<P> Germany is the third largest contributor to the U.N. regular budgets next to Japan, and as such, argues for a permanent Security Council seat . Germany has been elected to the Security Council as a non-permanent member three times as a unified state, as well as three times when it was divided (twice for the West, once for the East). </P> <P> France has explicitly called for a permanent seat in the UN for its close EU partner: "Germany's engagement, its ranking as a great power, its international influence--France would like to see them recognized with a permanent seat on the Security Council", French president Jacques Chirac said in a speech in Berlin in 2000 . The former German Chancellor, Gerhard Schröder, also identified Russia, among other countries, as a country that backed Germany's bid . Former President Fidel V. Ramos of the Philippines also expressed his country's support for Germany's bid, together with Japan's . Italy and the Netherlands on the contrary, suggest a common European Union seat in the Council instead of Germany becoming the third European member next to France and the UK . The former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer said that Germany would also accept a common European seat, but as long as there is little sign that France and the UK will give up their own seats, Germany should also have a seat . </P> <P> The German campaign for a permanent seat was intensified in 2004 . Schröder made himself perfectly clear in August 2004: "Germany has the right to a seat ." Its bid is supported by Japan, India, Brazil, France, the United Kingdom and Russia, among other countries . Current German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who had initially been quiet on the issue, re-stated Germany's bid in her address to the UN General Assembly in September 2007 . In July 2011, Merkel's trip to Kenya, Angola, and Nigeria was thought to be motivated, in part, by the goal of seeking support from African countries for Germany's bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council . </P> <P> India, which joined the U.N. in 1945, two years before independence in 1947, is the second - largest and one of the largest constant contributors of troops to the United Nations peacekeeping missions . Foreign Policy magazine states that, "India's international identity has long been shaped by its role in U.N. peacekeeping, with more than 100,000 Indian troops having served in U.N. missions during the past 50 years . Today, India has over 8,500 peacekeepers in the field, more than twice as many as the U.N.'s five big powers combined ." In supporting India's bid for a permanent seat on an enlarged Security Council last November, US President Barack Obama cited "India's long history as a leading contributor to United Nations peacekeeping mission". India has been elected seven times to the UN Security Council, most recently from 2011 to 2012, after receiving 188 of the 190 total votes . </P>

In which of the following years the membership of the security council was increased from 11 to 15