The European Union and the Reform of the UN Security Council: Toward a New Regionalism?

The United Nations (UN) is a central reference for the performance of the European Union (EU) on the international stage and one of the most interesting platforms to test the effectiveness of the innovations introduced by the Lisbon Treaty in its foreign and security policies. In particular, the EU’s contribution to the reform of the UN Security Council (SC) represents a crucial policy and institutional input to assess the Union's capability to act. The new Treaty could allow the EU to play a more assertive role at the SC and pave the way for a new regionalism within the United Nations.

Paper prepared for the Istituto affari internazionali (IAI), May 2011. Part I is based on The Reform of the UN Security Council, paper presented by Natalino Ronzitti at the seminar "The Reform of the UN Security Council: What Role for the EU?", held in Rome on 14 May 2010. Part II is based on Towards a more effective UN Security Council? The EU's role in the post-Lisbon era, paper presented by Nicoletta Pirozzi at the EUSA 12th Biennial Conference, held in Boston on 3-5 March 2011.