GERMAN VIEWS ON UN REFORM

C O N F I D E N T I A L BERLIN 001318

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/19/2015
TAGS: PREL KUNR GM UNSC
SUBJECT: GERMAN VIEWS ON UN REFORM


Classified By: POL M/C John Bauman for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).


1. (C) Poloff met recently with several German government
officials to discuss Germany's current thinking on UN reform.
The Germans continue to insist that they are interested in
wide-ranging reform, and point to their active engagement in
formulating the EU response to all of SYG Annan's proposals.
With regard to Security Council expansion, the Germans still
say they believe they have the votes to pass a resolution
before the summer that would specify the number of additional
countries to be named as permanent members. However,
Hansjorg Haber, Director of the Office responsible for
Security Council issues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
admitted that, due to the various pressures at work in the
General Assembly on this issue, a number of countries' votes
could not be predicted with confidence until such a motion is
actually considered by the Assembly. Victoria Zimmermann von
Siefart, advisor on UN issues at the Chancellery, expressed
more concern than she has in the past about possible
abstentions on such a motion.

Concerns About China
--------------


2. (C) Although many Germans express suspicions about the
U.S. undermining the German bid for a permanent seat,
officials responsible for UN issues do not voice such
concerns. Both Haber and von Siefart say they only hope for
"neutrality" from the United States, noting that it is up to
Germany and its partners to build strong support for
expanding the Council. Haber said the Germans' biggest worry
is China, both because of its veto right and its lingering
influence in some developing nations. Von Siefart told
Poloff that she and National Security Advisor Bernd
Muetzelburg were pleased with the tone of their discussions
earlier this month in Washington with U/S Burns. She does
not interpret comments by the USG about the need for "broad
consensus" for expansion to mean "consensus" in the technical
sense of the term. Both she and Haber argue that the issue
of expansion should and will be resolved by a vote.

German Lobbying
--------------


3. (C) Haber said he regrets any impression that German
officials are lobbying overly aggressively for the Security
Council seat. Regarding alleged German threats to reduce
financial support for the UN if their bid fails, Haber said
the Germans simply believe that existing multilateral
institutions do not give due weight to the importance of
countries like India and Brazil. If these countries and the
Germans do not receive a place in the Security Council, it
may be necessary at some point to create other institutions
where the Germans can work multilaterally with such partners.
Financial support for these alternative institutions might
reduce the resources that would be available for contributing
to the UN.

Support for UNCHR Reform
--------------


4. (C) Christina Beinhoff, who is responsible for
multilateral human rights issues at the Foreign Ministry,
told Poloff that the Germans are lobbying actively within the
EU for consensus positions that endorse most of SYG Annan's
reform proposals connected with human rights. The Germans
support the idea of a smaller body to take up the work
currently done by the UNCHR. They are still concerned that
it may be difficult to find a mechanism for excluding the
worst human rights offenders from such a body, but Beinhoff
was "intrigued" by the notion of a code of conduct. The
Germans also strongly support a UN peacebuilding capacity and
a democracy fund. However, due to German budget constraints,
they would want such a fund to be paid for by voluntary
contributions rather than dues.
CLOUD