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Reuters

French Environment Minister Segolene Royal said on Friday that she was running to lead the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), at a time when the UN could see an abrupt cut in crucial United States funding.
Royal, the former partner of Socialist President Francois Hollande and mother of his four children, has been a heavyweight in French politics for more than 30 years.
“It’s a way of continuing to be useful for the planet in the future, but also to fight against poverty,” she told France 24 television in an interview.
Royal was caught up in a controversy in December after eulogising Cuba’s Fidel Castro at his funeral and ignoring his human rights record.

The current UNDP president Helen Clark, a former New Zealand prime minister, will stand down on April 19. US President Donald Trump has proposed a 28 per cent budget cut for diplomacy and foreign aid, which includes an unspecified reduction in financial support for the United Nations and its agencies, as well as the enforcement of a 25 per cent cap on US funding for peacekeeping operations.
UN agencies such as the UNDP, the children’s agency Unicef, and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), are funded by governments voluntarily. In 2016, the United States was the top contributor to the UNDP’s core budget, with an US$83 million donation.
Royal is the second minister in France’s outgoing government to aim for a top UN post. Culture Minister Audrey Azoulay is among nine candidates seeking the top job at Paris-based Unesco, the United Nations’ cultural agency.


French minister Segolene Royal, former partner of Hollande, to run for UN development agency post

French Minister for Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy Segolene Royal. Photo: AFP

French Environment Minister Segolene Royal speaks to the press during the launch of the carnival in Dunkirk, northern France, on February 26, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / PHILIPPE HUGUEN

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