Presentato il progetto di riforma delle Nazioni Unite. I commenti della stampa internazionale.

HIGH-LEVEL PANEL REPORT: The United Nations on Tuesday proposed the most sweeping changes in its history, recommending the overhaul of its top decision-making group, the Security Council, and holding out the possibility that it could grant legitimacy to pre-emptive military strikes. In its most attention-getting recommendation, the panel called for an expansion of the Security Council to 24 members from 15. But the panel was unable to agree on one proposal and ended up suggesting two options. (NYT) The 95-page report lays out a new vision for collective action to tackle threats to global security and puts "a more proactive" Security Council at the heart of a revitalised United Nations. (AP) The panel challenged the Bush administration's right to use military force against an enemy that does not pose an imminent military threat. (WP) But the panel acknowledged that the UN should do more to deal with terrorism and weapons of mass destruction. (Times, London) The panel of 16 "wise men" challenged America's claim to have a right unilaterally to take "preventive" military action against looming threats. "There is little evident international acceptance of the idea of security being best preserved by a balance of power or by any single--even benignly motivated--superpower," said the panel. (Daily Telegraph, London) All countries should sign and ratify the statute of the International Criminal Court, a high-level United Nations panel will demand later this week, and the UN Security Council should be far more ready to refer wrongdoers to international criminal justice. But the advice on the court is likely to infuriate the US, which has opposed it both through the UN and through bilateral agreements. And Washington's support is seen as crucial to the success of any UN reform. (FT) The UN reform panel is tending towards a Security Council reform model whereby the council is expanded by 8 semi-permanent members, elected for four years; the panel feels that the majority of UN states supports this model. Germany would thus not achieve the goal of getting a permanent seat. (Berliner Zeitung) New permanent members of the United Nations' Security Council should have the same veto power as the current members, a top Japanese official said Wednesday, disputing a high-level international panel's recent recommendations. (AP) China and South Korea remained cautious toward Japan's bid to become a permanent member of the Security Council during a trilateral summit in the Laotian capital Monday, officials said. (Herald/Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo) India has been shortchanged by a report intended to overhaul the UN set-up. Though placed at the high table, among the Security Council's six new permanent members, the report's recommendations do not confer it a veto, making any place on the Council a "mere detail." Why should a country aspire for permanent status unless it gains the power of veto? (The Statesman, Kolkata) Yesterday the UN unveiled a sweeping proposal to overhaul the organization, including the Security Council, in what would be the biggest UN reform since its founding in 1945. Its release had been scheduled for today but was suddenly fast-forwarded. A coincidence, perhaps, but amid so much pressure, anything that shifts attention away from his other troubles will surely be a welcome respite for Kofi Annan. (National Post, Canada) The US has shaken the UN Charter to the point of collapse. Where does that leave the international community? This week we shall see the report of the high level group, which will guide us towards rules which fit the world not of 1945 but of 2004. Annan is right to try, but whatever changes might eventually be contrived at the UN, the foundations of an international community in the next few years will essentially be regional. We need in every major region valid partnerships which include the US, writes Douglas Hurd. (FT, Op-Ed) The long-awaited Report arrives at a very inopportune moment for Kofi Annan.Can a Secretary-General whom Americans do not like, who first reacted at the oil-for-food scandal with reluctance only to admit, later on, his son's conflict of interest, succeed in reforming the world body in the remaining 24 months of his mandate? Will the Panel members manage to divert the attention of the American right-wing--already threatening to slash the US contributions to the UN by 10 percent because of the scandal? (La Repubblica, Rome, ed) Kofi Annan is trying to do all he can in the difficult task of reforming the Security Council, aware that this may be his last chance to save his reputation and rescue the UN from a bottomless pit. (El Mundo, Spain)