The EU voice at the United Nations
On the occasion of European Council President Herman van Rompuy’s speech this afternoon to the UN General Assembly, please accept some facts and figures on the aggregated weight of the European Union at the United Nations (courtesy the EU): The 27 EU countries command more than one eighth of the votes of the UN General ...
On the occasion of European Council President Herman van Rompuy's speech this afternoon to the UN General Assembly, please accept some facts and figures on the aggregated weight of the European Union at the United Nations (courtesy the EU):
On the occasion of European Council President Herman van Rompuy’s speech this afternoon to the UN General Assembly, please accept some facts and figures on the aggregated weight of the European Union at the United Nations (courtesy the EU):
The 27 EU countries command more than one eighth of the votes of the UN General Assembly, in which each of the 193 UN members has an equal vote. The EU members vote unanimously on nearly all (97%) resolutions put to the UN General Assembly.
Among the 15 members of the UN Security Council, there are currently four EU states: permanent and veto-wielding members France and United Kingdom as well as Germany and Portugal, whose membership runs until 31 December 2012.
At the same time, the EU is the single largest financial contributor to the UN system. The 27 EU member states fund 38% of the UN’s regular budget, more than two-fifths of UN peacekeeping operations, and about half of all UN members’ contributions to UN funds and programmes.
The European Union has the status of a permanent observer at the United Nations. As such, it cannot vote or hold a seat on the Security Council. But last year, via a vote in the General Assembly, the EU secured for itself the right to address the annual UN meetings.
David Bosco is a professor at Indiana University’s Hamilton Lugar School of Global and International Studies. He is the author of The Poseidon Project: The Struggle to Govern the World’s Oceans. Twitter: @multilateralist
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