|
At UN, Merkel's Economic Proposal
Absent, Dreams of UN Credibility, Sevan
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of
Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED
NATIONS, February 13 --
German Chancellor Angela Merkel proposed a UN Economic Security Council
while
at the recent World Economic Forum in Davos. But at the UN on February
11, when
Inner City Press asked the president of the UN's Economic and Social
Council,
Sylvie Lucas of Luxembourg, about Merkel's proposal, Ms. Lucas said the
idea
has not been raised to the UN and is "not necessarily a very well
defined
idea." Video here,
from Minute 36:27.
Inner City Press also asked Ms. Lucas, Luxembourg's
Ambassador, how
ECOSOC's talk-fest on the global financial crisis lines up and works
with the
process started by President of the General Assembly Miguel d'Escoto
Brockmann,
headlined by economist Joseph Stiglitz. Ms. Lucas' lengthy response,
replete
with high-level meetings, interactive dialogues and other UN buzz
words,
appeared to mean that the two processes are not fully coordinated.
Video here,
from Minute 31:02. Then on February 13, d'Escoto's spokesman said the
processes
are coordinated, in ways he'll explain next week.
A key d'Escoto staffer this week
told Inner City Press that the hook d'Escoto has is the "legitimacy"
of the General Assembly, or perhaps of the UN. By way of analogy, he
told the
story of a respected lawyer jurist, whose client balked at the high
price tag
of his opinion memo. The lawyer flipped to the last page and tore off
the
signature. There, he said, now I will give it to you for free. The
point, the
PGA staffer said, is that it is the name that is important, not the
content.
The G-20 need us, he said.
UN's Ban and Germany's Merkel, with a
not-small gulf between, UN Economic Council not seen
Believers in the UN name, in the primacy of the
so-called GA-192 over
groups like the G-20, should then be more concerned about that which
inevitably
makes the UN look bad. This week, for example, the UN's own
Administrative
Tribunal said the UN must pay the legal fees of Benon Sevan, formerly
head of
the UN Oil for Food Program for Iraq, who when charged with bribery
fled to
Cyprus, which refuses to extradite him. Inner City Press asked Ban
Ki-moon's spokesperson
if Ban had any comments on the case, any regrets about using UN money
to pay
the fees of an official formerly charged with corruption.
He has no comment, the spokesperson said.
Perhaps because it is not on the Security Council's agenda, the excuse
given
for Ban not calling for a cease fire in Sri Lanka? Click here
for that.
Ms. Lucas was
asked about a sentiment bubbling up from the ECOSOC subsidiary
Commission on Social Development meeting in the basement, that the
bailouts of banks in the developed world should some how be related to
financial for development. Jamaica expressed it strongly in the CSD,
more recently a "senior UN official" was quoted
as saying a push will be made at the upcoming G-20 meeting. We'll see.
Footnote:
when asked about the
Merkel proposal, Ms. Lucas encouraged Inner City Press to "see that
with
my German colleague." That same day, the German Mission to the UN was
holding a session on financing the UN, which excluded a number of
reporters who
actively but critically cover the issue. Two days later, Germany's
Ambassador
made what is becoming a rare appearance at or outside the Security
Council,
singing the praises of an Abkhazia resolution which the Georgians,
right after
Germany spoke, described as a slow slide toward loss of territorial
integrity.
What where is the Merkel proposal? Watch this site.
Click here for Inner City Press' Jan.
16, 2009 debate about Gaza
Click here for Inner City Press'
review-of-2008 UN Top Ten debate
Click here for Inner
City Press' December 24 debate on UN budget, Niger
Click here from Inner City Press'
December 12 debate on UN double standards
Click here for Inner
City Press' November 25 debate on Somalia, politics
Click here for Inner City
Press Nov. 7 debate on the war in Congo
Watch this site, and this Oct. 2 debate, on
UN, bailout, MDGs
and this October 17 debate, on
Security Council and Obama and the UN.
* * *
These
reports are
usually also available through Google
News and on Lexis-Nexis.
Click
here
for a Reuters
AlertNet piece by this correspondent
about Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army. Click
here
for an earlier Reuters AlertNet piece about the Somali
National
Reconciliation Congress, and the UN's $200,000 contribution from an
undefined trust fund. Video
Analysis here
Feedback: Editorial
[at] innercitypress.com
UN Office: S-453A, UN, NY 10017
USA
Tel: 212-963-1439
Reporter's mobile (and
weekends):
718-716-3540
Other,
earlier Inner City Press are listed here, and some are available
in the ProQuest service, and now on Lexis-Nexis.
Copyright
2006-08 Inner City Press, Inc. To request
reprint or other permission, e-contact Editorial [at]
innercitypress.com -
|
