EU gains special rights at UN
World body votes to give EU representatives speaking rights.
The United Nations General Assembly, which gathers the world body's 192 member states, has voted overwhelmingly in favour of giving the European Union enhanced status.
The decision means that EU officials such as Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, or Catherine Ashton, the foreign policy chief, have the right to address the Assembly.
The resolution adopted today does not affect the UN's main decision-making body, the 15-member Security Council.
A first attempt by the EU to gain special rights failed in September, when many developing countries voted against it. Other regional organisations, such as the Arab League, are now expected to seek special rights as well.
The EU made some minor concessions, agreeing, among other things, to use its right to reply only once rather than twice, as member states can.
The EU had argued that its Lisbon treaty, which gives it a legal personality and upgrades its international representation, made the enhanced status at the Assembly necessary.
Van Rompuy welcomed the decision, saying: “Thanks to this resolution, the EU achieves an important recognition as a global actor at the United Nations.”
Ashton, who was in New York to lobby for the resolution, said the decision “the resolution will in future enable EU representatives to present and promote the EU's positions in the UN, as agreed by its member states”.