The Trump administration has said it has no position on whether former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban should become the next U.N. chief, after The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington is backing him.
“The United States has no position; we will continue to evaluate any and all candidates,” a senior U.S. official told The Epoch Times by email.
“We are looking for a [secretary-general] that will implement the aggressive reform agenda that we have very publicly laid out in NYC. The UN has wastefully strayed too far from its core missions for too long.”
The comments follow an Oct. 25 Wall Street Journal op-ed, which cited anonymous sources in three countries, that Trump administration officials have encouraged Orban to enter the race to succeed António Guterres, whose second five-year term ends on Dec. 31.
Orban, who lost power in Hungary’s April parliamentary elections after 16 years as prime minister, has maintained close ties with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alimov told Russian news agency Interfax on Oct. 26 that Orban could still be nominated for the post, but neither the United States, China, nor Russia, as permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, can do so.
“Those who are behind this initiative should probably find a state that will assume this honorable responsibility,” he said.
“As soon as this happens, we will explore the possibilities for discussion and consultation. Certainly, all candidates officially nominated for the post of secretary-general are being discussed.”
He told the publication, however, that this time, the position should go to a representative of the Latin American region or the Caribbean.
On Oct. 21, the think tank Council on Foreign Relations identified six candidates to succeed Guterres and take office on Jan. 1, 2027.
These included International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Grossi, former Costa Rican Vice President Rebeca Grynspan, and former Ecuadorian Foreign Minister María Fernanda Espinosa.
Orban was not among the six candidates listed.
Trump criticized the United Nations in remarks delivered at the U.N. General Assembly in New York City on Sept. 22, saying the United States had helped implement sweeping reforms at the international body, including a 15 percent cut to its 2026 budget and the elimination of more than 4,000 positions from U.N. bureaucracy.
“The United Nations has great potential, I’ve said that for many years, but it must stop imposing the far-left agenda of globalist bureaucrats who nobody ever elected,” he said.
“It is equally unacceptable that with all the genuine atrocities in the world, the U.N.’s top human rights officials spend their time criticizing the United States for protecting our children from transgender mutilation and transgender insanity and enforcing our immigration laws.”
Trump spoke after Guterres delivered his final address, urging world leaders to establish international safeguards for artificial intelligence (AI) technology.
Guterres, whose last term ends on Dec. 31, said AI development has moved so fast that it “has blindsided even those who created it.”
In January, Trump said that his Board of Peace, which he created as part of his Gaza peace process, could end up replacing the United Nations.
“I wish the United Nations could do more. I wish we didn’t need a Board of Peace, but ... with all the wars I settled, the United Nations never helped me on one war,” Trump said during a White House press briefing on Jan. 20.
When a reporter asked the president whether the Board of Peace could replace the United Nations, he replied, “It might.”
“The U.N. just hasn’t been very helpful. I’m a big fan of the U.N. potential, but it has never lived up to its potential,” he said.
Aldgra Fredly and Ryan Morgan contributed to this report.
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