Jordan has reservations about some aspects of the Arab League's proposals to create new pan-Arab institutions such as a security council with restricted membership, the Jordanian ambassador to Cairo said on Sunday.
Jordan thinks that all 22 member states should have seats on the security council, not just seven or 12 members, as suggested by Arab League secretary-general Amr Moussa, ambassador Hani al-Mulqi told Reuters in an interview.
Jordan also wants the council's decisions to be binding on all members, in the same way as UN Security Council resolutions are binding on all UN members, he added.
In the Arab League proposals, which Moussa circulated confidentially to Arab governments late last year, Arab League resolutions could pass on a two-thirds majority but would be binding only on those who voted in favour.
The proposals have been at the centre of a flurry of Arab diplomacy over the past month, in preparation for a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo in early March and a summit meeting in Tunis on March 29 and 30.
The aim is to enhance the role of the Cairo-based Arab League as a regional institution which expresses Arab views to the outside world and can resolve conflicts with the Arab world without members resorting to foreign military intervention.
The campaign for structural change follows the Arab failure to prevent the US and British invasion of Iraq last year and conincides with a shared sense that the Arab world is under threat from external forces beyond its control.
Mulqi said Jordan accepted the concept of an Arab security council but added: "It's okay if it's inclusive of all, if each member has equal importance and an equal vote."
ROTATING MEMBERSHIP: "We are 22 countries so we are small enough to form a security council. We see no reason why it should be seven (members) or 12, 13 or 14," he added.
He said the Arab League proposal was for a rotating membership with no permanent members, unlike the UN Security Council, which has five permanent members with veto power.
"But it would be perceived as forming a small club... We are worried about alienating some countries and we want to preserve the integrity of the league," he added.
Choosing permanent members for such a council could be extremely contentious as rival Arab governments compete for recognition of their status as regional leaders, diplomats say.
Mulqi said the old principle of giving exemptions to governments which do not support Arab League resolutions had weakened the institution over the past few decades.
"We say that if you are a member, and a decision is taken by whatever method, it must be implemented by all regardless of how they voted... If countries still don't want to implement, they shouldn't be there in the first place," he added.
But countries could argue for a period of grace if, for example, they need time to change domestic laws, he said. The other Arab League proposals are for an elected Arab parliament specifically to legislate on matters which the Arab League has already approved, a conflict prevention and resolution mechanism and an Arab Court of Justice - a regional equivalent of the International Court of Justice.
Jordan is circulating an additional proposal for an Arab trade organisation, analogous to the World Trade Organisation but with more lenient requirements for membership and with a larger role in providing financial support for smaller economies which cannot now compete on a level playing field.
The ambassador said he expected the Arab summit would approve the idea of structural reform at the league but leave the details for further discussion.
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