Italy and India comments after the rejection of both draft resolutions

On thursday, 16th May 2013 last General Assembly session was taking place at Faculty of Social Sciences in Ljubljana. The discussed topic was reform of Security Council for 21st century. Before the session, presiding officers received two draft resolutions that were sponsored by two different groups of countries. First proposal was written by few Uniting for Consensus members and the second solution was proposed by African and G4 group states. Both of the documents did not achieve required majority of two thirds of votes and they were not accepted.

After the session and final votings were finished, we asked Ms. Tjaša Božič to comment on rejection of Draft resolution 1. Italy was one of the sponsors (together with Spain and Turkey) and main promotors of this document. Unfortunately, Draft resolution 1 was denied when 9 states voted for, 11 voted against and 9 abstained.

We also interviewed the delegate of India, Ms. Maša Tiselj who sponsored Draft resolution 2 together with South Africa, Egypt and Germany. Their proposal also did not received required support when 12 states supported it, 14 were against it and 3 countries abstained.

Luka Kavčič

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EU meeting generated a common wish but not a common position

European Union group is another regional group that gathered this week and discussed posible outcomes of last General Assembly session after two working papers about Security Council were established. They discussed their own positions and attitude of each EU country towards the ideas expressed in the content of working papers. Meeting was attended by the delegations of United Kingdom, Sweden, France, Spain and Italy, only delegation of Czech Republic and Germany were unable to attend. As expected they did not find the common position because EU member states do not have the same status in the hierarchy of Security Council and they are not members of the same interest groups.

However, they agreed that Security Council needs to be reformed since "it does not reflect the realities of the 21st century." They believe that Council should reflect better transparency, higher level of democracy and improved legitimacy in order to achieve better effectiveness to tackle actual security issues. They were unable to identify the common position, but they found lowest common denominator and expressed it in a common wish. This wish is 'improved working methods of the Security Council and expanded number of seats for states that possess the willingness to assume such a responsibility.'

They concluded a statement in a very diplomatic way as they called for closer cooperation between Security Council and General Assembly. They also expressed a hope (sincere or not) that tomorrow's session will bring concrete solutions with broad support.

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Italian delegate explains the content of UfC working paper in more detail

UN Herald is publishing the content of the interview that we did with the permanent representative of Italy to the United Nations, Ms. Tjaša Božič. We talked about Itialian cooperation inside Uniting for Consensus group and its goals and expectations before the last session of General Assembly. We wanted to find out more about the plans of Uniting for Consensus group, which are one of the driving forces of negotiations regarding Security Council reform. She explained the Uniting for Consensus idea of reformed Council, the content of working paper and the clash of interests with other groups of states.

Italy is one of the most visible member states of UfC group whose goal is the enlargement of nonpermanent seats. Can you tell us in more detail how do you imagine new distribution of nonpermanent seats?

Ms. Božič: Italy and its Uniting for Consensus partners are aiming at the enlargement of non-permanent seats, in order to improve equal representation, efficiency and accountability of the Security Council. We are convinced that each region should be equally represented. We are also aware that some states would like to have greater influence in the Security Council and longer mandate.Therefore we are introducing new category of membership, long term seats, which are allocated to states according to their region. Mandate of long term seats is five years, with the possibility of one immediate reelection. But in order to represent its region, state has to gain 50% support of this particular region. Eight additional long term non-permanent members of the Security Council shall be elected according to the following pattern: two from the African Group; two from the Asia-Pacific Group; one from the Eastern European Group; two from the Latin American and Caribbean Group and one from the Western Europe and Others Group.Seven non-permanent members of the Security Council shall be elected according to the following pattern: two from the African Group; one from the Asia-Pacific Group; two from the Eastern European Group and two from the Latin American and Caribbean Group. Taking into account also five permanent members we can see, that each region has the same amount representatives and states get the opportunity to have a longer mandate in the Security Council and an opportunity to improve protection of interests of their regions. 

Do you accept any potential solution that includes increasing of permanent seats?

Ms. Božič: No. We believe expansion of permanent seats of the Security Council would make Security Council even more non-democratic and inefficient. Furthermore, reform of the Security Council has to be a long-term reform. We are all aware that current structure does not reflect the current state of the world. And this is a crucial point. If we add new permanent members now, what shall we do in 10, 15 or 20 years, when other countries will develop, will have a greater power in international affairs and will be ready to assume greater responsibility? Shall we apply the same logic and add new permanent members again? With such approach we will end up with a Security Council consisting of 40 members. Adding new permanent members would mean that the Security Council would become an even more exclusive club, at the expense of all the other UN members and this would not serve the long-term interests of the United Nations. We have to prevent such situation in the beginning and balance the structure of the Security Council with adding new non-permanent member states. 

In UfC joint media statement you mentioned change of the working methods between GA and SC? Can you explain what does this include? What do you think this is necessary?

Ms. Božič: UfC group is convinced the relationship between General Assembly and Security Council has to be improved. Among other things, we are proposing strengthening the role of the General Assembly in election of member states, additional and regular meetings among the President of the Security Council, President of the General Assembly and also President of the Economic and Social Council, stricter reporting of the Security Council to the General Assembly, etc. We also included demand for more cooperation of the Security Council with other state, who are not members of the Security Council and with regional organizations. These changes are necessary in order to enhance accountability of the Security Council. 

Other delegations seem to have different ideas of SC reform. Which are the most common conflicts of ideas?

Ms. Božič: Italy and UfC group believe the reform of the Security Council has to be reached with consensus. Unfortunately this was impossible ever since member states started with discussions about Security Council reform, and still seems impossible. Most common conflict of ideas is change of membership. Two influential groups exist (Uniting for Consensus and G4+1) that support different approaches in reaching more representative Security Council. On one hand, UfC is strongly opposing any expansion of permanent membership, and supports only expansion of non-permanent membership. On the other hand, G4+1 supports expansion of permanent and non-permanent membership. But there are also some points of agreements - change of working methods, transparency, responsible use of power to veto, etc.

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Uniting for Consensus group planning on Security Council reform proposals

On Tuesday April 2nd 2013 Italy hosted Uniting for Consensus group (UfC) meeting, which was held at the Faculty of Social Sciences, and invited all distinguished UfC delegations represented in 2013 Session of the General Assembly UN. Meeting was attended by the delegations of Spain, Turkey, South Korea, Argentina and Italy, only delegation of Mexico was absent.

This meeting was an excellent opportunity for the delegations to discuss extremely important topic on the agenda of GA session– Security Council for the 21st Century. Since Uniting for Consensus presents one of the most powerful groups in the reform process and has already invested much time and effort to formulate different possible solutions to this issue in the past, it wants to offer a lasting solution, which will solve the problem of Security Council’s lack of legitimacy, once again.

All representatives of UfC member states agreed that this upcoming GA session on a Security Council for the 21st Century offers an opportunity to finally make Security Council more representative, accountable, efficient and flexible. They also expressed their willingness to formulate new common proposal of the Security Council reform, and therefore show flexibility of UfC group again.

Discussion was therefore focused on the problems of current structure of Security Council, previous proposals of Security Council reform made by UfC group (2005 and 2009), and formulation of new common proposal of Security Council reform. UfC group decided that new proposal will encompass solutions to different Security Council’s problems, such as categories of membership, the question of the right to veto, working methods, regional representation and size of enlargement, with the main focus on the reform of Security Council’s membership.

UfC group believes that the Security Council reform should not serve the interests of few states, but should serve the long-term interest of the United Nations. New proposal will be therefore based on the principle of fair and equal opportunities and will offer greater representation for small and medium-sized countries and greater representation for currently disadvantaged regions. UfC member states are convinced that an approach where the Security Council would become an even more exclusive club would not solve the Security Council’s lack of legitimacy. With the aim to solve this problem, UfC group is going to seek support for its view that no new permanent members should be added again.

It is very positive that UfC and other interest groups are building coalitions and forging proposals before the start of negotiations. However, they should not forget that they will need to collect two-thirds majority when it comes to potential voting. They need to convince, not only states that share similar position and interests in international society, but also states with different ideas about new structure of Security Council.

In addition to this, it is important to have some recognition and support from current P5 countries which posses the power to influence decisions of other countries. Knowing this, it seems that UfC is ignoring the statement of the current permanent members, when it comes to debating the question of right to the veto. However, it is too early to make any predictions before the actual proposals are being discussed. Until then we hope that majority of states have the similar idea about what representative and efficient Security Council means.

Luka Kavčič

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Disclaimer: This information is fictive and serves for the purposes of the UN simulation only.

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Interview: Delegate of Italian Republic on expecatations and preparations

While we were visiting Rome, we prepared a short interview with the delegate of Italian Republic, Ms. Tjaša Božič.

"I hope for a fruitful and efficient debate which will lead to good solutions. I hope we will reach the best possible outcome for all of us since all of the three topics are among key issues in the global community," stated Ms. Božič. She also emphasized that all three topics are especially important for Italy.

We also asked the delegate about Italy's preparations for the GA session, but Ms. Božič remained somewhat mysterious. See more in the video below.

The interview took place in front of the Farnesina Palace, 

the official seat of Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

March 5th, Rome, Italy

Tamara Kajtazović

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Disclaimer: This information is fictive and serves for the purposes of the UN simulation only.

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