Only non-permanent seats should be added to the UN Security Council as new permanent seats would weaken the body's representativeness, legitimacy and efficiency, Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini said in a recent interview with Xinhua.

Italy opposes the reform plan compiled by Brazil, Germany, Japan and India, also called the G4, which proposes six new permanent members and four non-permanent members for the Security Council, Fini said.

He warned that the G4 plan, which has already triggered heated discussion among UN member countries and regional groups, could result in collapse of the UN reform.

Attempts to reform one body of the UN should not harm other functions of the world organization, in particular, its core functions, Fini said. UN reform needs broad consensus through consultations, he said.

Italy supports a proposal advocated by some countries which favors an enlargement of the Security Council from 15 to 25 members, with all the 10 new seats being non-permanent ones.

Fini said the 10 new non-permanent seats could be allocated to the world's five regions, each with the right to choose its own representatives.

The principle of regional balance and equal rights of participation of member states must be upheld in UN reform, he said.

Italy supports substantial and comprehensive reform of the United Nations, said Fini. But the reform must provide equal chance for each and every member state to compete for a seat on the Security Council.

One of the goals of the UN reform is to facilitate the participation of small- and medium-sized countries and developing countries at the Security Council, said Fini. The region-decides-on-its-own-seats proposal serves this purpose, said Fini.

Fini, who also serves as Italy's deputy prime minister, said the UN summit scheduled for September will provide an important opportunity for member states to discuss UN reform and help achieve the goal of improving the efficiency, trustworthiness and legitimacy of the United Nations.

On the future role of the UN, Fini said that under the UN Charter, the Security Council should safeguard world peace and security. The future UN will continue to play this important role, he said.

Fini warned against any haste decisions on the UN reform, noting such decisions always end up beneficial to a few countries and failing to serve the interests of all UN countries as a whole.

Source: Xinhua