• by IPS Correspondents (milan)
• Friday, November 11, 1994
• Inter Press Service

MILAN, Nov 11 (IPS) - An Italian proposal for reform in the United Nations (U.N.) Security Council is supported by 120 countries, according to Francesco Paolo Fulci, Italy's permanent representative in the international forum.

The proposal calls for an expanded Security Council and the creation of a rotating group made up by the countries most active in international issues - including Italy - to balance the power weilded by the five permanent Council members.

The United Nations was originally made up of 51 countries, with a Security Council of 11. The international body has since expanded to 188 members and the Security Council to 15, with ten rotating two-year posts in addition to the five permanent members (the United States, Russia, China, Great Britain and France).

Italy was recently elected for a two-year term, to begin on Jan. 1.

At a recent conference in Milan (557 kilometres north of Rome), Fulci argued against the "mini reform" supported by some, under which Security Council would simply be expanded to include Japan and Germany as additional permanent members.

The Italian ambassador warned that such a measure "would have a most serious effect, creating a kind of directorate that would exclude Italy although (Italy) is the fifth leading contributor to the United Nations and will shortly become the fourth."

Instead, he advocated no change in the five permanent members - which have veto power over Security Council decisions - but the creation of a balancing group of other powerful nations.

The reform proposal is central to Italy's foreign policy, as Fulci said it would allow the country's role in the United Nations to be recognised, while "it would be serious if we were excluded from decisions that affect us, without being consulted or at times even informed."

The Milan conference was organised by the Institute for the Study of International Politics, and included political analysts, diplomats and university professors.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

Where next?

Advertisement