Carlo Allegri, Reuters | Members vote during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council about the situation in Crimea at UN Headquarters in New York, USA, November 26, 2018.

German Finance Minister Olaf Scholz on Wednesday proposed that France give up its permanent seat on the UN Security Council and turn it into an EU seat, attracting a stinging French rebuke.

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In a wide-ranging speech on the future of Europe, Scholz said that giving the European Union a spot on the Security Council would allow the bloc to speak "with one voice" on the global stage.

"We could perhaps imagine that in the medium term the French seat becomes an EU seat," said Scholz, who is also Germany's vice-chancellor.

"I realise this will take some convincing in Paris, but it would be a bold and smart goal."

To lessen the pain of losing the powerful seat, France could become the permanent EU ambassador to the United Nations, he added.

Germany's finance minister has proposed that France give up its permanent UN Security Council seat for an EU representative. How pro-EU is @EmmanuelMacron? (hint: not enough to do this. Top trolling tho) Adam Plowright (@ADAMPLOW) 28 novembre 2018

But the suggestion was immediately shot down by the French ambassador to the United States, Gérard Araud.

"It's legally impossible because it would run counter to the Charter of the United Nations. Changing it would be politically impossible," Araud tweeted.

“'This is an absolutely scandalous idea for the French mission here at the UN”, reported FRANCE 24’s correspondent in New York City, Jessica Le Masurier.

“It would run counter to the charter of the UN (...) a bloc cannot take a Security Council seat, only individual states rather than organisations can hold a Security Council seat,” she added.

France to become the EU’s sole representative in 2019

France has been one of the five permanent Security Council members since the body was first established in 1945 in the wake of World War II to prevent another large-scale conflict.

The permanent members, which also includes Britain, China, Russia and the United States, are the most influential countries in the 193-member United Nations because they hold the right to veto UN resolutions.

Once Britain leaves the EU in March 2019, France will be the bloc's sole representative on the Council.

There have been repeated calls in the past to reform the UNSC, with large emerging nations in particular clamouring for a place at the table.

In 2010, then-US president Barack Obama voiced support for India's efforts to become a permanent Council member.

Brazil and Japan have expressed similar ambitions, while African nations have called for two permanent seats to better represent a continent they say has been historically overlooked.

Europe at a crossroads

French President Emmanuel Macron called on lawmakers in the German parliament last month to help create a "stronger, more sovereign Europe".

"Europe cannot play its role if it becomes the plaything of great powers and contents itself with a supporting role on the global stage," he said.

Chancellor Angela Merkel welcomed Macron's speech, saying Europe was "at a crossroads" over its future.

In the past, she and Foreign Minister Heiko Maas have both called for individual EU countries' seats on the UNSC to be "Europeanised".

When Germany was selected to hold one of the 10 non-permanent seats for two years from January 2019, Maas promised Berlin would "interpret it in a European way".

"We want to show that we take the common European seat seriously. Because that remains our aim," he added.

Scholz's sally was the latest way Germany has sought to dispel accusations it has failed to respond to Macron's ambitious hopes to reform the EU and the euro single currency.

While German leaders appear open to deeper cooperation in fields like defence, many have deep reservations about Macron's plans to equip the eurozone with a centrally managed budget, fearing wealthy countries could end up footing spendthrift neighbours' bills.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)

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