Italy, the US and the Reform of the UN Security Council.

Italy has been one of the most active participants in the never ending debate on the reform of the UN Security Council. It has advocated for a long time the addition to the present Council of new non-permanent seats, to be covered, for renewable terms, by the top contributors to UN activities (a proposal which is similar to 'model B', as envisaged by the 2004 Report og the High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change, nominated by the Secretary-General). Recently, however, Italy has moved to a new proposal, providing for a stronger role of regional groups in the Council: the old and new non-permanent seats would be assigned to these groups, which would freely determine the rules on how to attribute them to the single states. Italy has also always supported a stronger role for the European Union in the Security Council, and this later proposal goes in that direction too. The U.S. has always held a different position: while previously backing the Japanese and German wishes for a permanent seat in the Council, itr has recently moved to a more cautious stance. The two countries can, however, find a common ground today, as the main Italian objective is to defeat German ambitions to a permanent seat in the Council, while the U.S. seems to be more worried about a reform that could render the Council more ungovernable, than wishing to promote one that would be based on its own vision. Italy and the U.S. could, therefore, converge around the line 'better no reform at all'. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]