The power of veto, which Russia, China, France, the UK, and the US have at the UN Security Council, is a building block of the organization’s architecture and without it the UN will lose its stability, the deputy chief of the Russian mission, Vladimir Safronkov said on Tuesday at a yet another session of the General Assembly that considered the UN Security Council’s reform, TASS reports.
"The ungrounded escapades against the right of veto caused a highly variegated reaction among the UN member-states," Safronkov said. "Not only do they not match the discussions of reforms. More than that, they disregards the fact this institute [of the power to impose veto] is one of the crucial elements of the system of checks and balances and a backbone element of collective decision-making."
"This element stimulates the Security Council members towards searching for compromise solutions," he said. "The power to impose veto is not a privilege for the permanent members of the Security Council. Much rather, it’s a huge responsibility."
"Veto is a building block of the UN architecture and its absence will make the organization devoid of stability," Safronkov said.
Consent among all the permanent members makes it possible to reach agreements that take the form of the Council’s decisions, he indicated. On top of that, it assures fair opportunities for their implementation.
"In other words, it’s highly shortsighted from the political point of view to entrench upon this right, as its elimination could upset the much-needed balance of interests," Safronkov said.
He reiterated Russia’s stance, which suggests that the developing nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America should get more seats on the Security Council.
"Alongside with the permanent members’ right of veto, this approach will form a prerequisite for keeping up a balanced character of the Council’s decisions," Safronkov said.
Intergovernmental talks on the reform of the UN Security Council are underway since 1992 but the countries taking part in them have not reached consensus so far in what concerns either the best possible composition of the Council or the number of its permanent and nonpermanent members or the rules for the application of veto.
The previous time that changes occurred in the composition of the Security Council was in 1965 when the number of its nonpermanent members increased from six to ten.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told the website of the Valdai international discussions club last October he did not think it would be possible to achieve consensus on the UN Security Council reform in the coming year or two.
The current round of talks began in February. The two-day session on April 30 and May 1 was devoted to the categories of UN Security Council’s members, the right of veto and regional representation. Vladimir Safronkov said the participants in the discussion should focus only on the proposals that enjoy maximum broad support.