Since it joined
\nthe UN in 1955, Romania has held 4 non-permanent member seats in the Security
\nCouncil, in 1962, 1976-1977, 1990-1991 and in 2004-2005 respectively. The
\ncurrent campaign for a new seat in the Council is held under the motto
\nRomania: Long-Term Commitment to Peace, Justice and Development. Here is what
\nAmbassador Ion Jinga, Romania’s permanent representative to the UN, has told
\nRadio Romania:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Ion Jinga: We have been in the
\nSecurity Council before, 4 times. We have also been on the Economic and Social
\nCouncil, 8 times. At present Romania is a member of the ECOSOC, the Economic
\nand Social Council, in the 2017-2018 term. We were twice members of the Human
\nRights Council. We have presided a number of UN commissions and committees,
\nsome of them of great importance. So Romania is a player in this game,
\nobviously not one of the big players, but a medium one. But I dare say that
\nthanks to the strength, skill and intelligence of the Romanian diplomacy, we
\nmanaged, many times during this period in which we have been active in the
\nmultilateral international arena, to go beyond the status given by a country’s
\nmere geographic size or economic power, and we did this through the strength of
\nour ideas and through our projects. It all comes down to the country’s human
\ncontribution.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
The elections
\nfor the forthcoming term will take place during the June 2019 UN General
\nAssembly meeting, and in accordance to the provisions of the UN Charter, in
\norder to obtain a seat a country needs the votes of 2\/3 of the UN member
\ncountries during the General Assembly. The UN currently has 193 members, and
\nthe candidates for this particular seat are Romania and Estonia. On what
\ncountries can Bucharest rely, for support? <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Ion Jinga: A country needs two-thirds
\nof the UN member states, which arithmetically translates into at least 129
\ncountries. Well, in order to get the vote of 129 countries or more, we need
\nstrong arguments and persuasion power, because to a certain extent votes are
\nbased on mutual arrangements, but also they are largely based on what a country
\nis capable of doing, on what it undertakes to do and on its past
\naccomplishments, on proving that on previous occasions that country did what it
\nhad promised to do. As a detail, this is a secret ballot. And in secret voting,
\nto quote a distinguished ambassador of a major country which is a permanent
\nmember of the Security Council, ‘my vote is known only to myself and God’. So
\nit takes a lot of persuasion power to make sure that those ambassadors casting
\na secret ballot will actually vote for your country, beyond any arrangements
\none might make.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
As of January 1,
\n2019, Romania will hold the presidency of the EU Council for 6 months. How
\ncould this influence Bucharest’s bid for a non-permanent seat in the UN
\nSecurity Council? <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
Ion Jinga: I believe Romania’s
\npresidency of the EU Council may play a positive role in our campaign for the
\nSecurity Council. I have no doubts that it will be a successful presidency. The
\npresident of Romania Klaus Iohannis mentioned in 2017 and in 2018, at the UN
\nGeneral Assembly, that Romania will seek a place in the Security Council. It is
\na message of political support at the highest level, which basically gives
\nlegitimacy to any effort that we are making to promote this candidacy. In turn,
\nthe Foreign Minister, Mr Melescanu, had around 40 bilateral meetings in
\nSeptember, focusing on the efforts to promote this candidacy. We are trying to
\ncapitalise on a certain tradition in certain areas. For instance, at present we
\nare chairing the Peacebuilding Commission. It is the first time that Romania is
\na member of this commission, and its chair. As the head of this commission, I
\nhave travelled to Africa twice, jointly with a UN team, we have visited 5-6
\ncountries there. A number of meetings are held in those countries. For
\ninstance, Romania managed to introduce in the agenda of the Peacebuilding
\nCommission, through a joint meeting with ECOSOC – the Economic and Social
\nCouncil, a debate on the ties between the consequences of climate factors and
\nsecurity risks. This topic has never been on the agenda of this commission, but
\nit is a major topic, and for some countries even a critical one.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
As Ambassador
\nJinga put it, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose in this field, but the
\nimportant thing is to do your job well, to believe in what you do and to
\nbelieve that what you do serves your country. If Romania wins this seat, it is
\nRomania as a whole that stands to gain, and the echoes of this accomplishment,
\nof a new Security Council member seat, will certainly span a decade. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In 2016 Romania submitted its candidacy for non-permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council for 2020-2021, on the slot earmarked for the East-European Group, of which it is a part<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":108,"featured_media":156016,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43939],"tags":[44601,44600,44599],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-156015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-future-starts-today","tag-ecosoc","tag-human-rights-council","tag-united-nations-security-council"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n