External relations Commissioner calls for EU seat in UN

Instead, she argued, "sovereignties" should be combined.

Mrs Ferrero-Waldner, who was previously Austria's foreign minister, said that she is "not making the case for a European superpower ... Europe is not in the act of building up a global empire".

"This commitment to multilateralism is a founding principle of EU foreign relations. Our goal is to strengthen international security through concerted work within the framework of international organisations".

"I think that one should consider a special seat for the EU in the security council given its foreign policy significance".

Idea rejected

Mrs Ferrero-Waldner said she is aware of the position of member states but added that "Europe must speak with one voice in the Security Council".

Her comments were rejected almost immediately by Germany - a country which is itself pushing for a seat in the Security Council once it is reformed.

Speaking in New York on the same day, German foreign minister Joschka Fischer said the idea was "unrealistic".

He said that Germany would agree to creating a single EU seat if France and the UK would give up their own seats. He added, however, that "this will not happen in the near future, so the debate is over before it has even started".

Reform

At the moment, the UN security council has fifteen members. Of these, five are permanent veto-wielding members – the UK, France, China, Russia and the US. The other ten are elected by the General Assembly for two-year periods.

In all, 191 countries are members of the UN.

Discussions about how to reform this huge organisation have been ongoing for years – with the need for change being highlighted by the divisions within the security council over the US-led war in Iraq.

In 2003, Mr Annan commissioned a panel, mainly of former government ministers and leaders, to propose changes. These fall into two broad categories: institutional and cultural, the way the UN goes about its business.

However, the reform proposals, which are due to be agreed this year face a difficult route to getting accepted.

Structural changes to the Security Council would have to be approved by two-thirds of the delegates in the General Assembly with no veto by one of the permanent members.