Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) has announced that Germany may cut its payments to the United Nations (UN) to more clearly assert national interests. This comes after Germany recently lost its bid for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Wadephul told the Rheinische Post: “It cannot be that we are one of the largest contributors and yet are not taken into account in certain decisions, including in personnel matters.” The Bundestag will scrutinize commitments more closely during the budget process.
At the same time, Wadephul wants more funds for humanitarian aid. “The need to strengthen our humanitarian engagement in the future is obvious from every other news report,” he said. This is also in Germany’s own interest to avoid refugee crises like that of 2015.
The current federal budget allocates around 961 million euros for UN contributions, a decrease of about 84 million euros from the previous year. Wadephul plans to discuss these issues in the cabinet and then with parliament.
Source: www.zeit.de
