Strenghtening the UN Security System

April 2008 11 The United Nations (UN), and the Security Council in particular, have the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. However, the changing nature of global threats to security and the increasing de- STRENGTHENING mands for intervention in diverse crisis scenarios has led to recognition of the need for restructu- THE UN SECURITY ring the UN security architecture and enhancing its operational capabilities. The papers gathered SYSTEM together in this volume and the conference report assess the contributions of Italy and the Eu- THE ROLE ropean Union to the functioning and reform of the UN security system and put forward policy OF ITALY recommendations aimed at increasing their role in the definition and implementation of the in- AND THE EU ternational security agenda. edited by Nicoletta Pirozzi Quaderni IAI ISTITUTO AFFARI INTERNAZIONALI STRENGTHENING THE UN SECURITY SYSTEM THE ROLE OF ITALY AND THE EU edited by Nicoletta Pirozzi Quaderni IAI ISTITUTO AFFARI INTERNAZIONALI This publication is the result of the Workshop “The contribution of Italy and the European Union to the collective security system of the United Nations”, held at Palazzo Rondinini in Rome on November 30, 2007 and organised by the IAI in cooperation with the Centro Studi sul Federalismo (Turin) and the European Policy Centre (Brussels). The event was part of a project conducted by the IAI in cooperation with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and with the support of Compagnia di San Paolo. Authors Simona Benedetti, Intern, Istituto Affari Internazionali, Rome Sven Biscop, Senior Research Fellow, EGMONT/The Royal Institute of International Relations, Brussells Gianni Bonvicini, Director, Istituto Affari Internazionali, Rome Federica Di Camillo, Research Fellow, Istituto Affari Internazionali, Rome Antonio Missiroli, Director of Studies, European Policy Center, Brussells Nicoletta Pirozzi, Research Fellow, Istituto Affari Internazionali, Rome; Research Fellow, European Foreign and Security Policy Studies Programme, funded by Compagnia di San Paolo, Riksbankens Jubileumsfond and Volkswagen Stiftung Natalino Ronzitti, Professor of International Law, University LUISS “Guido Carli”; Scientific Advisor, Istituto Affari Internazionali, Rome Ferdinando Salleo, former Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry and Italy’s Ambassador to USSR/Russia and to the United States Quaderni IAI Direzione: Roberto Aliboni Redazione: Sandra Passariello Tipografia Città Nuova della P.A.M.O.M., Via S. Romano in Garfagnana, 23 - 00148 Roma - tel. 066530467 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface, Gianni Bonvicini 5 1. The EU in, with and for the UN Security Council: Brussels, New York, and the (Real) World, Sven Biscop and Antonio Missiroli 7 2. Italy at the United Nations Security Council, Ferdinando Salleo and Nicoletta Pirozzi 23 3. Italy’s contribution to Unifil II, Natalino Ronzitti and Federica Di Camillo 57 4. Final report of the workshop, Nicoletta Pirozzi and Simona Benedetti 87 Agenda of the workshop and list of participants 99 3 PREFACE Italy has traditionally devoted particular attention to the activities of the United Nations (UN) and its supreme body, the Security Council (SC). Security Council resolutions and, more generally, the policies and initia- tives of the United Nations system as a whole, have always been fol- lowed and debated with great interest not only by Italian politicians, but also by the wider public. It is therefore not a coincidence that at the beginning of the Nineties, with the reawakening of the debate on changing the composition of the Security Council, the issue quickly turned into a hot national question, mainly due to Italy’s fear of being margin- alised in a reformed SC. It has always been perceived that such margin- alisation in the SC would fail to recognise Italy’s international standing. Italy is one of the most fervent supporters of multilateralism; its finan- cial contribution to the UN budget is among the highest in the world (6th) and its participation in international operations ranks seventh. Finally, Italy is one of the EU founding states and a member of the G- 8. Today, Italy’s interest in the UN is even greater than in the past, par- ticularly in light of its heavy involvement in the Lebanese crisis and its engagement in finding a solution to the serious impasse of the multilat- eral system, including the stalemate of the European integration process. On 30 November 2007, the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI), Rome, the Centro Studi sul Federalismo (CSF), Turin, and the European Policy Centre (EPC), Brussels, convened a workshop in Rome entitled “The contribution of Italy and the European Union to the collective security 5 Preface system of the United Nations”. The event was organised in cooperation with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and with the support of the Compagnia di San Paolo. The participants included government repre- sentatives from Italy and other EU member states, officials from the UN and EU institutions and academic and other non-government experts from Italy and Europe. The purpose of the workshop was to draw some lessons from Italy’s main achievements and shortfalls vis-à-vis the UN halfway through its temporary participation in the Security Council, and to consider new efforts to promote EU common positions, policies and actions in the UN framework more effectively. In order to develop practical analyses and identify viable proposals for an enhanced contribution on the part of Italy and the EU to the UN collective security system, three sessions discussed the workshop’s themes, focusing on: proposals for a greater EU role in the UN and the Security Council, Italy’s contribution to the policies and reform of the Security Council and Italy’s participation in the UNIFIL II mission in Lebanon. A final report sums up the substance of the debate, largely based on the three background papers, which con- stitute the core of this publication. G.B. 6 1. THE EU IN, WITH AND FOR THE UN SECURITY COUNCIL: BRUSSELS, NEW YORK, AND THE (REAL) WORLD Sven Biscop and Antonio Missiroli The European Security Strategy (ESS) puts great emphasis on the importance of the UN for the success of the EU’s view of “effective multilateralism” and its ambition to “share in the responsibility for global security and in building a better world”. As the ESS states, “the fun- damental framework for international relations is the United Nations Charter. The United Nations Security Council has the primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security”. Therefore, “strengthening the United Nations, equipping it to fulfil its responsibilities and to act effectively, is a European priority”. The ESS is not a legally binding document, and opinions differ about its more or less normative character. As in particular Javier Solana, the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), likes to underline, it is rather a broad ‘doctrinal’ text marking the degree of convergence inside the EU, and a set of guidelines for pos- sible action. Still, it also enshrines a number of commitments that can- not and should not be ignored – and the fact that it was drafted and agreed after the spectacular divisions among EU members on the Iraq war (which became apparent also in the United Nations Security Council proper) only adds to its relevance in this respect. For its part, the Treaty on European Union (TEU) states that “Member States shall coordinate their action in international organisations” and “uphold common positions in such forums”. Moreover, “Member States represented in international organisations [...] where not all the Member States participate shall keep the latter informed of any matter 7 Sven Biscop and Antonio Missiroli of common interest”. Last and certainly not least, “Member States which are also members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) will concert and keep the other Member States fully informed. Member States which are permanent members of the Security Council will, in the execution of their functions, ensure the defence of the positions and the interests of the Union, without prejudice to their responsibilities under the provisions of the United Nations Charter”. These provisions, enshrined in Art.19 TEU, have long defined the way in which the EU Members States have coordinated (or not) their policy and voting behaviour at the United Nations. While such coordination has worked better and better - albeit with occasional hiccups on mat- ters of ‘strategic’ importance - at the level of the UN General Assembly and in most specialised agencies, it has proved patchy and uneven at the level of the Security Council. This is mostly due to the way in which the two European permanent members of the UNSC, Britain and France, have interpreted the scope of the proviso enshrined in Art.19.2 (“without prejudice…”). To a less- er extent, however, it is also due to the fact that the other EU Member States, whenever elected for two years as non-permanent members, still tend to interpret that mandate as primarily ‘national’. This interpreta- tion is certainly true in strictly legal terms, but arguably less so in polit- ical ones, especially considering the recent development of EU foreign policy on a number of issues also of strategic relevance (from Iran to the Middle East and Kosovo). This paper will not address the ever-controversial issue of how Europe and/or the EU should be represented on the UN Security Council.1 It will only try to assess to what extent the EU manages to speak and act as one within the UN Security Council and to contribute to global peace and security by cooperating/coordinating with UN peacekeeping operations in the field – thus juggling between the ambitions of the ESS, the constraints of the TEU, and the realities of the international system. 1 See David Malone (ed.), The UN Security Council: From the Cold War to the 21st Century, Lynne Rienner, Boulder (Co.), 2004; Jeffrey Laurenti, “What ‘Reinforcement’ for the Security Council?”, in Martin Ortega (ed.), The European Union and the United Nations: Partners in Effective Multilateralism, Chaillot Paper No.

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