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Shadowing practice: Did support for Israel cost Germany a UN Security Council seat? | DW News

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  1. We begin in New York where Germany has failed to win a seat on the United Nations Security Council in a vote by the UN's General Assembly.0:00
  2. Germany lost out to Portugal and Austria for two temporary seats from the regional group Western, Europe and others.0:09
  3. UN Security Council is considered the United Nations most powerful body and consists of 15 members, five permanent and ten non -permanent members that each have two year terms.0:17
  4. Today Austria, Portugal, Trinidad and Tobago, Zimbabwe and Kyrgyzstan were elected by the UN's General Assembly as members for the coming term starting in 2027.0:30
  5. Let's listen to the German Foreign Minister's reaction after the result was announced.0:42
  6. For this federal government and also for myself, I can say that we fought up to the very last minute.0:48
  7. We gave everything we had.0:57
  8. And yes, there are some issues we have always taken a clear position on.1:00
  9. Positions not all UN member states share.1:07
  10. Our correspondent Benjamin Alvarez Gruber is in New York and has been following this vote all along.1:12
  11. Benjamin, Germany has failed to win a seat on Security Council.1:18
  12. How much of a diplomatic blow is this for Berlin?1:21
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  1. It is a huge diplomatic blow, especially considering that Germany lost in the first round.1:27
  2. It wasn't a clear who would make it a very strong race that we've seen too strong contenders, Austria and Portugal.1:33
  3. So what we heard from the German delegation is that they have been doing this lobby work of course for years, but now especially in these final days, Foreign Minister1:41
  4. Johann Waddefuhr, who we just heard, he arrived on Thursday last week.1:50
  5. He has been meeting dozens of delegations to try to get the vote.1:54
  6. But as we just heard him, they are very disappointed German Foreign Minister who mentioned these issues that says not everyone is on Germany's side.1:58
  7. He mentioned German support for Ukraine, German support for Israel and also that this candidate was announced pretty late comparing it to the candidacies from Lisbon and also Vienna of2:07
  8. Austria, the two countries that will have this non -permanency to the UN Security Council.2:23
  9. So you mentioned what the Foreign Minister said there with Germany supporting Ukraine and Israel.2:28
  10. Were those considered controversial enough by other members of the UN General Assembly to stop Germany from winning?2:35
  11. So you mentioned additional two points, but to get to your question Terry, so he mentioned the steadfast support by Ukraine.2:47
  12. He especially also talked about Russia saying that there is definitely a country they would not like to see Germany in the Security Council.2:55
  13. He also mentioned a Russian and negative campaign that Russia launched by talking to other members trying to get them to not vote for Germany.3:03
  14. But it is German support for Israel especially in the Arab world, even though German officials try to downplay it saying that there are many similarities.3:13
  15. But that is a very critical point in this candidacy for this Security Council.3:22
  16. There's many accused Germany of a double standard when it comes to human rights, when it comes to a rule of law and that's a criticism that not just Germany,3:28
  17. but also Annalena Babak, who was the German Foreign Minister before Johann Wadepfu, who is still the President of the General Assembly, has faced over and over her turn now.3:37
  18. European countries normally avoid open competition with each other.3:49
  19. For Security Council seats, as you know, why did this election turn into a three -way public battle between Germany, Austria and Portugal?3:53
  20. That's right, they usually try to avoid exactly this, to have several rounds of voting.4:05
  21. This could have continued for hours.4:10
  22. We were prepared to have not one but two or three rounds of voting until the candidates get the required two -third majority of all the members in the United4:12
  23. Nations General Assembly.4:21
  24. It wasn't necessary because this was only one vote in Germany, officially announced the candidacy.4:23
  25. Very late Portugal and Austria had announced that they would be running for these two seats for the Western European and others.4:29
  26. That's the name of the group countries, but then Germany continued and has been applying for this non -permanent seat of the UN Security Council for every eight years.4:37
  27. But this is the first time that it failed.4:47
  28. It would have been the seventh term of Germany as a non -permanent member of the UN Security Council, but that will not be the case.4:49
  29. So we can expect more reactions not only here in New York, but also in Berlin because this is, would have been good news for the German government that has4:57
  30. been facing a lot of criticism from the public in Germany.5:07
  31. There's been talk for years, Benjamin, about the possibility of Germany becoming a permanent member of the Security Council.5:11
  32. Does that look even less likely now in light of today's vote?5:18
  33. So there have been discussions ongoing for a long time that that needs to be a restructuring of this, the most important body of the United Nations, the Security Council.5:26
  34. And not when it comes to the non -permanent members that do not have a veto, but when it comes to the five permanent members that have a right to5:35
  35. veto, that has been used, especially on the US side when it comes to Gaza, on the Russian side when it comes to Ukraine.5:44
  36. I mean, there have been conversations of more countries or organizations joining the Security Council as permanent members, but this setback for Germany not even getting as a non -permanent5:51
  37. member, not even getting a non -permanent seat at the UN Security Council will definitely not help a possible future push to be one of the permanent members with a6:03
  38. veto right at the Security Council.6:14
  39. Benjamin, thank you very much.6:17
  40. D .W.6:18
  41. is Benjamin Alvarez -Grueber in New York.6:18
  42. All right, D .W.6:24
  43. is Berlin Bureau Chief Max Hoffman.6:25
  44. He has been following this vote for us.6:28
  45. So Max, we know that Germany wanted a seat on the Security Council.6:30
  46. It lobbied hard for it.6:34
  47. How big of a hit is this?6:35
  48. This is a pretty big hit, especially if you consider the timing, Brent, the state of the government in general, which is very unpopular.6:38
  49. This would have been a breath of fresh air.6:46
  50. This could have been a victory that this government puts in front of it and said, look, things are looking up and we'll put all our weight into the Security6:47
  51. Council to make this, well, a better world.6:56
  52. That's always the ambition if you are in the Security Council, whether that would have been possible.6:58
  53. It's a different story, but now nothing will be possible because Germany didn't get that non -permanent seat.7:03
  54. How big of a surprise is this outcome, Max?7:10
  55. To tell you the truth, we, and we're not alone with that, we thought this was likely to be a success story.7:15
  56. In our talks with representatives from the Foreign Ministry, for example, there was also cautious optimism.7:23
  57. But the whole campaign was more difficult than many campaigns in the past because in the bloc, which Germany is part of, the Western European and other countries, that's what7:30
  58. this bloc is called, there were two other campaigns from Austria and from Portugal.7:41
  59. So friends, not really competitors here, and there are only two seats for that bloc.7:47
  60. Now Austria and Portugal declared their campaign much earlier than the Germans who only declared their campaign in 2019.7:52
  61. I know it sounds like a lot of time, but in these circles, you need even more time.8:01
  62. So there was a lot of competition there, and in the end, that didn't help Germany.8:06
  63. Max, we know that these votes can be very political.8:12
  64. Did Germany lose some support because of its unwavering support of Israel?8:15
  65. That's a question we heard a lot in the last weeks, and that I also heard in New York City when I was with the German Foreign Minister in New8:23
  66. York a couple of weeks back, and that was during a very heavy stretch of campaigning, very impressive by the way, the workload that the Foreign Minister had there with8:31
  67. all the ministers and the representatives of states.8:40
  68. He met there with the ambassadors probably about well over 100 in total, and that question was asked back then too.8:42
  69. Now the truth is we can't know because those votes are secret, and so nobody will know for sure what the reasons were, especially because there are different reasons for8:52
  70. every country to vote for another country.9:04
  71. These votes usually are pretty transactional.9:06
  72. It's like, okay, we'll vote for you now, and then you vote for us next time for a different position or something like that.9:09
  73. But a lot of observers do believe that this position might have hurt or might have not helped at least, but that's not the only political position Germany has.9:15
  74. There's also this political position on Ukraine, for example, and what we've been hearing is that Russia had a pretty aggressive campaign in the back against Germany.9:24
  75. How successful that was also hard to say because in the end there will never be disclosure why certain countries voted the way they did.9:35
  76. They might even claim they voted a certain way, but voted a different way.9:44
  77. So it's a very complicated maneuver, but the question you asked, we've heard that one before.9:48
  78. Yes.9:53
  79. Yeah.9:53
  80. And we know, Max, that money talks or money is supposed to talk.9:54
  81. Germany is the second largest financial contributor to the UN after the United States.9:57
  82. Did that not matter?10:03
  83. It does give Germany a certain leverage, and it does that independently from a seat in the Security Council.10:06
  84. And it certainly appreciated in UN circles, at least that's what I heard when I was there and talked to representatives of other countries.10:13
  85. Again, how much of a role that played, we can just say it wasn't enough.10:22
  86. And it's not like Germany was very close to the required, I think in this case, 127 votes because not everybody was present.10:26
  87. Normally, it's 129 votes to get the two -thirds majority.10:34
  88. They had 104 votes, so that's a bit far off.10:37
  89. And I think you have to look at it as sort of an ensemble of different reasons.10:41
  90. First of all, the late declaration policies obviously play a role.10:48
  91. Maybe they got some votes because of their financial contributions, but in the end, in the sum of it, it was just not enough.10:52
  92. All right.11:01
  93. GW is Max Hoffman on Germany's losing bid to get that temporary seat on the Security Council.11:01
  94. Max, thank you.11:07

English listening practice with a DW News report on Germany's UN Security Council bid

This DW News segment covers Germany losing its bid for a temporary seat on the UN Security Council, and it gives you three different speech patterns inside one short clip. A studio anchor reads a scripted introduction, a correspondent in New York answers questions live, and the German Foreign Minister delivers an unscripted reaction to reporters. That mix is good english listening practice: you hear planned delivery sitting right next to the pauses and self corrections of live, unscripted speech.

The clip sits at B2 level and runs at 174 words per minute, faster than 40 percent of the catalogue, so gaps between sentences are short and you need to keep pace rather than wait for a breath. The accent is mixed: a neutral broadcast anchor, a correspondent doing a live two way, and a German Foreign Minister speaking English under pressure at a press moment. That combination is closer to real world listening than a single narrator reading a script.

Diplomatic phrasing and blunt reactions: lines worth english shadowing practice

The Foreign Minister's soundbite and the correspondent's analysis sit back to back, so you can compare a second language speaker under pressure with a fluent live reporter, useful if you want to improve your english accent by noticing where each one puts stress. None of these lines carry reduced forms in this recording, so the words stay close to their full form, which makes them easier to isolate for english shadowing practice.

  • "For this federal government and also for myself, I can say that we fought up to the very last minute." A long, roundabout way of saying we tried hard. Notice how the minister delays the main verb until well into the sentence, a formal habit worth copying when you need to sound careful under pressure.
  • "We gave everything we had." Four words right after that long sentence, and the pace change is the whole point. Say the two lines back to back and you feel the shift from careful to blunt.
  • "It is a huge diplomatic blow, especially considering that Germany lost in the first round." This is the correspondent's analytical voice: one long sentence with a subordinate clause tacked on, delivered without a breath in the middle.

How to practise english speaking with Benjamin Alvarez Gruber's live report

Work through this clip in the order the report actually unfolds, because the register changes every time the speaker changes and each change is a fresh challenge.

  • Start with the anchor's opening line, "We begin in New York where Germany has failed to win a seat on the United Nations Security Council in a vote by the UN's General Assembly." Read it slowly first to hear the full shape of one long scripted sentence before you try to match its speed.
  • Move to the minister's line, "For this federal government and also for myself, I can say that we fought up to the very last minute." Repeat it until the stress on "fought" and on "last minute" feels automatic rather than counted out.
  • Immediately after, shadow "We gave everything we had." at the clipped pace it was actually said, right after the long line before it, so you practise switching speed inside a single breath.
  • Finish on the correspondent's line, "It is a huge diplomatic blow, especially considering that Germany lost in the first round." Shadow it at full pace to match the clip's 174 words per minute, since this is the line closest to natural, unscripted analysis.
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