France and the United Nations

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The Republic of France is a charter member of the United Nations and one of five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

1 Veto power in the UN Security Council
2 Varia
3 See Also
4 References

[edit] Veto power in the UN Security Council

France used its veto power along with the United Kingdom, to veto a resolution to resolve the Suez Canal crisis in 1956. France also used a veto in 1976 on the question of the Comoros independence, when the island of Mayotte was kept in French territory due to the vote of the local population. The greatest political dustup caused by a veto threat was in 2002, when France threatened to veto resolution 1441 on the Iraq war.

List of all French vetoes^[1]

June 26, 1946: Spanish Question
August 25, 1947: Indonesian Question
October 30, 1956 (twice): Palestinian Question: Steps for the Immediate Cessation of the Military Action of Israel in Egypt
October 30, 1974: South Africa (Representation in the UN)
June 6, 1975: Namibia Question
February 6, 1976: Dispute between the Comoros and France on Mayotte
October 19, 1976: Situation in Namibia
October 31, 1977 (three times): Situation in South Africa
April 30, 1981 (four times) : Question of Namibia
April 21, 1986 : Libyan Complaint against US Attack
January 11, 1989 : Complaint by Libya against US Downing of Aircraft
December 23, 1989 : Situation in Panama

[edit] Varia

French one of the two working languages of the UN, the other being English^[2]. Four other languages are official UN languages, but not working languages.
France is one of the main contributors of the regular UN budget (6.5% for the 2001 budget).^[3]