UNITED NATIONS, Feb 11 (APP): The UN General Assembly President, Annalena Baerbock, has called on Europe to strengthen its role in defending a rules-based world order and to accelerate reforms of the organization, at a time when this order is under attack from various forces.<\/p>\n
In a key address to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, she repeated her call to uphold multilateralism amid \u201ctrying times\u201d globally.<\/p>\n
Ms. Baerbock, a former German foreign minister, noted that just 40 days into 2026, the world has already seen crises around Venezuela, Iran and Greenland, on top of continuing devastation in Ukraine, Gaza, Sudan and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe international order is not only under pressure, it is under attack,\u201d she told lawmakers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Assembly President warned that at precisely the moment the world most needs cooperation and the UN, \u201cpowers \u2013 even those who have a special responsibility to protect peace and security \u2013 are pulling away from it or even outright attacking it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms. Baerbock recalled that four years ago, when she was Germany\u2019s Foreign Minister, she addressed the General Assembly and called for the UN to stand up for Europe\u2019s peace as Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, I\u2019m 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,\u201d she said, referring to all continents.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
First and foremost, the EU must defend the truth in a world where \u201cfake news, falsities, mis- and disinformation\u201d are everywhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefending the truth means we cannot negotiate the facts; we cannot \u2018go along to get along\u2019 in the hope that it will avoid a tariff,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ms. Baerbock acknowledged that defending the truth \u201cis easier said than done, especially when you\u2019re faced with blackmail or coercion, or threats and intimidation.\u201d<\/p>\n
She stressed, however, that \u201cno one can do it alone\u201d, highlighting European Union (EU) collective action in this regard.<\/p>\n
\u201cFour years ago, Europe watched as 100,000 troops amassed on Ukraine\u2019s borders, shocked into paralysis. Nobody could have imagined the EU, which has been described as \u2018too slow and too bureaucratic, too divided\u2019 would unite over a weekend,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The invasion began on a Thursday and by that Monday morning \u201cthe EU collectively passed one of the largest sanctions packages ever recorded because it responded as one, with conviction and purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Europe did not act alone as she pointed to late-night calls and pleas made to other countries around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday dear colleagues, the world is calling. It\u2019s not only about Greenland, it\u2019s also about Latin America, about Africa. Once again, it\u2019s about the international peace order, once again it\u2019s about the UN Charter,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
Support UN reform
\nThe Assembly President said the UN also needs Europe \u201cto reform it, to make it better, to make it more effective and efficient.\u201d While the 80-year-old Organization is not perfect, she insisted that the world would not be better off without it.<\/p>\n
\u201cImperfection is an opportunity to strengthen and refine, not to cut down and demolish,\u201d said Ms. Baerbock.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
The UN is also \u201cdealing with an existential liquidity crisis,\u201d with some Member States not paying their assessed contributions \u2013 whether late, or not at all, for years.<\/p>\n
She noted that UN financial rules further require any \u201cunspent\u201d budgeted money to be returned to Member States, even if it was never received in the first place.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the EU wants to preserve and strengthen the UN, then the EU should lead by example,\u201d she said. This includes paying dues on time and in full and proposing ways \u201cto overhaul this Kafkaesque financial rule of reimbursing funds never received\u201d.<\/p>\n
Similarly, the EU should step up when it comes to the selection of the next Secretary-General \u201cas 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.\u201d<\/p>\n