• Uniting for Consensus (UfC), also known as the Coffee Club, is a movement that started in the 1990s to fight against the idea of adding more regular seats to the UN Security Council.
• Under the leadership of Italy, it wants to counter the bids for permanent seats made by the G4 (Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan) and is asking for a consensus before any decision is made about the shape and size of the UN Security Council.
• In 1995, the “Coffee Club” was started by Italy, Pakistan, Mexico, and Egypt through their representative, Francesco Paolo Fulci.
• The four countries agreed on one thing: they didn’t like the idea of adding more permanent members to the Security Council. Instead, they wanted to push for more non-permanent spots.
Other countries, like Spain, Argentina, Turkey, and Canada, soon joined the group’s leaders. In a short time, about 50 countries from Asia, Africa, and Latin America were part of it.
• The main argument of the Uniting for Consensus group is that adding more permanent seats would make the differences between the member countries even bigger and lead to a cascade of new rights. In fact, the new permanent members would gain from the way people are chosen, which is especially helpful in a few parts of the United Nations System.
Most of the club’s members are middle-sized countries that don’t want bigger regional powers to get permanent places on the UN Security Council. Countries like Italy, Spain, Australia, Canada, South Korea, Argentina, and Pakistan are the driving forces behind the club.
Italy and Spain are against Germany’s bid to be a permanent member of the Security Council, while Pakistan is against India’s bid. Argentine is against Brazil’s bid, and Australia is against Japan’s.
• Canada and South Korea don’t want poor countries, which often get help from them, to have more power at the UN than they do.