French President Nicolas Sarkozy called Tuesday for a speedy enlargement of the U.N. Security Council and Group of Eight leading industrialized nations. “The 21st century world cannot be governed with the institutions of the 20th century,” Sarkozy said in his address to the 63rd General Assembly. “We cannot wait any longer to enlarge the Security Council. We cannot wait any longer to turn the G8 into the G13 or G14, and to bring in China, India, South Africa, Mexico and Brazil.” The U.N. General Assembly agreed last week to open inter-governmental discussions on reforming the Security Council last week. An open-ended working group on reforming the 15-nation body charged with maintaining peace and security has been meeting since 1993. Sarkozy, the current president of the European Union, also called for a revamped regulation system for global financial markets and institutions to address what he called the “most serious financial crisis since the 1930s.” “Let us rebuild together a regulated capitalism in which whole swathes of financial activity are not left to the sole judgment of market operators, in which banks do their job, which is finance economic development rather than engage in speculation,” Sarkozy said.
