The United Nations and the European Union

Abstract

The European Union (EU) and the United Nations (UN) are expressions of a rules-based global order. The EU has enshrined support to the UN in its security strategies, and its priorities indicate an engagement in a wide range of UN programs and activities to maintain the rules-based order and adapt it to face internal and external challenges. The EU and its member states are the largest contributors to the UN budget. Following the adoption of the Lisbon treaty, the EU has increased its representation at the UN, gaining enhanced observer status in the General Assembly. However, because of the intergovernmental nature of the forum, only its member states have the right to vote. This has led scholars to investigate the actorness of the EU at the UN through the analysis of the voting cohesion of EU member states in the General Assembly. Less attention has been paid to the behavior of EU member states in the Security Council. Existing scholarship has tended to analyze how the EU acts within the UN more than inter-organizational cooperation. However, the contribution of the EU and its member states to UN activities in the area of peace and security maintenance is particularly relevant and is a reminder that inter-organizational cooperation deserve greater attention than the one it has received so far.

Is Europe raising its voice? EU representation at the UN prior to and post-Lisbon

“…Each year prior to the start of a new UNGA session the Council adopts the official 'EU Priorities at the UN'. Over the last decade, these priorities can be summarized along three dimensions (Monteleone, 2019). First, EU member states have a joint interest in upholding international law and promoting the rules-based international order, 'with multilateralism as its key principle and the United Nations as its core' (European Union, 2016: 15).…”

“…Before Lisbon, the rotating Council presidency represented the EU in all relevant meetings at the UN. While the Commission has enjoyed observer status since 1974, it has restricted itself to speaking on policies under exclusive EU competences, that is the common commercial, monetary, competition or fishery policy (Monteleone, 2019: 4). As we will see below, there are not many UN debates on these topics.…”

“…Finally, it was also the duty of the presidency to coordinate the position among representatives of EU member states in New York (Rasch, 2008). To this end, the heads of the EU missions to the UN met at least once every week (Monteleone, 2019: 3).…”

“…However, the EU does not have the right to sponsor draft resolutions, to vote or to propose candidates for UNGA offices. Moreover, the EU can only amend draft resolutions at the request of a member states (Monteleone, 2019: 4).…”

“…The EC and later its successor the EU have held observer status since 1974. Over the years, the EU has obtained unique privileges inside the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), including the right to speak early in debates, the right to reply in those debates as well as the right to raise points of order (Monteleone, 2019: 4). Before Lisbon, the Commission has represented the EU only in those few United Nations (UN) meetings that deal with exclusive EU competences such as fishery or commercial policies.…”