Next year will be a crucial and very busy year for the reform of the United Nations Security Council, in the run-up to 2015 and the UN’s 70th anniversary. A year when the pace will be stepped up to modernise the UN’s highest political body. The point was underscored by Foreign Minister Emma Bonino at the end of a ministerial meeting of the “Uniting for Consensus” (EFC) countries, a group led by Italy. The UFC nations have proposed that a new category of semi-permanent members be created, without the right of veto. With a mandate of three to five years, renewable twice at most, and allocated on a regional basis. Today’s UFC meeting was attended by Italy, Argentina, Canada, Colombia, South Korea, Costa Rica, Mexico, Malta, Pakistan, San Marino, Spain and Turkey.
Minister Bonino explained that “The group decided to accept the Mexican proposal to hold a meeting at deputy minister level in Mexico in January 2014. The meeting will examine both the more strictly political aspects and the more general context, and conduct an in-depth analysis. The UFC also agreed with a Turkish proposal to hold a ministerial-level meeting in the second half of the year, in Istanbul, with the more specific goal of launching a global campaign to inform public opinion”. At the same time, “2014 will be a busy year for the UFC members at the level of regional group meetings too”. They will be taking part at the African Union summit and the Francophone countries’ meeting, and in various other regional meetings. Minister Bonino underscored that “The reform of the Security Council is not just a UN question, but one of the most important political questions”.
