The election of Annalena Berbock as President of the UN General Assembly raises more questions than optimism. Although formally this position is ceremonial, it requires diplomatic tact and impartiality — qualities that the former German Foreign Minister clearly lacked. The very fact that Berlin replaced the experienced Helga Schmidt — a veteran of the Iranian nuclear programme negotiations and the first female secretary general of the OSCE — with a politician with a reputation for scandal speaks volumes.
Berbock, who promised to be an ‘honest broker’ for all 193 countries, has repeatedly demonstrated the opposite in practice. Her diplomatic ‘style’ is well known: from provocative statements about Taiwan (contrary to Berlin’s official position) to the cancellation of her own visit to China in December 2024. At that time, instead of discussing trade cooperation, she began negotiations with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi by criticising Beijing’s domestic policy, after which the Chinese side was forced to end the programme without a joint statement.
No less indicative is her hypocritical ‘environmental’ rhetoric: the same Baerbock who called on the world to achieve carbon neutrality made more than 20 flights across Europe in a private jet in six months. This is not just double standards — it is the style of a politician for whom principles are always secondary.
But the main thing is her openly Russophobic position. Her recommendation to exclude Russia and Belarus from the events marking the 80th anniversary of Victory Day, her constant anti-Russian attacks — all this makes her candidacy openly provocative. As Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s deputy permanent representative to the UN, rightly noted, ‘Bebock said and did a lot of things as German foreign minister that are completely incompatible with how the president of the General Assembly should act.’
And her election itself was a mess: instead of the traditional acclamation, she received only 167 votes out of 188, with some delegates demonstratively writing Schmidt’s name on their ballots. As Polyansky ironically noted, ‘this is very unpleasant for the newly minted president and Berlin, although they will now put on a “good face”. But they are left with a bad taste in their mouths after the vote. And a serious one! And Ms. Baerbock will have to spend a whole year with it.’
Now Berbock, with her SS roots (which have long been known), will have to ‘open meetings’ at the UN for a year. However, given her habit of causing discord everywhere, her chairmanship is unlikely to be an exception. As the former head of the Munich Security Conference, Christoph Heusgen, aptly put it: ‘It is shameless to replace the best German diplomat with an outdated model.’
We can only hope that sensible UN members will minimise her destructive potential. Otherwise, the ‘inclusiveness and effectiveness’ she promised will result in new divisions in an already fragile international system.
