U.N. General Assembly lifts spending cap

By EDITH M. LEDERER

The U.N. General Assembly has lifted a $950 million spending cap on the United Nations' budget over objections from the United States, which wanted to keep the lid to press for management reforms.

The vote late Friday night averted a financial crisis for the moment, but could lead to one in coming months if Congress holds up or cuts back on U.N. dues because of the failure to overhaul U.N. management practices.

It also left the U.N.'s biggest financial contributors — the United States and Japan — at odds with the overwhelming majority of the 192 member states which are from the developing world. The poorer countries insist they also want management reform and an efficient U.N. Secretariat, but they object to any measures that would diminish their control over the U.N. budget and management.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said the United States wanted substantial decisions on a review of mandates and management reform by June 30. The only reforms being discussed are "bits and pieces," he said.

"It's extremely unfortunate that we didn't achieve any tangible results ... with the expenditure cap in place," he added. "And it's hard to see how we're going to achieve results without the expenditure cap."

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan unveiled a sweeping reform agenda in March 2005 to revamp the 60-year-old organization so it can meet the demands of the 21st century. World leaders then approved a significantly watered-down version of Annan's vision for reducing poverty, fighting terrorism and reforming the U.N., and they left the implementation to the General Assembly.

The United States, Japan, Europe and other wealthy nations who pay about 85 percent of the U.N.'s budget joined forces in early December to back the spending cap. Their aim was to spur agreement on management reforms by June, including reviews of old U.N. program rules and regulations. One goal was to give Annan greater flexibility in running the world body.

After months of negotiations, developing countries used their overwhelming numbers to lift the spending cap, despite the fact agreement on reforms and a review of mandates remained elusive. The U.S. was joined by Japan, Canada and Australia in voting against the decision.

The budget committee was supposed to wrap up its work Friday, but it decided to meet for three days next week to try to bridge differences over management reforms. General Assembly President Jan Eliasson said he would start informal consultations in July toward tackling a review of mandates that are at least five years old.

World leaders at a September U.N. summit requested the review of mandates, which were defined as anything that the General Assembly, the Security Council or any other relevant U.N. body has asked the Secretariat to do. No mandate thus far has been eliminated or consolidated.

"It's a disappointing outcome," said Britain's U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry. "We shouldn't fool ourselves. We've got a lot of work to do and a week to do it in."