7935th Security Council Meeting: Regional Cooperation

European Union indispensable partner of United Nations, ready to build cooperative new world order, its top diplomat tells Security Council at 7935th meeting.

• Categories: Meetings & Events / Security Council
• Video Length: 02:05:19
• Production Date: 9 May 2017
• Asset Language: Arabic; Chinese; English; French; Russian; Spanish
• Corporate Name: EUROPEAN UNION - EU
• Subject Topical: COOPERATION; INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION; INTERNATIONAL PEACE AND SECURITY
• MAMS Id: 1883572
• Parent Id: 1882940

Description

Russian Federation Assails Bloc over Sanctions, as United States Urges It to Press Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iran

Describing the European Union as an indispensable partner of the United Nations, the bloc’s senior-most diplomat told the Security Council today that it was ready to move beyond the current international uncertainty and join the Organization in building a more cooperative world order.

“The European way is the United Nations way,” declared Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. “The European vision is the United Nations vision.” She was delivering her statement as the Security Council discussed United Nations cooperation with the European Union in the context of its work with regional and subregional organizations.

Emphasizing that all European Union actions and initiatives were taken in full partnership with the United Nations, she noted that both organizations believed in the same principles and were built upon the same fundamental ideals. Both believed that security was not exclusively about military might, but also about diplomacy, development, economic growth and human rights, she added.

Concerning the situation in Syria, she said the European Union had worked to strengthen international support for the United Nations-led negotiations in Geneva, while insisting that the international community start looking into the country’s post-war reconstruction. Every effort must be made to preserve fragile Syrian unity, and the European Union was ready to mobilize all its resources to that end, she added.

The same approach had shaped the Brussels Conference for the Central African Republic, which had managed to mobilize more than €2 billion in support of Government priorities in that country. The European Union was increasingly active as a global provider of security, she said, pointing out that collectively, its member States contributed almost 40 per cent of the United Nations peacekeeping budget. The bloc’s 15 military and civilian operations worked in constant cooperation with the world body, including off the coast of Libya in operation SOPHIA, aimed at dismantling the smuggling networks operating there and enforcing the Security Council’s arms embargo, she added.

“Confrontational approaches lead nowhere,” she emphasized, declaring: “Between win-win and lose-lose, the European Union has picked sides. We stand on the side of dialogue and partnership. Where others see conflict, we look to cooperate.” The bloc believed in a global order based on rules agreed together and respected by all.

The representative of the United States said the number of times that her country and the European Union had partnered together was striking, while expressing hope for greater European Union support for efforts to address the anti-Israel bias within the Human Rights Council. Concerning the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, she urged the bloc to implement the relevant Security Council resolutions rigorously and impose tough additional measures of its own, including downgrading diplomatic ties. It should also make clear to Iran that it must end its destabilizing actions in the Middle East, including its support for terrorist organizations.

However, the Russian Federation’s representative expressed concern about destructive, unilateral approaches, describing the unilateral imposition of sanctions circumventing the Security Council as illegitimate and counterproductive “limiting measures”. Most such cases resulted in additional suffering for civilians and eroded the legitimacy of the United Nations. Although the European Union had indeed become a key player in the global arena, its cooperation with the Russian Federation was, nevertheless, in a “hard spot”, which was particularly striking given the overlap in Russian and European matters, including the struggle against terrorism, the situation in the Middle East and their joint cooperation in addressing the Iran nuclear issue. While the Russian Federation intended full cooperation with the European Union, that must take place on an equal footing, taking the interests and concerns of each side into account, he stressed.

Also speaking today were representatives of Sweden, France, Italy, United Kingdom, Japan, Ukraine, Bolivia, China, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Senegal and Uruguay.

The meeting began at 10:06 a.m. and ended at 12:12 p.m.