Annalena Baerbock is the new president of the UN General Assembly. It is an office with great symbolic power, but hardly real power. What is behind the step of the former German Foreign Minister and what to expect from her.
Bastian Brauns reports from Washington
As expected, the disturbance came from the Russians. They appealed before Annalena Baerbock was the new president of the 80th General Assembly in New York as a former German Foreign Minister in New York on Monday.
From German diplomatic circles it was said that the orders came from the top, i.e. from the Kremlin itself. But Vladimir Putin and his executors were not more than symbolism. Upon request, Russia was only able to delay Baerbock’s election, where there were no opponents, only slightly, by demanding a secret coordination.
What happened then: Baerbock received 167 votes out of 188 members of the General Assembly. 14 nations were absent. And the name of the German careered diplomat Helga Schmid was recorded on seven ballots. This was originally intended for the post, but had to give way in favor of Baerbock, which also had to take a lot of criticism for this claim for power. Helga Schmid seven times on ballot pensions, although she was not at all elected – that could also have been a concerted interference campaign by the Russians, together with allied countries such as North Korea.
The office that Baerbock can now hold for one year is also a symbolic. The presidency of the 80th meeting of the UN General Assembly is also of a procedural and ceremonial nature. Baerbock does not have any decision -making power in legislative, financial or security policy and is also dependent on the consensus of all 193 Member States. Their wishes must be taken into account and integrated. Many of them, such as Russia, have their own blockage interests.
In short: Baerbocks as the new president is particularly in the so-called agenda setting, i.e. the theme setting, in the moderation and mediation of disputes. It forms the symbolic leadership of the UN General Assembly, so to speak, and can try to integrate civil society and the public into the processes. In other words, it has an impact, but without her own authority. Ultimately, however, the office is what Baerbock believes, namely personified soft power.
Measured by the limited, this, also in time, limited office, Annalena Baerbock has probably packed her desk quite packed with things, which she still wants to reach within a year. This includes the coordination of the election of the next UN Secretary-in Secretary, whereby the five permanent members of the UN Security Council want to implement their ideas here.
Baerbock presented her big plans both in her application speech on May 15 and in her current inaugural speech. Accordingly, she sees herself and her role as a rescuer of the UN, who must assert herself in a dark, global situation. “Existential – I have heard this word most frequently in the past few weeks,” said Baerbock on May 15th and repeatedly repeats today how challenging these times would be.
Therefore, a large reform of the UN is absolutely necessary, according to Baerbock after her election in New York. “My first main goal will be to support the Member States in renewing, realigning and strengthening our organization,” she said.
Anyone who knows the lengthy, often years and decades of processes at the United Nations, suspects that Baerbock’s ambitions sound good, but will hardly be implemented in such a short time. The same applies to the climate crisis that the Greens wants to give a very special priority. “I will also pay special attention to one of the greatest threats to our time: the climate crisis,” she said.
This should succeed in making climate protection into a central part of the general assembly in order not least to be able to create momentum for the upcoming World Climate Conference in the Brazilian Belém in November. Baerbock wants to promote climate justice not least through peace and equality. It is unclear how this should be achieved beyond rhetoric. To Baerbock’s vision of a “inclusive multilateralism”, which is not a mere option for them, but means survival, civil society and young people in particular should also be involved.
