Politics & Power Quote by Harri Holkeri

A line like this is diplomatic code for: the UN needs a jolt, and everyone in the room knows it. Harri Holkeri, a politician steeped in consensus culture, doesn’t demand a reboot or accuse anyone of failure; he “hopes” for “impetus,” the kind of soft-edged noun that lets powerful states hear urgency without hearing blame. It’s leadership by understatement, calibrated for an institution where outright candor can harden positions and stall negotiations.

The context matters: the Millennium Summit (2000) was pitched as a generational reset after the 1990s made the UN look both indispensable (peacekeeping, humanitarian coordination) and inadequate (Rwanda, Bosnia, Iraq sanctions, the structural dominance of the Security Council). “New impetus” implies that the UN’s mission isn’t wrong, just underpowered - a framing that sidesteps the uncomfortable reality that the UN’s effectiveness is often limited by the member states writing the checks and wielding vetoes. Holkeri is effectively asking governments to stop treating the UN as a convenient scapegoat and start treating it as an instrument requiring political fuel.

There’s also a quiet rhetorical move here: by tying the Summit to renewed momentum, he invests the event with stakes beyond speeches and photo ops. The subtext is a warning against performative multilateralism - the ritual of gathering to affirm shared values while postponing the hard trade-offs. In one sentence, Holkeri sells modesty as a strategy for ambition: nudge the system forward without triggering the defensive reflex that keeps it stuck.