Lotte Knudsen, Executive Director of the European External Action Service for ‘Human rights, global and multilateral affairs, on multilateralism and the role of the EU’, highlighted on Tuesday 22 September that the United Nations is becoming increasingly polarised.
“In recent years, the situation has been characterised by an increasing withdrawal of the United States (...) as China enters the international system more and more effectively”, she told the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs. According to Knudsen, this is “accelerating because of the pandemic and it’s becoming more polarised than ever before”. In particular, the Executive Director highlighted the divisions within the UN Security Council. “China is present and aggressive throughout the organisation”, including within the agencies, she added.
the face of this polarisation, Europe must strengthen its cooperation. According to Ms Knudsen, last year the presence of five member states on the Security Council (France, United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium and Poland) “allowed for a certain amount of influence through coordination” between them. “We can coordinate better, member states realise that they have more influence when they are united”, she added.
The Executive Director added that Europe had also understood the need to seek alliances beyond the traditional partners of Canada and New Zealand. “We want to show as much leadership as possible. There is a real demand for leadership. There are states that want an alternative to the United States or China, there can be ad hoc convergences”, she told MEPs. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)