US embassy cable - 04KUWAIT4026

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KUWAIT 004026 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR NEA/ARPI AND IO/UNP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/21/2014 
TAGS: PREL, AORC, KU, IT, UNSC 
SUBJECT: ITALIANS SEEKING GCC SUPPORT ON UNSC REFORM 
 
 
Classified By: CDA Matthew H. Tueller for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1.  (C)  In a November 20 courtesy call on Emboffs, Nico 
Frandi (protect), 2nd Secretary of the Italian Embassy, spoke 
at length on Italy's views on UN Security Council reform.  He 
said his government was dismayed there was no common European 
position on reform and, as a result, decided to approach 
member states to advance its vision of the future structure 
of the UNSC.  The Italian Ambassador is seeking an 
appointment with Kuwaiti Prime Minister Shaykh Sabah Al-Ahmed 
Al-Jabir Al-Sabah in hopes of securing GCC support for the 
Italian position.  There are no current plans for GOI 
demarches on other GCC capitals.  The Italian proposal 
(provided below) does not affect the P-5, encourages 
continued geographic balance, and has a goal of establishing 
regional seats, such as an eventual chair for the EU.  Frandi 
shared the paper with post as a courtesy and commented the 
GOI knows its stance will anger some of its neighbors, most 
notably, Germany. 
 
2.  (C)  Begin Text of Italian Non Paper on Security Council 
Reform 
 
The starting point for UN reform in the field of peace and 
security is a review of the Organization's policies.  The 
question of the Security Council role, functioning and 
composition should be addressed within a comprehensive reform 
framework on which to build consensus within the General 
Assembly. 
 
Italy is fully engaged in the debate on UN reform; with its 
EU partners, Italy has provided a contribution to the High 
Level Panel appointed by the Secretary General and is looking 
forward to its proposals in December.  Italy has also 
presented to the Panel a national contribution on Security 
Council reform, an issue on which there is no E.U. common 
position. 
 
The recent General Assembly debate has demonstrated that no 
agreement has yet been reached on SC reform  This should not 
deter us from seeking solutions that are not divisive.  Any 
decision imposed through a narrow majority vote would 
seriously undermine the credibility of the Council. 
Confronted with global challenges of great magnitude, the 
international community cannot afford profound divisions with 
lasting consequences within its ranks and within regional 
groups. 
 
Italy is in favor of a Security Council reform inspired by 
the principles of greater accountability, effectiveness, 
democratic participation and geographic representation.  We 
are firmly convinced that the best way to pursue such a 
reform is through the establishment of new elective, non 
permanent seats for member States. 
 
This would facilitate -- in the first place -- wider 
participation of the increased membership to the Council and 
rebalance its geographic composition, by giving developing 
countries an enhanced presence. 
 
Furthermore, by increasing the democratic and accountable 
character of the Council, the political legitimacy of its 
decision will be increased. 
 
Last but not least, any reform should not impair, but rather 
strengthen the effectiveness of the Council's action. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
Why We are Against the Creation of New Permanent Members 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
Italy does not believe that the Council's difficulties can be 
resolved through new permanent, irrevocable appointments and 
national mandates.  Such a move would sow division, 
frustration, and perhaps disengagement among the membership. 
 
These are the reasons for our opposition to new permanent 
members: 
 
1.  the absence of regular political scrutiny and 
accountability through elections to wider sections of the 
membership would diminish the Council's political legitimacy; 
 
2.  the decision making process would be further hindered; 
 
3.  more privileged positions would be created, thereby 
further eroding the principle of sovereign equality and 
damaging the democratic process at the UN; 
4.  the elected non permanent members of the Council would be 
further marginalized, thereby deepening division within the 
membership and undermining the Council's credibility; 
 
5.  by freezing permanently some of the Council's seats, the 
possibility for a more fair and equitable representation on 
the Security Council for the rest of the UN membership would 
be substantially reduced or denied; 
 
6.  should the new permanent members be endowed with the veto 
right, this would run counter to the member States 
overwhelming position which is in favor of reducing, not 
expanding such a right.  Should they be deprived of the veto, 
a new category of UN membership would be introduced; 
 
7.  tensions would be perpetuated in each regional group, 
where opposition persists against elevating individual states 
to the status of permanent member; 
 
8.  such a reform would make the UN a more hierarchical and 
less democratic organization, by giving a few countries 
(maybe 10 or 11 out of 191) the exclusive right to decide, 
through their overwhelming influence in the Council and 
without any accountability, when the resort to force in 
international relations is legitimate; 
 
9.  the increase in the permanent members would made more 
difficult any further Council reform in the future, as the 
permanent members -- old and new -- would have a stake in 
preventing changes which might affect their status and 
interests. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
Italy's Proposals:  A) Longer Terms or More Frequent 
Rotation for Elected Members 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
Should the High Level Panel advance such a proposal, and if a 
broad consensus emerges, we are willing to contemplate and 
support more frequent rotation or longer terms in the 
Security Council for countries that make a greater 
contribution to the purposes of the United Nations. 
 
In any case, this solution should retain the fundamental 
principle of elections and ensure a larger presence of the 
developing countries.  Account should be taken of the 
stipulation in Article 23 of the Charter that "due regard 
being especially paid, in the first instance to the 
contribution of Members of the United Nations to the 
maintenance of international peace and security and to the 
other purposes of the Organization, and also to equitable 
geographic distribution." 
 
Under this proposal, elective seats with a longer duration or 
more frequent rotation would be established in a non 
discriminatory manner for all regional groups. 
 
At the same time, the Charter provision prohibiting immediate 
 re-election of SC non permanent members could be eliminated. 
 
In any case, this solution should rule out the creation of 
permanent seats for single states and should preserve the 
electoral process, as the foundation of representativeness, 
accountability and legitimacy. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
Italy's Proposals:  B)  Non Permanent Seats 
for all Regional Groups 
------------------------------------------- 
 
Should the UN membership be unable to reach a consensus on a 
Security Council reform along the lines proposed in section 
A), Italy believes that the only realistic compromise 
solution for the time being would be a limited increase of 
the non permanent seats (in line with the "fall-back 
position" of the Non-Aligned Movement.) 
 
This solution would reflect the enlarged U.S. membership and, 
by increasing the number of available elective seats, would 
facilitate the access  of all member States to the Council. 
 
An increase of non permanent seats could be accompanied by a 
review-clause, i.e. an understanding that within a given 
number of years (10 or 15) the member states would return to 
this issue to seek a new agreement in light of the evolving 
trends in the international community. 
Finally, also in this solution the current Charter provision 
prohibiting immediate re-electon of SC non-permanent members 
could be eliminated. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
Italy's Proposals:  The Regional Dimension 
------------------------------------------ 
 
The increasing role of regional organizations is of paramount 
importance among current international trends.  Italy is 
convinced that the UN will soon have to consider -- through 
an innovate approach -- how to involve these organizations in 
the Council's decision making processes. 
 
In the framework of the options outlined in Sections A) and 
B) above, we are ready to study solutions aimed at 
strengthening the links between elected members of the 
Council and the regional groups and/or regional organizations 
to which they belong, though mechanisms providing for greater 
accountability towards these entities.  Seats permanently 
allocated to individual regions could be taken into 
consideration. 
 
Furthermore, the possibility of a future seat for the 
European Union, though not immediate, remains an objective of 
Italy's foreign policy and would strengthen the contribution 
that the EU can provide to the United Nations. 
 
We will continue to work to make conditions come about for 
this objective to become truly concrete and real.  In the 
meantime, we should avoid decisions -- such as new permanent 
seats for one or the other member state -- which would 
jeopardize this objective, and should work to strengthen the 
role of the EU and its members States in the Security Council. 
Tueller