The new United Nations Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, has not lost any time getting to grips with reform of the world organisation. It is a general rule that such a new leadership has a relatively short period perhaps six months to a year - in which to make a real impact and create a momentum for comprehensive reform and renewal.
Mr Annan has a strong mandate for change which was reinforced by the circumstances of his appointment. This came after France lifted its veto in the Security Council in what was seen as a triumph for United States diplomacy. Mr Annan knows the US very well. He is fully aware of the need to convince the Clinton administration at the beginning of its second term to support his efforts - and to convince Congress to pay up the arrears that have crippled the UN financially. He has a strong bargaining counter and is assured of a sympathetic hearing from Mr Clinton and the new Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, who was so influential in removing Dr Boutros Boutros Ghali, Mr Annan's predecessor, from the UN post.
But Mr Annan is not at all a creature of US policy. He has the support of many developing states for the broad thrust of a programme that would sustain the UN budget and consolidate its valuable development work in a more effective and targeted fashion, rather than use reform to cut costs as many US politicians advocate. He has now received support from the European Union for this approach. An EU document, drafted largely under the Irish presidency, strongly supports the UN as the central framework for international co operation. But it insists that reform of the UN in the economic and social fields "is not about cost cutting. It is about strengthening the United Nations and reasserting the pivotal importance of its roles in the economic and social areas as a forum for consensus building in the establishment of norms and international agreements in its operational work at every level".
The EU document calls for a radical overhaul of the many UN development institutions and the organisational arrangements applying to them. The emphasis is on eliminating duplication, overlapping roles and financial inefficiencies. A much more coherent line of leadership and command is called for, including a system of lead UN agencies in each country, "the recognition of the right and responsibility of developing countries for the ownership of their own policies aimed at the achievement of sustainable development", and the opening up of trade and investment opportunities by the developed countries.
These are sound and progressive objectives which should fully inform Mr Annan's programme of reform. They have also informed a rethink of the EU's own substantial development programmes. This document sets an important precedent for the discussion of UN and development policy within the EU framework. It remains to be seen whether it can be used as a stepping stone to a more systematic approach towards UN policy within the EU's foreign policy system, bringing together representation and policy co ordination at Security Council level, where France and Britain still retain their privileged role as permanent members.