Improving the EU's Status in the UN and the UN System: An Objective without a Strategy?
The Lisbon Treaty emphasizes the EU’s commitment to multilateralism, stating that it ‘shall seek to develop relations and build partnerships with [...] international, regional or global organisations’ and to ‘promote multilateral solutions to common problems, in particular in the framework of the United Nations’ (Article 21(1), second para., TEU). One of its key goals in external relations is ‘to support and work for effective multilateralism, with the United Nations at its core’. However these global ambitions are often not matched by the level of participation and representation that the EU enjoys in the UN and the UN system. This contribution examines some of the legal and political issues that are at play as the EU attempts to enhance its cooperation with and representation in the UN and the UN system. It examines these issues with regard to UN bodies that have been identified as targets for closer co-operation and others where the EU could potentially pursue upgraded status. It analyses both the EU’s participation in the respective fora and the legal and political potential for improving the Union’s status. The EU not only remains faced with a series of internal and external obstacles as a participant within the UN and the UN system, barring it from taking up its leading role at the global level – it currently also lacks a convincing strategy to overcome them.
Putting Effectiveness into Multilateralism
Multilateralism is something of a mantra for the EU’s external actions; in fact it has been called a defining principle. The ambitions of the EU to uphold this principle are being challenged on multiple levels. The Member States often have strong incentives to protect their representation in international organizations that reflects the post–Second World War status quo and not that of the twenty-first century. It is also under pressure from the emergence of informal meeting venues that more suitably reflect the role and status of the emerging powers. Multilateralism deserves to remain at the core of the EU’s external actions, since the ability to apply and enforce multilateral rules on a broad array of global issues is vital for international order, security and prosperity. But this must be done in a manner that reflects the shifts in power and influence in the international system. This will be inherently more challenging in a complex multipolar international system, but it is one in which the EU should continue to seek support from like-minded partners, as well as press for more rights to be accorded to individuals, rather than to nation states.
Avocado Flowering 1
The avocado (Persea americana Mill.) has increased in importance over the years in many countries around the world. The United States, Mexico and Brazil lead in world commercial production, while Israel, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Spain, Cyprus, Canary Islands, Chile, Ecuador, Venezuela, Greece, and the Caribbean area are actively increasing commercial production (B.O. Bergh, personal communication; Gustafson 1976). The history of the avocado has been detailed by Gustafson (1973, 1975,1976) and others (Bergh 1975b, Knight 1980; Popenoe 1924; Ruehle 1958; Schroeder 1958; Williams 1976). Several reviews have been published on various aspects of the avocado, including its botany (Knight 1980; Purseglove 1968; Williams 1976), breeding (Bergh 1975b), horticulture (Hodgson 1930b; Ruehle 1958; Ryerson et al. 1924), cultivars (Campbell and Malo 1976), and pollination (Gustafson and Bergh 1966). A recent collection of papers discussing the horticultural aspects of avocado production is found in Sauls et al. (1976).