Germany Seeks UN Veto Parity

On a visit to Tokyo, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder pushed talk over UN Security Council restructuring to a new level by demanding a veto right for any new member.

Schröder said a reform of the UN Security Council "can't be done with a double standard," meaning any new council member should have the same veto right that the current members enjoy.

By seeking a veto right for a new member, Schröder moved the current discussion over UN Security Council restructuring to a new level. Current UN Secretary General Kofi Annan hopes to complete a reform of the Council in 2005.

Considering two models

Last week, a UN commission suggested two possible new models for the council. One of these would expand the council by six new permanent and three temporary members, the second would add nine temporary members. But until now, neither model had included a veto right for the new members.


http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,1564,1422951,00.html

a permanent seat on the Security Council.

Second-largest country in the world.

In geographic size, no.

Japan and German are the second, respectively third, largest contributors to the UN.

And for those who say it would weaken American influence, the veto has done plenty to screw America in the ass as well.

Make a "no" vote separate from a veto, and make it possible to override a veto by, say, a 3/5 vote by the full council. Maybe stagger it, so that two vetoes would require 2/3 or 3/4 of the security council to override, and more than 2 or 3 would mean a firm no, with no possible overriding.

That would make it possible to have 11 veto-wielding permanent members, which is the number reformers aim to have (current 5 plus Germany, India, Japan, Brazil, and two African countries - probably Egypt and either South Africa or Nigeria).

But the US would oppose any diminution of its veto power. It's the most likely target, due to Imperial 'aspirations' and it wants to paint the UN as ineffective.