US embassy cable - 05BERLIN1318

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