UK VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION TO UNIDROIT

UNCLAS ROME 001722

SIPDIS


FROM THE U.S. MISSION TO THE UN AGENCIES IN ROME

L/PIL FOR HAL BURMAN AND JEFF KOVAR
IO/S FOR LISA SPRATT

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: AORC ABUD UNIDROIT
SUBJECT: UK VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTION TO UNIDROIT


1. Mission received the following letter on May 17 from
UNIDROIT Secretary General Herbert Kronke and Finance
Committee Chairman Luis Cuesta (Spain). The letter was
addressed to all members of the UNIDROIT Finance Sub-
Committee:

Begin Text: We write to you with respect to an issue
discussed at the meeting of the Sub-Committee on 11 April
2005 to which a new facet has been added during the 84th
session of the Governing Council.

At that session, the Government of the United Kingdom
advised that it was prepared to make an extra-budgetary
contribution of 50,000 pounds for the financial year 2006
to be earmarked for the hiring of a Deputy Secretary
General. The offer was made on condition that the
procedure to identify the right person for the position
was an open and fair international competition. The
Governing Council accepted the offer after a thorough
discussion of all the implications.

In our recollection we agreed that an appointment without
any such competition was necessarily only a second-best
solution and that new developments might enable us to
revert to the original plan. Moreover, on the basis of
the figures identified as being capable of being agreed
on eventually, the shortfall would be in an amount of
roughly 70,000 euros. This shortfall would be covered by
the UK's donation.

The Governing Council recognized that, firstly, the
successful candidate could be offered a contract for
initially not more than one year and that, secondly, the
General Assembly's freedom to determine the budget for
2006 could not in any way be curtailed.

As you will appreciate, advertising a position to be
filled on 1 January 2006 requires interviews possibly as
early as July which in turn entails a deadline of
applications around 15 June 2005. We would be obliged,
therefore, if we could interpret the absence of any
objections on your part reaching the Secretariat (with
copy to the Chairman) by 23 May 2005 as approval. All
comments, if any, should also be sent to the Secretariat
(with copy to the Chairman). End Text.


2. Comment: the UK's offer came as a surprise during the
recent Governing Council session. While all in favor of
finding the best person for the job, Mission is concerned
that with this one-time contribution, no allowance has
been made for the out years. A possible result is that
UNIDROIT hires a new Deputy SYG who then must leave the
job after one year because the organization has no more
money to pay him/her. UNIDROIT has been able to
temporarily allay this situation by moving the senior-
most staff person into the Deputy SYG's position. But
without additional support from member states in the out
years, Mission fears that accepting the UK's proposal
could do as much harm as good. In the end, we favor
acceptance of the Governing Council's logic that it would
be too difficult for an organization that complains of
being chronically under funded to turn down what is
essentially free money, and will work with like-minded
member states to assure UNIDROIT's continued viability.


3. We would appreciate any Department advice before the
May 23 deadline.

HALL


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2005ROME01722 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED