities of a
different era and therefore provides Britain and France influence and
prestige out of proportions to their actual weight in world affairs,
be it measured in terms of military power, economic might, let alone
population size."
Dusseldorf Institut
http://www.dias-online.org/a27.shtml
==================
It's hard to find much comment online from within France. Perhaps it's
taken for granted that France will keep its seat for the time being,
as here:
"Au sein de l'ONU les évolutions resteront lentes et prudentes. La
transformation des sièges britannique et français en un siège européen
serait un pas considérable qu'on ne peut guère attendre de la défense
nationale des intérêts acquis."
http://www.ehess.fr/cirpes/ds/ds46/identite.html
A forum on the website of the French President discussed European
diplomatic policy but hardly mentioned the topic of a single European
seat at the Security Council:
"L'action internationale de l'Europe ne peut se limiter aux seules
questions d'ordre économique. Elle doit pouvoir s'imposer
diplomatiquement.Certains envisagent ce rôle notamment au sein du
système des Nations Unies, même si la question d'un siège européen au
sein du Conseil de Sécurité n'est guère évoquée"
http://www.elysee.fr/actus/arch0111/011119/forum.htm
==================
The European Green Party:
"The EU should strengthen the UN and work towards one EU-seat in the
UN-security council."
http://www.europeangreens.org/info/resolutions/berlin5.html
From Italy, concerning a possible European Union Constitutional Treaty:
"Chapter I of this ?non-paper? leaves open the possibility of
conferring legal personality on the Union. This matter is particularly
important for foreign policy and would reinforce the Union?s role on
the world stage and be the first significant step toward creation of
?a single European seat? in the United Nations Security Council."
http://www.europa2004.it/UK/Convention/Texts.htm
From Canada:
"Security Council composition is bedevilled by anachronisms. As the
distribution of power in the world has evolved, British and French
claims to permanent status have become more tenuous. They each put
forward the best possible case by active postures in the council
buttressed by imaginative diplomacy and exceptionally skilled
operatives. However, if a common European foreign policy is ever to
take off, a single European seat and voice would make much more sense.
But neither of these countries can be forced to give up its seat. Only
intra-EU dynamics over time may induce change."
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPPrint/LAC/20030922/COMALONE22/TPComment/
==================
Comment from the US
Center for European Studies at the University of Chapel Hill:
"The UK and France currently hold two of the five permanent seats on
the UN Security Council. For a single EU foreign policy to be
developed, a logical requirement is the resignation of those seats in
favour of a single EU seat on the Council. However, there is currently
no plan to revise the situation and neither country appears ready to
discuss changing their status at the UN."
http://www.unc.edu/depts/europe/conferences/eu/Cfsp/cfsp6.html
US foreign affairs columnist Trudy Rubin:
"Kofi Annan and previous U.N. leaders have been trying to get reform
of the Security Council for a decade now. It's unlikely to happen
because those countries that have the veto including France are
unlikely to be willing to make the concessions necessary -- for
example, having one EU seat instead of more than one European seat."
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/international/july-dec03/bush_09-23.html
US international lawyer, Jonathan S. Kallmer:
"Taken to its logical conclusion, the exercise becomes absurd. By
conducting foreign policy as a bloc, the EU would theoretically seek
to consolidate the British and French permanent seats on the UN
Security Council into a single EU seat, thereby decreasing its share
of that body's vote from 40 to 25 percent. (Of course, part of the
reason a common foreign policy will fail is that neither Britain nor
France will ever give up its Security Council seat.) "
http://www.praguepost.com/P03/2003/Art/0717/opin1.php
==================
Further comments found while searching:
A British academic sees the proposal for one EU seat as a "difficulty"
likely to arise from a common foreign and security policy:
http://europa.eu.int/futurum/documents/other/oth040203_en.pdf
Andrew Duff, MEP:
". . at present we have two seats on the Permanent Security Council
and I am not proposing that we sacrifice the second for a single EU
seat, that would be idiotic. But we must act with a single voice in
world affairs."
http://www.constitutional-convention.net/bulletin/archives/000263.html
Dr. John Temple Lang, Irish lawyer/academic:
"A consistently applied and comprehensive EU foreign policy would
raise the question of replacing the UK and French seats in the United
Nations (?U.N.?) Security Council with one EU seat."
http://www.saj.oas.org/fordham.pdf
Fraser Cameron, Director of Studies with The European Policy Centre:
"There were even some who suggested that the EU should eventually have
its own seat (as opposed to French and UK seats) on the United Nations
Security Council (UNSC). "
http://europe.tiscali.fr/politique/actualites/200303/19/debat_bxl_en.html
==================
For a more general view of EU and UN interaction, I think the document
referred to near the beginning would be helpful, i.e.:
The European Union and the United Nations: The choice of multilateralism
Brussels, 10.9.2003
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/en/com/cnc/2003/com2003_0526en01.pdf
Here are some links leading to further material on EU-UN interaction:
European Union @ United Nations
http://europa-eu-un.org/index.asp?lg=5
The EU & the European Commission at the UN
http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/un/intro/
EU at the UN
http://europa.eu.int/comm/external_relations/un/publ/pack/1.pdf
You could also search the EU site using terms which reflect your
particular interests.
http://europa.eu.int/geninfo/query_en.htm
Also note:
Security Council Reform
http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/reform/
CFSP
http://ue.eu.int/pesc/home.asp?lang=en
Searches which offer further material:
EU "at the UN"
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=eu+%22at+the+un%22&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
European Commission "at the UN"
://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=european+commission++%22at+the+un%22&btnG=Google+Search&meta=
=========================================
This is a huge and interesting topic. Please do let me know if you
have any queries about what I've written, or if any links fail to
work. Just use the "request answer clarification" button.
Best Wishes - Leli
Best searches used were:
EU "at the UN"
"eu seat" "security council"
"european seat" "security council"
cfsp "security council"
"siège européen" "Conseil de Sécurité" |
