Chancellor Friedrich Merz acknowledged Germany's defeat in its bid for a UN Security Council seat. The vote ended in a historic failure.
Merz commented in a brief statement on Wednesday evening. “We applied with conviction” and “We did not achieve the goal,” he said after the vote loss. Germany, one of the United Nations’ most important donor countries, missed entry into the body for the first time. Senior coalition politicians also called the result a heavy blow for the chancellor personally. The opposition criticized Merz as an “foreign policy chancellor” and spoke of a defeat. Merz had skipped the General Assembly in New York in September in favor of the budget week in Berlin. The loss is part of a series of mishaps during his time in office so far. Merz now faces crucial negotiations on a reform package.
