UN Security Council Reform: Veto Right for Germany

In two earlier articles, we referred to the three-day deliberations concluded on November 14th in the UN General Assembly, as regards the impending UN reforms. We quoted the words of Srgjan Kerim, the UN General Assembly President, who in his closing remarks said that "the debate demonstrated the clear commitment of Member States to embark upon a new stage that offers the prospect of achieving the ultimate goal of comprehensive reform" (http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=24665&Cr=general&Cr1=assembly).

We further analyzed the historical developments that have produced an extraordinarily different international environment over the past 65 years, and we insisted on the importance of the values and principles declared in Charter of the UN for the forthcoming reform. We finally advocated for Japan and India as additional UN Security Council Permanent Members, calling for a more representative UN Security Council that will be able to reflect today's world, and pertinently address the overwhelming aspirations for Humanism, Democracy, Freedom, Justice, and respect of the Human Rights.

In this article, we will advocate for a more representative UN Security Council, suggesting Veto Right for further candidates, and more precisely Germany no1 exporter in the world.

Germany

In 1945, Germany was the main defeated member of the Axis forces; certainly Japan surrendered after the two nuclear attacks, but Germany was far more extensively destroyed than Japan by use of conventional weapons. Even worse, Germany was occupied and therefore divided into four zones, US, UK, USSR and French, of occupation, something that was avoided in the case of either Japan or Italy. It was only normal that Germany was left out of the UN Security Council project which was in a way conceived against its Nazi regime. Germany, divided into two countries, Bundesrepublik Deutschland and Deutsche Demokratische Republik, entered the UN later.

However, one decade after Hitler's annihilation, Germany was already one of the six constituent members of the embryonic form of the European Union. The meanwhile emerged republican political establishment of Germany represented a combination of French and American political ideologies that is very questionable whether they truly reflected original German thinking and ideas. As a matter of fact, this mattered very little in a divided world, in the middle of a Cold War, which was even more vividly lived in divided Germany.

With great American help (Marshall Plan), Germany recovered fast, the ruins disappeared, and Western Germany became and remained for decades the European economy’s real locomotive. This terminated in 1990, as the cost of the reunification proved to be a real challenge.

Despite all this, Germany remains - until now - European Union’s largest country (currently 82 m people), and strongest economy. Only Turkey (presently ca. 75 m people), if accepted in the EU, is in a position to dethrone Germany and become Europe's largest country.

Germany’s economic parameters and indicators testify to a sheer superiority at all levels, if compared with those of France and England: the German GDP (US $ 2.6 trillion) is higher than England’s (US $ 1.9 trillion) and France’s (US $ 1.9 trillion), and Germany leads England and France when it comes to per capita GDP (US $ 31900, compared to US $ 31800 and US $ 31200 respectively),

Regarding Gross Fixed Investment as part of the GDP, France (20.5%) leads both England (18.1%) and Germany (18%). When it comes to budget revenues and expenditures, Germany (US $ 1.2 trillion/1.3 trillion) leads France (US $ 1.1 trillion/1.2 trillion) and England (US $ 1 trillion/1 trillion),

Germany is the world leader in exports; with exportations totaling US $ 1.131.000.000 (est. 2006), Germany leads the US (no 2, US $ 1.023.000.000) and China (no 3, US $ 969.000.000). France (no 5, US $ 483.000.00) and England (no 6, US $ 450.000.000), counted together, export as much as 80% of the German exports, despite the fact that their combined population is 50% larger than Germany's (123 m people vs. 82 m people).

Leading nation in terms of trade exchange surplus, Germany imports less than it exports (US $ 934 b); contrarily, England and France import more than they export (US $ 604 b and US $ 520.8 b respectively).

When it comes to Foreign Exchange and Gold reserves, Germany (US $ 111.6 b) leads France (US $ 98.2 b) and England (US $ 47 b), ranking no 9 in the world.

If we take into consideration parameters of ICT development, Germany leads France and England as regards fixed telephone lines (54.2 million, instead of 34.6 million and 33.6 million respectively), mobile telephone lines (84.3 million, instead of 69.6 million and 53 million respectively), and Internet users (38.6 million, instead of 33.5 million and 31.3 million respectively). In most of the cases, the German economic and technological superiority (comparatively with France and England) is proportionally greater than the German advantage as regards the population.

Thus, with larger population and stronger economy than France and England, Germany should be viewed as another convincing candidate for the UN Veto Club, after Japan and India. In a forthcoming article, we will explain the reasons why Italy, Brazil, and Mexico should also be offered Permanent Membership in the UN Security Council.

Note

Picture: Reichstag, the German Parliament at Berlin