Russia must stop the war and withdraw from Ukrainian territory, Michel believes.

President of the European Council Charles Michel at the UN General Assembly called for the reform of the UN Security Council.

As he noted, the current Security Council is neither inclusive nor representative. 

He called for urgent reform, which would concern, in particular, the principle of the use of the right of veto. 

“The use of the veto should be the exception, but it is becoming the rule,” he said. 

“When a permanent member of the Security Council unleashes an unprovoked and unjustified war condemned by the General Assembly, his removal from the Security Council should be automatic,” he stressed. 

Michel also accused Russia of lying. He stressed that this country is not conducting any kind of “special operation”, but an unprovoked, illegal and unjustified war aimed at forcibly changing internationally recognized borders.

The head of the European Council also recalled that Russia is lying, saying that the sanctions against it cause a shortage of food and fertilizers in the world. He said that even before the war, Russia itself had drastically reduced exports of grains and fertilizers – “contributing to price fluctuations” in the world market, and then forcibly blockaded Black Sea ports, excluding maritime trade.

“In truth, there is a very simple way to end the food crisis – for Russia to stop the war, withdraw from Ukrainian territory and lift the blockade of ports,” Michel said.

Reforming the UN Security Council: what you should know 

The UN Security Council has five permanent members (France, US, China, UK and Russia) and 10 elected UN General Assembly. The former have the right to veto, and Russia abuses this by blocking decisions aimed at countering its own crimes. The day after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Federation  vetoed a resolution  calling for the immediate withdrawal of troops from the territory of our country.

In the spring, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the UN  should exclude the Russian Federation from the list of permanent members of the Security Council , however, Ukraine’s permanent representative to the UN, Serhiy Kislitsa,  considers this unlikely  due to Russia’s nuclear weapons. 

Against the exclusion of the Russian Federation from the Security Council is another member – China. Foreign Minister Wang Yi said. that “Russia is a permanent member of the Security Council and must play its important role in the UN, no one can deprive it of this right.”

In recent months, against the backdrop of Russia’s war against Ukraine, there have been numerous calls for reform of the UN Security Council. While Germany and the US were in favor of expanding the number of permanent and non-permanent members, Turkey and Liechtenstein were in favor of  changing the rules of the veto . In particular, Turkey is in favor of replacing the right of veto to decision-making by a majority vote. 

(C)UNIAN 2022