Rice stops short of endorsing German UN seat

9 June 2005

WASHINGTON – US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice declined on Wednesday to endorse a permanent seat for Germany on the UN Security Council but said the United States has not taken a position against any proposal to expand the council.

Rice said the issue was discussed extensively during her meeting with German foreign minister Joschka Fischer at the State Department in Washington and she expressed the importance of reforming the Cold War-era Security Council to reflect the modern world’s makeup.

“We are not against any proposal,” Rice said. “What we are for is to look at the various ideas that are on the table, to have a sober and reflective discussion of that so that we might drive toward the broadest possible consensus on how to move forward on what would be a very fundamental change to this extremely important institution.”

Germany is included in a proposal to add six permanent members to the powerful council along with India, Japan, Brazil and two as-yet- unnamed African countries. The only country that the United States, which is among the five current permanent council members, has outwardly supported is Japan, citing its financial contributions to the United Nations.

“The only country that we have said unequivocally that we support is Japan, having to do with Japan’s special role in the UN and support for the UN,” Rice said.

Last month, The Washington Post reported that an internal State Department document expressed Rice’s doubts about supporting Germany’s bid over concerns it would give the European Union three permanent seats on the council. France and Britain are original members.

The other current permanent members, which all wield veto power on the council, are China and Russia.

DPA

Subject: German news