Baerbock could take over the role, not to be confused with that of U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, in early June for a one-year term, as internal U.N. agreements will see the position held by the “Western Europeans and others” group, including Germany, in the upcoming General Assembly session.
The position has significantly less external impact than the top job, Spiegel noted, as the president’s main task is to represent the U.N. member countries as a whole and deliver one of the first speeches at the annual meeting of heads of state and government.
Baerbock, one of the top figures in the German Green Party, was the party’s candidate for chancellor in 2021, before taking on the role of leading German diplomacy under Scholz.