UN in the spotlight

Chris Patten: The UN is more important than ever

In a HARDtalk interview on 25th March, Tim Sebastian talks to Chris Patten, EU Commissioner for External Relations, on the first day of war in Iraq.

Chris Patten is quite candid about the damage to European foreign policy:

"There isn't, as you know, a European position. It's been a pretty good humiliation for the attempt to create a common foreign and security policy," says Mr Patten.

I suspect that the end of a military conflict is going to see people very quickly turning back to the UN

Chris Patten

He stressed that we have to get back to a position where we can work together to solve international problems, because we can't solve them all militarily:

"We are going to have to move on to the DPRK, to North Korea. We are going to have to move on to dealing with problems in Pakistan and elsewhere. And I don't think anybody seriously suggests that you can move militarily from one of these problems to another."

International institutions

Talking of the importance of the UN, he said: "How can you possibly consider, after September 11th, that most brutal manifestation of the globalisation of problems as well as opportunities, how can you possibly think that we can manage this world effectively by going back to the way things were done in the nineteenth century?

"How can you possibly think that it makes sense to unpick the institutions which America more than anybody else put in place," he said.

The future of the UN is at stake

He expressed optimism that the US would see the wisdom of supporting the UN:

"I suspect that the end of a military conflict is going to see people very quickly turning back to the UN in order to provide the authority, the mandate for rebuilding in Iraq.

"I think you're going to be surprised - all of us I hope are going to be surprised by the speed with which people recognise again that the UN, imperfect an institution though it may be, is the only way in which we can put a stamp on international co-operation which will ensure that that co-operation is sustainable and extensive".

"What I feel intensely, as I've been saying during the course of this discussion, that it matters to try to pull things together again, and that unless we're committed to that, we are going to live in a less stable world."

HARDtalk can be watched on BBC World and BBC News 24