While the United Nations, through its UN80 Task Force, continues a public-facing attempt to reduce its budget to handle a decrease in external contributions and to address overlapping mandates and duplicated efforts, a U.N. diplomatic source tells Fox News Digital that the effort is an attempt “to keep a mammoth organization untouched” until the 2026 midterm elections.
The source explained that the “zero-growth budget” proposed for 2026 has already been prepared, and that “talk about how we’re going to get it leaner” is only intended to “take [President] Trump for a sucker.” The source said that the U.N. believes that the budget will suffice until the House shifts to Democratic control, and Trump will no longer be able to “inflict damages to the U.N.”
The source claimed the effort is the “brain child” of the U.N. Foundation, something the group refuted.
“We have never proposed linking U.N. budgetary deliberations to the U.S. mid-term elections,” a spokesperson from the U.N. Foundation told Fox News Digital.
The chamber of the House of Representatives is seen at the Capitol in Washington, Feb. 28, 2022. (J. Scott Applewhite, File)
Fox News Digital asked Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ spokesperson Stephane Dujarric whether Guterres could expect organizations with independent boards to enforce changes like those addressed in his memo. “We do not take such a pessimistic view. The Secretary-General and the heads of the U.N. Funds and Programmes will act in areas under their authority while, of course, keeping the governing bodies informed,” Dujarric said.
Before the deadline for responses came due, Guterres delivered a May 12 briefing admitting that the proposal for the 2026 budget “was already given to ACABQ some time ago and it will be impossible to change it at the present moment.” While Guterres said he would present revised proposals in September in time for budget approvals, he explained that “changes that require more detailed analysis will be presented in the proposal” for the 2027 budget.
Fox News Digital’s source says the admission is proof that “this whole attempt is a lie to appease the Americans so they don’t go harsh enough and cut anything right now.”
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres speaks at the ReutersNEXT Newsmaker event in New York City, New York, U.S. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
On May 13, Guterres addressed a letter to all U.N. staff about the need for “bold, transformative thinking” and extensive reforms to bring the U.N. out of its liquidity crisis. While expressing gratitude for employees’ “extraordinary dedication, expertise and creativity” he warned “that ‘leaks’ and rumours may create unnecessary anxiety,” Guterres said that “it will be inevitable that we cannot leave all posts untouched.”
After over three decades of working for the U.N., the source says they have “seen the U.N. attempt to change itself at least five times.” Instead, they said that the U.N. only got “a larger footprint.” They explained that other insiders “are fed up that the organization is not changing.”
“You have…a super state that basically controls itself,” the source explained. “And you should also trust them to reorganize themselves?” they asked.
Whether the U.N. could hold out for promised change is unknown. The Economist reported in May that due to nonpayment of fees, the U.N. may run out of funds to pay its suppliers and employees by the General Assembly in September.
