India's long innings for a permanent UNSC seat

India's three-decade push for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) received fresh European support recently, despite the lack of a negotiating text at the UN. During the first Visegrad Group (V4) + India Foreign Ministers Meeting in New York, Slovakia's Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar stated that the V4 countries believe India, as a part of the Global South and an upcoming superpower in the Indo-Pacific region, should be at the table as a permanent member of the UN Security Council.

This comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi advocated for UN Security Council reform at the BRICS leaders' meeting in New Delhi. The reform process, which includes expanding the number and distribution of permanent seats among regions, remains stalled due to the need for a clear timeline and concrete outcomes. The veto power held by the five permanent members - the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China - poses a significant barrier to reform, and no country, including India, is willing to give up this power.