| Compromise grants more security council seats { December 2 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://news.ft.com/cms/s/420d1b46-4408-11d9-be59-00000e2511c8.htmlhttp://news.ft.com/cms/s/420d1b46-4408-11d9-be59-00000e2511c8.html
Compromise offer in fight for UN Security Council seats By Mark Turner at the United Nations and Hugh Williamson in,Berlin Published: December 2 2004 02:00 | Last updated: December 2 2004 02:00
Germany and Japan yesterday indicated their willingness to sacrifice veto rights in return for winning permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council, responding to proposals outlined in a high-level report on UN reform.
Both countries, alongside fellow aspirants Brazil and India, would have preferred equal status with the current five permanent members, who enjoy veto powers. But German and Japanese officials appeared willing to compromise to win international support.
"A middle-sized power such as Germany does not need the right to a veto," said a senior foreign policy aide to Gerhard Schröder, the German chancellor. The diplomat also said he believed that the US, which has not yet backed a permanent German seat, "would find it difficult not to support" its bid.
Hatsuhisa Takashima, a spokesman for the Japanese foreign ministry, said Japan considered it "unfavourable to have permanent Security Council members that have veto power and those that don't".
But he also said that Japan would bow to the majority view.
The UN report, compiled by senior dignitaries from around the world, offers two models for Security Council enlargement.
The council currently has five permanent members (the US, Russia, China, the UK and France) and 10 two-year rotating seats.
The first reform option would create two new rotating seats and six permanent seats without a veto: two for Africa, two for Asia, and one each for Europe and the Americas.
Leading contenders are Japan, India, Germany and Brazil; while Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt are competing for African seats.
Amre Moussa, secretary general of the Arab League and one of the high-level panellists, is believed to have wanted one African seat to be reserved for an Islamic country - namely his native Egypt - but the panel shied away from the proposal.
The second model would create no new permanent seats but establish a new category of eight, four-year renewable-term seats, which would be shared equally between Africa, Asia, Europe and the Americas. Germany and Japan oppose this idea.
The panel said any reform should "increase the involvement" of those who contribute most to the UN financially, militarily and diplomatically" and make it "more representative of the broader membership, especially of the developing world".
Reforms should should also "increase the democratic and accountable nature of the body", but should not "impair the effectiveness of the Security Council".
The Japanese and German concessions over veto powers may not be enough, however, to counter determined opposition from regional rivals, such as Italy and Pakistan.
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