With a stony expression on his face, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadeful greeted the results of the secret ballot announced by his predecessor and current President of the UN General Assembly, Analene Berbock: in the first round, Portugal and Austria achieved the necessary two-thirds majority for a seat on the UN Security Council. Portugal received 134 votes, Austria received 131, and Germany remained third with 104 votes.
“This is a real disappointment for all of us. I don't want to keep it quiet“, Wadeful said later on the news of the public channel ARD. The gloomy mood in the German delegation is also explained by the fact that until the last moment it was believed that the many talks held by the first German diplomat in New York since Friday would be enough. Just before the vote itself, the list of countries supposedly supporting Germany's candidacy seemed quite long, the media outlet explains.
Resistance from Russia or a campaign too late
Even greater was the surprise at how obvious the lead of Portugal and Austria turned out to be in the first round. "Of course, we must also take into account that there are some who have worked against us. Russia is a good example of this. They, of course, have no interest in a strong supporter of Ukraine becoming a member", pointed out German Foreign Minister Wadeful.
Daniel Forti, an expert on UN affairs at the analytical center "International Crisis Group", points to other reasons: "The two other countries (Portugal and Austria - ed.) started campaigning for votes much earlier. And Germany has been a member of the Security Council much more often. However, many countries want a fairer distribution of seats on the Security Council.“
Smaller countries no longer want to accept Germany's claim to be represented on the UN Security Council every eight years, just because it is one of the world organization's major contributors, the ARD publication also makes clear.
Too close to Israel?
UN expert Forti points to another reason: Germany's close relations with Israel, although Foreign Minister Vaddeful considers this to be exaggerated. "There is an overwhelming majority of UN member states that have supported Palestine in recent years and are deeply concerned about Israel's war in Gaza and the West Bank," Forti argued.
The political reactions in Berlin also point in this direction: Left Party co-chairman Jan van Aken said that Germany has an ambivalent position on the hot conflicts - the current one in Iran and previously on the US actions in Venezuela. For the foreign policy spokesman for the Social Democrats in the Bundestag, Addis Akhmetovich, Germany seems to be losing credibility internationally.
The assessments included such things as "a slap in the face for Merz", "a heavy defeat" and "a disgrace". For example, Green Party defense expert Agnieszka Brugger blamed "this shameful loss" on personally on Chancellor Merz and Foreign Minister Wadeful. According to her, the German government “has done too little to support this candidacy with modern ideas”, ARD quotes her as saying.
The foreign policy spokesman of the “Alternative for Germany” faction (AfG) in the Bundestag, Markus Frohnmeier, said that Germany's failure was not accidental, but was “the result of a long-standing, ideologically blind and out-of-touch foreign policy that isolated Germany on the international stage and ignored its own interests“.
Merz congratulates Austria and Portugal
After the vote, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz congratulated the newly elected non-permanent members of the Security Council, and in particular the competitors Portugal and Austria.
Zimbabwe and Trinidad and Tobago were elected without competition to the seats reserved for their respective regions on the UN Security Council. The last, fifth vacant seat, due to a country from the Asia-Pacific region, was won by Kyrgyzstan, which prevailed over the Philippines.
Authors: Christina Nagel ARD | ARD
's Martin Ganzlmeier