[JURIST] UN Secretary General Kofi Annan [official profile] said Tuesday that expecting any of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council [official website] to endorse reforms that would give other nations the same veto powers they already enjoyed would be "utopian". Annan has acknowleged the need for reform in the set-up of the UN's chief decision-making body, which currently has 15 members, five of which (the US, Russia, France, Britain and China) have unlimited veto power. He recently advanced a proposal that which would add six permanent Council seats. Italy Monday suggested a variant that would create a group of regional semi-permanent seats [JURIST report]. Neither plan gives another country veto power, however, and according to Annan, it would be impossible to try to either strip the permanent members of their veto power or entitle other countries to possess veto power. AP has more.
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