REFORMING THE UN: UNSC REMAINS ITALY'S TOP PRIORITY

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