EU's Kallas: UN Security Council dysfunctional, fails to reflect today's world

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas delivered a sharp critique of the United Nations Security Council on Friday, asserting that the body has ceased functioning as originally intended and fails to represent current global power dynamics. Addressing a panel at the Munich Security Conference, Kallas argued that while nations universally subscribe to UN Charter principles, enforcement mechanisms remain fundamentally broken. "Everybody signs up to the United Nations Charter, the principles are there. But what happens if somebody breaches those principles? The accountability is clearly not working," she stated.

Reform Imperative and Equal Application of Law

Kallas emphasized that meaningful reform must account for contemporary realities while upholding state equality and the principle that no nation exists above legal scrutiny. "If we reform, then we should actually take into account the world as it currently is, where all the states are equal, and also that nobody is above the law," she said, stressing that even the most powerful countries must face consequences for violating agreed rules. When questioned about repeated ceasefire violations in Gaza and accountability mechanisms, she reiterated her demand for equal application of international law.

Cooperation Versus Dominance in Global Affairs

Addressing the structure of international power, Kallas observed that while powerful states have historically operated by different standards, genuine strength derives from cooperation rather than dominance. Drawing a striking analogy, she noted: "Even in the jungle, animals cooperate, and so you are better off when you work with others." Contrasting Russian and American military engagements, she pointed out that Moscow wages war largely isolated, while Washington's operations attract broad allied participation, concluding: "That means that you also need us to be this superpower." Her remarks underscore European insistence on multilateral cooperation as essential to sustainable global order.