A meeting of the “Uniting for Consensus” Group (UfC Group) at the level of senior officials will be held tomorrow at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation to discuss strategies with which to promote a reform of the United Nations Security Council that would make it more representative, democratic, accountable, effective and transparent. An event strongly desired by Italy, which aims to relaunch the Group’s action.
As stressed by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Antonio Tajani, “now more than ever it is urgent to reform the UN’s most important body, making it fit for the challenges of today’s world. It is no longer acceptable that decisions affecting international peace and security are taken by a few”. Minister Tajani added: “I discussed the relevance of the issue in my recent meetings in New York with the Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and the President of the UN General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi”.
Composed of 12 countries (Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Italy, Malta, Mexico, Pakistan, Republic of Korea, San Marino, Spain, Türkiye), the UfC Group intends to increase the number of Security Council members from the current 15 to 26, creating only new non-permanent seats. The Group’s reform proposal also aims to limit the use of the veto power, which is the exclusive prerogative of the five permanent members (United States, United Kingdom, France, Russian Federation, China), and to improve the geographical distribution of seats, in order to give adequate room to Africa and to small island and developing countries.
In addition to the closed-door sessions reserved for representatives of the UfC Group’s Member States, an interactive session is planned with the participation of Italian and international experts from academia and think tanks.
