Washington and Moscow agree on very little. This week, diplomats from both countries accused Annalena Baerbock, president of the United Nations General Assembly, of exceeding her authority in the selection of the next U.N. secretary-general. The Trump administration is right. Baerbock has turned a useful exercise in public scrutiny into an attempt to decide which candidates the Security Council may consider.
Article 97 of the U.N. Charter leaves little room for confusion. The secretary-general is appointed by the General Assembly upon the recommendation of the Security Council. The 15 council members narrow the field through closed straw polls until a candidate receives at least nine votes without a veto from the United States, Russia, China, Britain, or France. The General Assembly then votes on that candidate.
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Baerbock first went beyond that role at a July 23 town hall. She asked the audience to rate six candidates even though neither the candidates nor official observers had been warned that a poll would take place. She later asked the Security Council not to consider candidates who had failed to appear at one of her interactive dialogues. Jennifer Locetta, the U.S. alternative representative for special political affairs, called the audience poll “unfair, untransparent and unprecedented” in her remarks.
Baerbock describes her approach as “transparent, inclusive, structured, timely and credible.” Public questioning can expose a weak candidate and give smaller countries a voice before the five veto powers settle the matter. It does not give the president of the General Assembly a new power to determine eligibility. Attendance at an event organized by Baerbock is not part of the U.N. Charter.
Candidates can also enter the race late, as Ecuadorian diplomat Ivonne Baki did this month. The Security Council remains free to consider her or any other properly nominated contender. Baerbock’s demand would allow the timetable of her hearings to restrict a selection process that may continue for months.
Baerbock arrived in New York after another dispute over a settled selection. Germany had already nominated Helga Schmid, a highly regarded career diplomat, for the General Assembly presidency. Berlin replaced her with Baerbock after the 2025 election left the Green foreign minister preparing to leave office. The Associated Press reported that the decision drew criticism in Germany, while seven U.N. members still wrote Schmid’s name on their ballots and 14 abstained.
Russia has opposed Baerbock from the beginning, largely because of her hard line against Moscow over the war in Ukraine. Its agreement with Washington does not weaken the American objection. The United States did not borrow a Russian grievance. It defended the Charter and the authority of a council in which it holds a permanent seat and veto.
The next secretary-general will become the public face of an institution dealing with Israel, Ukraine, China, peacekeeping, sanctions, and refugees. The United States also remains responsible for 22% of the U.N. regular budget. Washington has every reason to demand a capable leader and every right to consider all properly nominated candidates.
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Locetta also accused senior U.N. figures of behaving like “diplomatic superstars” instead of administrative leaders. Baerbock’s attempt to enlarge her position made the line unusually apt. Her office is supposed to manage the General Assembly’s role in the succession, not invent an additional hurdle for candidates seeking it.
The Security Council held its second poll on Friday, with Guyana’s Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett taking a narrow lead. No candidate is close to securing the necessary consensus, and further contenders may still enter. Baerbock’s term ends Sept. 8. She should leave the candidate list to the body entrusted with narrowing it.
René Rabeder is an Austrian journalist based in Vienna. He writes for Florida Politics, Germany’s Junge Freiheit and Statement, focusing on European politics and transatlantic affairs.
