UNITED NATIONS — Rebeca Grynspan, the frontrunner to become the next United Nations secretary-general, said the organization has grown too risk-averse and that its future leader must be willing to bear the cost of diplomatic failure and try again. She made the remarks in an interview with Reuters on Thursday, one day ahead of another Security Council poll to gauge support for candidates seeking to succeed Antonio Guterres, whose second five-year term ends on December 31.

Grynspan argued that the UN must cut jobs, curb bureaucracy and stop agencies duplicating one another's work, saying cost-cutting alone cannot revive an institution struggling with shrinking resources and declining political clout.

"I think that the UN has become too risk-averse," she said. "You are the one that has to take the cost of rejection, the cost of failure, and try again. That's the job of the UN."

A call for a more proactive UN

Grynspan, 70, a former Costa Rican vice president and an economist, urged a more proactive UN after the 193-member body was largely sidelined in the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and as it faces pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump to cut costs. Whoever wins the race will lead an organization founded in 1945 at a moment when its resources and diplomatic clout are under strain.

"Cost cutting is not enough. Yes, you can cut costs and make everything worse. If you don't reform, you will do everything worse than before. That's why I talk about refocusing," she told Reuters.

Pointing to her tenure as head of the UN Conference on Trade and Development, a post she has held since 2021, Grynspan said she cut 20% of posts while sharpening the agency's focus.

US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz has criticized what he called bureaucratic "bloat" and duplication at the organization, calling for a clearer focus on peacekeeping. The United States is the UN's largest financial contributor. Grynspan said she shared his concerns: "Some consolidation and rethinking of how to carry a mandate is necessary in many of the fields that have been expanding in the UN." She added that she would appoint a person inside her office to "impose the discipline that is necessary for mandate implementation."

Quiet diplomacy as a model

Grynspan pointed to her role in negotiations over the 2022 Black Sea Grain Initiative, the UN- and Turkey-brokered wartime deal that allowed Ukrainian grain to reach world markets via Black Sea ports, as a model for handling conflicts involving a permanent Security Council member. Russia withdrew from the agreement in 2023 and complained that key parts of the deal were never implemented.

"We didn't go to the press … It was quiet diplomacy that worked," she said. "This is not about being able to have total harmony in the international affairs … it's about doing good."

She said the UN already has the expertise, information and presence on the ground needed to play a larger diplomatic role, but needs leadership capable of bringing those resources together.

"Peacemaking has to be at the center of the efforts of the UN," she said, citing a rise in deadly interstate conflicts and calling for greater emphasis on mediation as well as prevention.

Grynspan also called for greater flexibility in peacekeeping, saying the secretary-general should work closely with the Security Council's five permanent members to find alternative models when traditional peacekeeping is not viable. Pointing to the Kenyan-led multinational support mission in Haiti, she asked: "Why should we be so defensive? Why should it be only a UN peacekeeping force? … Let's try to make Haiti work and learn from the experience."

'The game is not over'

Grynspan, who would become the first female secretary-general in the UN's history and break a line of nine men who have held the post since 1946, has come out ahead in four of five informal straw polls, obtaining nine votes in favor last week, according to diplomats close to the process. Securing the recommendation requires at least nine positive votes from the 15 countries on the council and no "discourage" votes from the five permanent members: the US, China, Russia, France and Britain The council's choice then goes to the 193-member General Assembly, which formally appoints the secretary-general; the next term begins January 1. Friday's poll will, for the first time, use color-coded ballots revealing whether a veto power opposes a candidate.

Grynspan said she is the only candidate who has consistently reached nine votes in her favor, but she "wouldn't be surprised" if she received a discouraging vote from a veto power. She noted that such opposition has been overcome in past races.

Diplomats at the UN say several senior figures, including former and current foreign ministers and country leaders, are seriously considering entering the race. Grynspan said she expected new names could enter the contest after Friday's vote.

"The game is not over — we will have to continue working," she said.

— Reuters