Ambassador Series with Stephan Klement

Main takeaways:  

• International Organizations are more than ever needed to provide spaces for strategic  diplomatic negotiations between different nations to enhance security for the public. This  also includes coordinated efforts between like-minded states as seen in the current war  in Ukraine or the JCPOA negotiations with the Islamic Republic in Iran. 

• Representing the EU and participate in matters of specific EU interest at the United  Nations Organisations, related bodies or specialized agencies established in Vienna, in  particular UNODC, IAEA, UNIDO, CTBTO, and other international organizations and  arrangements is necessary to improve relations with Iran on the basis of concessions  and a coordinated path the regulate the economic sanctions to provide the Iranian  people with future perspectives for reforming their country.

On May 17, 2022, YPFP hosted an Ambassador Series event with Ambassador Stephan Klement,  who is besides assuming the function as the Permanent Representative of the European Union to  the United Nations in Vienna, also a Special Advisor in charge of the nuclear implementation of  the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in the European External Action Service. He  was involved in the negotiations on the Iranian nuclear issues since 2004. The event was  moderated by Programmes Officer Jonas Nitschke. 

The brief presentation by Ambassador Klement included key developments, both internally in the  United Nations in Vienna and of a more external basis in the European Union, which focuses  primarily on the structural cooperation and coordination between the EEAS and its involvement in  the Iranian nuclear negotiations. Challenges are primarily the concessions that must be made  towards Iran and the mistrust between Iran and Western states especially the United States of  America. The ambassador explained that Germany, France and the UK primarily focus on helping  with the negotiations together with their international partners such as Australia, Japan, Canada  and New Zealand. He stated that the coordinated efforts for Teheran to open to the West while  the economic sanctions getting more regulated would be one of the key efforts within the  negotiations in Vienna and within the seven working groups in Brussels. 

The Q&A session mainly discussed an international organization as a strategic policy tool for  diplomatic efforts with difficult partners within the international security landscape. The focus was  also pointing towards nuclear safety as a key issue for our future in Europe and how the political  sphere can influence the negotiations are with the counterparts after the political changes due to  the Iranian presidential elections in 2021. The Q & A session also shed some light on the  structural work in Brussels in the different working groups on nuclear safety and the pathway of  the ambassador into the international organization. Furthermore, it was discussed how the work  is coordinated with the International Atomic Energy Agency and the Nuclear Security Fund to enhance the security on the European continent to prevent radioactive catastrophes such as  Fukushima and Chernobyl in the future. 

Written by Jonas Nitschke, Programmes Officer, YPFP Brussels