U.S. Claims Victory in Battle to Cut U.N. Budget

The Reagan Administration claimed victory Thursday in its budget battle at the United Nations, with the world body expected to accept a package of fiscal reforms at the close of the 41st General Assembly session tonight.

“The tea leaves seem to be pointing that way,” Richard C. Hottelet, spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, said Thursday evening, referring to the potential agreement on a financial package. “If we hadn’t gotten that package, it would have been disaster.”

The United States, expressing the displeasure of both the Administration and Congress, had applied heavy pressure on the world body by cutting the U.S. contribution by more than half this year.

The chief objective of the U.S. drive was to end the complaint that the poor nations of the 159-member body--which pay only a minimal part of the bills but wield a majority of votes--have traditionally set the U.N. spending pattern. Among other things, the Administration had urged the creation of a budget control committee dominated by major contributors.

Up to Congress

“All in all, the assembly has met the U.S. demands--and now the question is, will the Congress come back with the money?” said one Administration official, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified.

Although U.S. officials warned that the plan could still go astray, they said they believe the taste of austerity already presented by Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar has provided enough of a view of the financial future to hold Third World mavericks in line.

Attempting to balance the U.N. budget at about $650 million, Perez de Cuellar last January imposed a freeze on hiring, slashed the number of meetings and curtailed travel to reduce spending by $30 million for the year. By April, with the picture drastically worsening, Perez de Cuellar imposed additional reductions of $30 million.

Because of these measures, savings may amount to $65 million by the end of 1986, said Jean-Pierre Halbwachs, special assistant to U.N. Controller Raymond Gieri. Last month Gieri outlined further cuts of $85 million in the 1987 budget, which begins with the calendar year--rollbacks that should balance the budget, if income meets the $650-million level.

Want Smaller U.S. Cuts

However, the projected income would require that Washington restore at least some of the reductions made in 1986, and U.N. officials said they are looking to Administration officials to come through.

Their optimism has been buoyed by the November election, which restored Democratic control in the Senate, warming the congressional climate with the installation of more sympathetic chairmen of key committees and subcommittees.

Unexpected help in the emergency--the United Nations has spent all its reserves and is now totally dependent on current income--has come from the Soviet Union, which last week quietly pledged to pay $25 million toward overdue debts of $38 million. Current operating costs of the world body are about $10 million a month, so this would enable Perez de Cuellar to meet the payroll for another 2 1/2 months beyond the original “go broke” date of Jan. 31.

But the Soviet Union still owes $300 million in back debts for peacekeeping expenses, dating from the Congo crisis a quarter of a century ago. Moscow’s refusal to pay its assessed share of the operation, together with that of Gaullist France, forced the United Nations to dig into its reserves and helped provoke what became a chronic financial problem.

U.S. in Arrears

Indeed, peacekeeping seems to most graphically illustrate the organization’s poverty. To provide much of its expenses, the six-year-old U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) has been forced to rely on the nations that contribute troops. In peacekeeping, the United States until this year was meticulous in meeting its assessments, but as of last month, it had fallen $147 million in arrears.

Although a few nations attacked the United States when the Administration first moved to cut its 25% share of the regular budget, the U.S. action has been largely accepted in principle if not in practice.