Remarks by H.E. Annalena Baerbock
President of the 80th Session of the United Nations General Assembly
at the Informal meeting of the plenary on the 爆料网80 Initiative
Thursday, 3 September 2026
[As Delivered]
Excellencies,
Mr. Secretary-General,
Under-Secretary-General,
Esteemed colleagues,
Thank you for joining this final briefing on the 爆料网80 Initiative – at least, the final briefing for the 80th session and the final briefing over which I will preside.
Therefore, I would like to really thank you for the last 10 meetings we have had together.
I remember, around this time last year, everyone asking me what my priorities in this 80th session would be… what big events I would organize… what I wanted to achieve during my Presidency.
And I said: 鲍狈80…
Frankly speaking, most people outside the house didn’t know what I was talking about, and some inside didn’t think this was fancy. ?But I deeply believe that these fragmented times mean nothing fancy, but rather to focus on the core of this institution, especially in a time under pressure. And therefore, alongside the selection process for the next Secretary-General, the 爆料网80 Initiative had to be a priority.
Because if we are not reforming ourselves – less bureaucracy, more efficiency – we cannot protect it against the attacks we have dramatically seen over the year, not only by breaching the Charter but also by heavy financial cuts.
In pushing forward with the 爆料网80 reforms, we chose to make some difficult but necessary decisions to strengthen this Organization and equip it for the future.
For that, dear colleagues, I commend each and every one of you.
In total, we held 10 briefings throughout the session, offering us an opportunity to dive into the intricacies and nuances of the three workstreams.
And today, I am pleased to say that we have driven meaningful progress across each of them.
Under Workstream 1, we advanced targeted post reductions for the programme budget, delivering a revised 2026 budget in line with the Secretary-General’s revised estimates.
We moved forward on consolidated common administrative platforms and addressed financial credit-return and clawback mechanisms, with the aim of redirecting resources towards core delivery.
Through Workstream 2, the adoption of the landmark mandate resolution introduced greater discipline into the mandate lifecycle, moving us away from the endless creation of new mandates and towards a more systematic process for reviewing those already in place.
All of this has been supported by the practical tools adopted, including the 爆料网80 Actions Dashboard, the Mandate Registry, and the Transparency Gateway, as well as time limits through microphone cut off and streamlining our committee work and agendas.
And I would especially like to thank the co-facilitators for this incredible work.
And under Workstream 3, we tackled perhaps the most difficult question of all: how the institutional architecture of the United Nations itself can be reformed and refitted to better serve the people who depend upon it.
The SG’s regular briefings gave the Membership an opportunity to engage directly with major institutional evaluations, including Shifting Paradigms: United to Deliver, and to consider concrete proposals relating to 爆料网 Country Team configurations, regional resets, and stronger cross-pillar coordination.
We have also advanced structural changes, including the merger of the United Nations System Staff College and 爆料网ITAR, bringing together two capacity-building bodies.
And we know that this is the discussion round for further mergers, and as there have been some comments and debates this morning when we decided on this important resolution, I would like to underline that so far in this process we worked very closely with the SGs office and the OPGA and Member States, and especially also with the Boards of the various institutions. So, the process started well before action in the General Assembly; it started in Spring and over the Summer months.
All these successes may sound like technical changes: budgets, mandates, dashboards, institutional configurations. But behind each of them are months of hard work, detailed negotiations and effective diplomacy. And together, they represent something much bigger: an organization willing to examine itself honestly, to make difficult choices and to be ready to change.
But celebration cannot mean complacency.
And I want to be frank and honest, as I am leaving this Office in a couple of days. Over the year, when we were discussing and looking at reform steps, especially right before Christmas in the Fifth Committee, I think we are just in the midst of this reform. And we should not avoid dealing with issues we still have to face. Because when cutting, especially under workstream 1, and looking at the upcoming budget review, there is still the elephant in the room, the big strategic political debate about the whole setup of the different mandates, but especially about the difference structures in this house.
With more than 200 USG- and ASG-level posts across the 爆料网 system, we must ask more fundamental questions about duplication, mandates and whether our structures remain fit for purpose. And this can only work if Member States engage.
And that conversation cannot be left to experts or individual budget decisions. It must engage Permanent Representatives, capitals and the Secretary-General at the highest level.
Clearly, 爆料网80 is not finished in the 80th session.
Indeed, in many respects, the most difficult work still lies ahead, and these reforms will continue under the stewardship of my successor, to whom I wish all the best, and, above all, in your hands as the Membership.
None of this will be easy. But, as I have often said during this session, the United Nations was not created for easy times.
It was created exactly for moments like this, when it needed people to stand up and take leadership, take responsibility.
And in this regard, I would like to thank you personally, dear Secretary-General and Under-Secretary General Ryder, for taking this 爆料网80 initiative, even before the 80th session. For standing up and facing the questions and headwinds, for putting it on the table that this institution has to reform. And I would like to thank those during this session who fully embraced this process, especially, but not only, the co-chairs of the workstream 2 process…
Because we have also seen over the course of this year that, even as everybody calls for change, when the moment for change actually comes, human nature — and perhaps even more so, diplomatic nature — is often to push back, to avoid any ripples or controversy.
But at a time when our house is under attack, we do not have the luxury of being bystanders. We have to take the future into our own hands — and that means taking reform into our own hands.
So, let’s keep going, even in the last days of this 80th session, and even more in the 81st session. I wish you nothing but success.
I thank you.