The President of the Republic opined on Wednesday that António Guterres has managed to “keep the ball in play” at the United Nations, which in his opinion is “a miracle”, and stressed the need to reform this organization.
“Falling the United Nations means dropping the one place where everyone can meet. If you lose it, what are you going to replace it with? Nothing,” defended Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in an interview with journalists in New York.
According to the head of state, it is “a miracle what engineer Guterres has done as Secretary General of the United Nations, namely “keeping the ball in play and pushing for what convergence is”, conditioned by the “veto of the United Nations”. some members of the Security Council”.
According to him, Guterres has tried “not to disintegrate the structure of the organization”, putting issues such as “the climate, the future, the situation of women, the protection of minorities, migrations, children, social transformations” on the agenda . , science and technology” and try to “intervene where possible in the war part, which is the most difficult”.
As Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke, sirens sounded at the entrance to Portugal’s permanent mission to the United Nations as delegations from member states passed by, prompting him to note that, despite everything, “multilateralism is alive.”
For the President of the Republic, “the big question in the coming years” is whether world leaders will be able to “reform the United Nations, make it more operational” and “reform the financial institutions so that the rich countries do not lag behind in getting richer and the poor poorer.”
In his speech on Tuesday, the first day of the annual general debate between the heads of state and government of the 193 member states of the United Nations, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa declared that “the time has come to implement these reforms,” calling for steps to implement the reforms. words to actions.
Based on the responses of other world leaders, the head of state was confident that they had heard him and seemed to agree: “Now if, in addition to listening and agreeing, they are also able and willing and will take steps in that direction that’s my question.”
‘Maybe, I hope so, that they have realized that it is in everyone’s interest. And if it is in everyone’s interest, it is good to make an effort to change what you already realize is not possible.’ I have already heard about the fact that the United Nations has been outdated for decades,” he added.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa emphasized that the future of the United Nations also depends on the upcoming national elections: “There are American presidential elections, there are European elections, there are presidential elections in different countries around the world and that is why internal politics plays a role later “.
In the past three days at the United Nations, the head of state has spoken not only at the 78th session of the General Assembly, but also at summits on sustainable development and the climate, leaving a message about the responsibility of politicians to the population. and in an open Security Council debate in which Portugal reiterated its support for Ukraine against the invasion of the Russian Federation.
Regarding this last debate, the President of the Republic attributed to China the attempt to “appear as neutral” and identified Russia’s position as “very defensive”, in a context where “the overwhelming majority – as expected was – of the numerous resolutions of the United Nations General Assembly – next to Ukraine”.
Source: DN
