Their fortunes have ebbed and flowed with the tides of history, and will continue to do so. What is truly new in the post-World War II era is not the emergence of a few global powers. What is new is the fact that nearly ninety former colonies have become full-fledged independent, sovereign States thanks mainly to the process of decolonization. These countries must be recognized, by far, as the emerging new realities of the world in which we live. Sixth, claims to permanent seats by some industrialized nations seem to be based mainly on economic power.
Economic strength is neither static nor permanent.
It is a known fact that the current Council is dominated by the permanent members. For these reasons and for many more, Italy remains adamantly opposed to enlarging the current island of privilege by adding new fixed permanent seats, frozen in time for perpetuity. I remain convinced that this concept is a contradiction in terms. The reality is that within each regional group some countries have served, and are serving, on the Council more often than others. In the Italian proposal we tried to codify this practice and give some order to it.