The United States and France propose to expand the UN Security Council

US President Joe Biden said during a speech at the UN General Assembly on September 21 that he supports the idea of ​​expanding the composition of the Security Council (SC). “The time has come for the UN to become a more inclusive organization that will respond more effectively to the needs of today’s world. The United States supports expanding the membership of the UN Security Council, including permanent members,” Biden said. Since the founding of the UN Security Council in 1945, it has always included five permanent members: the United States, China, the USSR (since 1992 – the Russian Federation), Great Britain and France.

A day earlier, with a similar initiative, supplemented by limiting the veto power of individual members of the UN Security Council, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke at the General Assembly. He motivated his proposal by the fact that against the backdrop of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, the threat of “fragmentation” of the world community, an increase in the number of “unresolved conflicts” and “proliferation of weapons of mass destruction” has increased in the world. These challenges, Macron said, cannot be answered without regional powers, which should be included in the UN Security Council as new permanent members. The French president proposed to deprive the permanent members of the right of veto if they are accused of “mass crimes”.