EU criticizes US for $640m cut to UN agencies

UNITED NATIONS: Putting money into UN agencies, where the Trump administration has just cut US funding by $640 million, is as important to global peace and security as defense spending — “and sometimes even more,” a top EU official said Tuesday.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini told the UN Security Council that she wanted to speak directly to the bloc’s “American friends” with a clear message: Military capabilities are only one element in the EU’s security strategy, which also stresses economic development, strong state institutions, good health care, education and democracy.

While the US budget through September approved by Congress last week cut $640 million from UN agencies, it added $15 billion to the US defense budget.

Mogherini said the EU’s voluntary contributions to the UN’s funds and agencies “amount to half of their total budget” because organizations like the World Health Organization, the World Food Program and the UN children’s agency UNICEF promote key ingredients for peace.

“It is essential for us that we all keep investing in these UN agencies,” she said. “They are as important to global peace and security as defense spending — and sometimes even more. And we, Europeans, consider this support to the UN system as a crucial investment in our own security.”

US Ambassador Nikki Haley cited the Trump administration’s “valuable partnership” with the EU on many issues but made no mention of budget cuts in her speech on UN-EU relations.

Instead, she urged stronger EU action on Syria, North Korea and Iran.

Haley called on the EU and the Security Council to adopt “more rigorous sanctions” against Syrian President Bashar Assad and the “known suppliers and facilitators of the Syrian chemical weapons program” in order to prevent further chemical attacks and “war crimes.”

She called on the EU and all countries to exert “maximal pressure” on North Korea to “abandon its reckless pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons.” She also urged the 28 EU nations to “rigorously implement” the six UN sanctions resolutions and “impose tough, autonomous measures that go beyond the resolutions, and downgrade diplomatic and economic ties with North Korea.”

On Iran, Haley said that, “the EU can and should do more to underscore to Iran that its destabilizing actions in the region, including support for extremist and terrorist groups, must cease.”