German President Calls for UN Reform

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier has warned that the rules-based international order is under threat and called for a stronger, reformed United Nations. The call was made during his speech at the opening of the Hamburg Sustainability Conference. In his address, he cautioned that the international rules-based order is facing unprecedented pressure and called for a new global commitment to cooperation and UN reform. Steinmeier said the world is entering a period where long-standing international norms are increasingly endangered. “We live in a time when the international rules that have guided us for decades are under threat, when powerful states no longer recognise these rules and openly violate them when they stand in the way of their own power interests,” Steinmeier said, as reported by the Suddeutsche Zeitung. He stated that global politics is increasingly being shaped by “raw power politics, zero-sum mindsets, and confrontation,” replacing what he described as the foundations of a cooperative international system. “A spirit of brutality and ruthlessness is sweeping the international stage,” he said. Despite these developments, Steinmeier stressed that abandoning multilateral cooperation would be a mistake. “Withdrawing from the United Nations is a short-sighted and fatal act,” he said. “However, the UN must reform, it must become more efficient and effective, it must prove that it can achieve better outcomes than authoritarian leaders obsessed with fantasies of absolute power.”