US embassy cable - 05ROME2183

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 002183 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/28/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, KUNR, AORC, IT, UNSC 
SUBJECT: REFORMING THE UN: UNSC REMAINS ITALY'S TOP PRIORITY 
 
REF: (A) STATE 114051 (B) STATE 111657 (C) STATE 111637 
 
Classified By: POLMINCOUNS TOM COUNTRYMAN, FOR REASONS 1.4 (B)(D) 
 
1.  (C)  Summary.  Italian interest in UN reform centers on 
the Human Rights Council, the Peacebuilding Commission and 
the Comprehensive Convention on Terrorism.  In general, they 
will follow the EU lead but will press for a reform consensus 
that does not create more problems than it solves.  While 
Italy will support general reforms, Rome's primary focus 
continues to be UNSC reform.  They will continue to shop the 
Italian "Plan B" UNSC reform  to Caribbean and African states 
as an option that gives them a prospect for membership.  End 
Summary. 
 
2.  (C)  Because MFA Director General for Political and 
Multilateral Affairs Guilio Terzi was unavailable, Charge 
delivered Ref B points June 17 via letter.  Laborcouns 
delivered Refs C and A to Leonardo Bencini, MFA UN Desk 
Officer on June 20 and 27.  Italian DCM Stefano Stefanini 
discussed UN reform June 23 with Acting IO A/S Philo Dibble. 
We understand that Terzi attempted to call U/S Burns to 
discuss UNSC issues on June 24, and Italian U/S for Human 
Rights Margherita Boniver discussed UN and Human Rights 
Commission reforms with U/S for Global Affairs Dobriansky 
also on June 24. 
 
3.  (C) Bencini stressed that Italy supports UN reform to 
strengthen the institution and will work with its EU partners 
to provide specific feedback on the U.S. proposals.  Italy's 
main goal (beyond the UNSCR issue) is to develop a broad 
consensus for reform that does not create more problems than 
it solves.  The next step is to take the generic reform plan 
and make it operational; most of this work was being done in 
New York.  The EU had scheduled another meeting on the draft 
July 13, and Bencini hoped it would be ready well before 
UNGA. 
 
4.  (C)  Italy has only a few specific concerns.  On the 
Peacebuilding Commission, Italy is most interested in the 
overall membership and who will be in the core group.  They 
would like to see a representative for the EU in this body. 
On the Human Rights Commission, Rome's concern is that the 
new Council not just replace the old Commission with a new 
name.  Bencini agreed on the need to prevent human rights 
abusers from serving on the new Council but noted that we 
needed consensus on how to vet potential members.  Italy was 
weighing options on whether the Council should report 
directly to the UNGA.  Boniver reportedly told Dobriansky 
that Italy shares our concern with peer review.  Bencini said 
that within the EU there continues to be support for 
developing a definition of terrorism; he understood U.S. 
concern that his issue not impede approval of the 
Comprehensive Convention on Terrorism but indicated we have 
yet to convince the EU on this point. 
 
5. (C)  Unsurprisingly, Bencini was most interested in UNSC 
reform and how to parse U/S Burns' June 16 remarks. 
Regardless of U.S. efforts to shift the focus to reform in 
general, UNSC reform was the "shadow" over deliberations on 
all reform issues.  It would be hard to make real progress 
until states had a better idea of the future shape of the 
Council.  While he fully appreciated U.S. efforts to move 
away from a strictly geographic approach, he wondered how 
developing states would line up on the U.S. proposal. 
Echoing DCM Stefanini's interest, Bencini asked in particular 
how African Qates were responding since they clearly would 
not meet U.S. criteria for membership.  He noted the MFA was 
sending representatives to the Caribbean and African states' 
summits, where they would continue to shop the Italian "Plan 
B" option as an alternative that did not preclude Security 
Council membership for states that did not meet the new U.S. 
criteria. 
 
6.  (U)  Bencini also said that Italy is planning special 
celebrations in December 2005 to commemorate the 50th 
anniversary of Italy joining the UN.  They are planning a 
special session of Parliament and a Rome conference focused 
on UN issues.  They plan to send both diplomatic and 
parliamentary representatives (including President of the 
Chamber of Deputies Pier Ferdinando Casini) to UNGA in 
September. 
 
SKODON 
 
 
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 2005ROME02183 - Classification: CONFIDENTIAL