Berlin (dpa) – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy have received the Global Citizen Award in recognition of their services to international cooperation. The two leaders accepted the Global Citizen Awards of the Atlantic Council, a non-governmental organisation that promotes transatlantic relations, at a gala dinner in New York.
Scholz said that he felt honoured to receive the award alongside Zelenskiy. “Russia’s brutal war of aggression against Ukraine is being fought in Europe – but it is also an attack against fundamental principles of our international order,” he said. The chancellor once again assured Zelenskiy of his country’s support in the war against the Russian aggressors, for as long as it takes.
Before the awards ceremony, Scholz had met the Ukrainian president for a 30-minute conversation in New York. Afterwards, government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit announced that Zelenskiy had thanked him for Germany’s military aid, especially for the artillery and air defence systems provided.
During a meeting of the UN Security Council, Zelenskiy had previously appealed for more members to be admitted to the body, including Germany. “Germany has become one of the key global guarantors of peace and security,” he said. It deserves a place among the permanent members of the Security Council, he added.
Currently, the Security Council is made up of 15 of the 193 UN member states. Five nuclear powers are permanent members and have the right to veto all decisions: the USA, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and France. A number of the other 188 member states occupy the remaining ten seats on an alternating basis every two years. Germany applies for a seat every eight years, the next time being for 2027/28. Furthermore, the German government claims that it should be given consideration, as Europe’s largest economic power, if the number of permanent seats is increased.