Finnish President Alexander Stubb called for major changes to the UN Security Council in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, saying that its permanent membership should be doubled from five to ten.
According to Stubb, two countries from Africa and Asia and one from South America should be added to the Council.
"My basic message is that if countries from the global South, from Latin America, from Africa, from Asia, do not get agency in the system, they will turn their backs against the United Nations. And that we do not want," he said.
In the interview, Stubb also proposed abolishing the veto right of the Security Council's permanent members.
"No single state should have veto power in the UN Security Council," Stubb told Reuters.
Stubb argued that nations engaging in illegal wars of aggression against sovereign states, like Russia's invasion of Ukraine, should be barred from the Security Council. For the past two and a half years, Moscow has blocked any attempts by the Security Council to condemn its actions in Ukraine due to its veto power as a permanent member.
The composition of the Security Council is to be discussed next week at the UN General Assembly in New York.
Stubb noted that small member states do not usually tend to make such bold proposals, but also said that the major powers of the UN would be unlikely to limit their own influence.
"So they talk the talk, but don't walk the walk," he said, telling Reuters he hoped other countries would support his proposal for the UN's 80th anniversary next year.
Stubb also called for the lifting of restrictions on the use by Ukraine of Western-supplied weapons.
Finland condemns Israel
Separately on Wednesday, Finland voted in favour of a UN General Assembly resolution condemning Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories.
The resolution, supported by 124 member states, calls on Israel to end its presence in these territories within 12 months. In addition, 14 countries voted against the resolution and 43 abstained.
In previous UN votes regarding Israel and Palestine since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel last year, Finland has abstained.
On Wednesday, Stubb gave a speech that was interrupted by pro-Palestinian protesters in Tampere.
Stubb also told Reuters on Tuesday that while Finland was planning to recognise a Palestinian state sometime in the future, such plans did not conflict with Finland's decisions to purchase Israeli arms.
