UN Security Council: Serbia could apply for non-permanent membership

“If they vote, then on the same day, since two countries applied for a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, we will apply at the same second and we will convincingly defeat both NATO countries that applied.” This is how Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced the first step in the fight for Serbia’s interests if the Resolution on Srebrenica is adopted before the United Nations General Assembly on May 2. Such an announcement is coming for the first time and it would be Serbia’s first candidacy for membership in that body.

– The main benefit is that we are here, that we can start a session of the UN Security Council whenever we want, because when a SB member asks to be called, then she must be called – says Branko Branović, former ambassador to the United Nations (UN).

In this way, Serbia could prevent the postponement of sessions like the one on NATO bombing. The plan for the position of a non-permanent member would and will bring a more significant position of Serbia in the UN, but it is, according to the former ambassadors, quite ambitious.

– Submitting a candidacy is a very serious job, it requires a thorough presentation of the state’s capacity and its permanent council program. The UN is a mirror of international relations, when you have the status of a non-permanent member, it is not just to raise your hand, but it implies being active in the Security Council – says Branka Latinović, former ambassador to the OSCE.

UN Security Council:

• There are a total of 15 members
• 5 of them are permanent: USA, China, Russia, France, Great Britain
• They have the right to veto any resolution or decision
• 10 seats belong to non-permanent members, and their mandate lasts two years
• At least two-thirds of the votes of the UN General Assembly are required for election, and the candidates come from five regional groups

– In Europe, there are two regional groups, one is Eastern European, there are all former members of the USSR and former members of Yugoslavia, among them Serbia, and that is where the selection of candidates is made. – says Latinović.

– There is a possibility that certain countries that can take their turn have no interest in being there at a certain moment – says Branković.

SFRY was a member four times

Among the countries in the region, this year Slovenia began its second mandate as a non-permanent member of the Security Council. For the first time, Albania was in this most important body, the United Nations, in the previous two years, and during the 2000s, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina were also members.

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRJ) during its existence was a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council four times.