Just over two months before António Guterres returns to Portugal and leaves the post of UN Secretary General vacant, the process to replace him is at an impasse. The last informal vote in the Security Council showed the reluctance of the five great powers towards the official candidates. It does not seem that the Emirati Lana Nusseibeh, who presented her candidacy last week, is going to clarify the situation. And now the former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán joins the race – through information in The Wall Street Journal without official confirmation.
Thus, a man who for years was one of the European leaders closest to the Russian Vladimir Putin enters the race for the most important body in the international architecture after World War II. His candidacy, if officially presented, would very predictably clash with the European veto. But the mere appearance of his name shows the extent to which the process is running aground, as well as the progressive alienation of the interests of Trump and Putin.
The New York newspaper, citing anonymous sources from three countries, confirms that the Trump Administration has defended Orbán's suitability as the next Secretary General of the UN, a position that will become vacant on January 1. According to this information, the United States would have encouraged the former Hungarian prime minister, who lost the elections last April after 16 consecutive years in office, to enter the battle. According to the Journal, there is still no final decision on whether to submit the candidacy.
An Orbán aspiring to be Secretary General of the United Nations would mean an earthquake with unforeseeable consequences. It is obvious that Putin would view this favorably. And the American newspaper assures that it also has the support of China.
Senior US officials would have said, according to the information, that when Washington, Beijing and Moscow agree on a name to lead the UN it is difficult to contradict them. “Orbán would be the dream candidate of the conservative MAGA movement [the acronym for the Trumpist motto Make America Great Again],” added the sources consulted from the State Department.
In this context, the Foreign Minister of the new Government of Peter Magyar, Anita Orbán - with no family relationship with former Prime Minister Orbán - has announced that she will meet this Tuesday in Washington with the Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, according to Gloria Rodríguez-Pina.
Great obstacles
The obstacles to a UN Secretary General Orbán would come from the other two permanent members of the Security Council, France and the United Kingdom, who would most likely oppose it. It is completely inconceivable that President Emmanuel Macron could give free rein in New York to the European leader who for years caused the most problems to advance on issues of common interest for the entire continent, such as support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.
This is not the first extravagant name of candidates supposedly supported by Trump to emerge from leaks to the media. The conservative tabloid The New York Post published last July that the United States was considering the idea of promoting the candidacy of Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, as a replacement for Guterres. Infantino is a man very close to Trump, whom in December of last year he had presented with a FIFA peace prize that he pulled out of his sleeve. With that gesture he tried to compensate the American for his disappointment at not having won the Nobel Peace Prize, which he considered obvious that he deserved.
Another name that has been considered as one of those sponsored by Trump is the Bulgarian diplomat and former minister Nickolay Mladenov, appointed high representative for Gaza in January of this year and general director of the Peace Board, an organization proposed by the United States and chaired by Trump.
It is difficult to imagine that some of these names are going to get the support of at least nine countries on the Security Council and no vetoes from the five permanent members. But it also shows the great divergences of the countries with the right to veto the current candidates.
