European Commissioner for Budget Kristalina Georgieva speaks during a media conference at EU headquarters in Brussels
European commissioner Kristalina Georgieva, a latecomer to the race to be the next secretary-general, says being the first U.N. chief from Eastern Europe and the first woman to be the world’s top diplomat would demonstrate the inclusiveness and universality of the United Nations.
But the Bulgarian diplomat and former World Bank vice-president said in an interview with The Associated Press ahead of her hearing in the General Assembly yesterday that it’s the skills and determination she would bring to the job that count most.
“I am very clear in defining directions,” Georgieva said. “I look forward with clarity. I am able to convince. I have my own convictions and I am able to carry people with me. And I have very strong managerial skills, proven, that I can get a job as hard as it may be, done.”
The 63-year-old grandmother said there was “an element of surprise” when Bulgarian Prime Minister Boiko Borisov asked her to enter the race after deciding to drop the country’s support from UNESCO chief Irina Bokova, a fellow Bulgarian who came in sixth of nine secretary-general candidates in the fifth informal poll in the U.N. Security Council on Sept. 26 which was led by former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres.
“I gave it some thought because I recognized that it’s so late in the process,” Georgieva said. “But then, I also thought, ‘If I don’t run, how would I know if I have a shot or I don’t?’ To find out, I have to run.”
Georgieva is currently vice-president of the European Commission and its commissioner for budget and human resources. She formerly held the post of European commissioner for international cooperation, humanitarian aid and crisis response.
Under the U.N. Charter, the secretary-general is elected by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council. In practice, this has meant that the five permanent council members with veto power — the U.S., Russia, China, Britain and France — have the final say. Ten candidates are vying to succeed Ban Ki-moon whose term ends on Dec. 31.
Since Borisov announced Georgieva’s candidacy last week, there have been diplomatic rumblings about her late entry and the fact that Bulgaria now has two candidates.
Both Georgieva and Bokova will be on the ballot in the next informal poll tomorrow which is considered the most important so far. That’s because it will be the first using different colored ballots to distinguish between the five permanent council members who have veto power and the 10 non-permanent members who don’t.
As a late-comer to the contest, Georgieva acknowledges she is at a “disadvantage” because she has less time to introduce herself.
“My job is to put my best foot forward, and hope that I will be judged on merits and not on length of campaigning,” she said in Saturday’s interview during a break from preparing the question-and-answer session in the 193-member General Assembly, a hearing all the other candidates have gone through already. Edith M. Lederer, United Nations, AP
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