EU to support Ukraine at UN General Assembly, call for Security Council reform - Borrell

Next week, at the UN General Assembly, the European Union will use the opportunity to reiterate its steadfast support for Ukraine and the need to reform the Security Council, whose decisions are blocked by Russia.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said this in a blog on the website of the European External Action Service, Ukrinform reports.

"This week comes indeed at a crucial moment for the world and the multilateral system. With its war of aggression against Ukraine, Russia, a nuclear power and permanent member of the UN Security Council, trampled on the UN Charter. Despite repeated calls by the UN General Assembly to comply with its responsibility, Russia is preventing the Security Council from fulfilling its role, not only in Ukraine but also elsewhere, thus threatening the credibility of the whole United Nations system," he said.

According to him, in order to restore the unique legitimacy of the UN, it is urgent "to make the Security Council more representative to reflect the changes that have taken place in the world and in particular give Africa a voice."

Borrell noted that coming on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia's war against one of the world's main breadbaskets threatens global food security and is aggravating the global cost-of-living crisis. "This affects all countries but particularly the weakest and poorest ones. In August 2022, the UN played a decisive role to alleviate this pain with the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI). However, last July Russia decided to abandon this deal. We will discuss with UN Secretary General Guterres the ways and means to revive it," he said.

"We will again use this year's High Level Week to explain our unwavering support for Ukraine and rally countries from every corner of the world to team up with us in defense of the UN charter and refusal of Russia's neoimperialism. We cannot go back to a world where 'might makes right.' This would imperil the security of all nations, big and small, particularly of developing and emerging ones," Borrell wrote.

He added that the EU attaches special importance to the activities of the UN, especially in difficult times experienced by the multilateral world system, when rifts are widening all over the world and global leadership is absent, insufficient or fractured. According to Borrell, it is now necessary to reverse such a trend.

"The EU wants to not only preserve the UN and the multilateral system but also modernize and strengthen a rules-based world order, rooted in the values of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. At a time when others are attempting to redefine the world order based on illiberal values, the need for the EU and the UN to come together has never been higher," he said.