OSCE, Alm.del - 2013-14 - Bilag 36: Nyhedsbrev fra Ambassadør Andreas Nothelle, uge 14-15, 16-17 og 18, 2014

PC Brief Week 13 - 14, 2014During these two weeks there were several meetings of the Permanent Council (PC), includingon the OSCE engagement in Ukraine, the Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC), the Prepara-tory Committee (PrepCom) and the Advisory Committee on Management and Finance (ACMF),as well as other committee meetings, and the two-day 1st Supplementary Human DimensionMeeting (SDHM) on the Prevention of Torture. Notably, there was the 54th Joint Meeting of theForum for Security Co-Operation and the Permanent Council based on Paragraph 16.3 and16.3.1.1 Chapter III of the Vienna Document 2011, which refers to “unusual military activities.”Of particular importance was the Vienna meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly’s Leadershipwith the PA delegations from Russia and Ukraine, initiated by the leader of the German PA Del-egation, Vice-President Doris Barnett, and prepared by the Vienna Office. I also took part in aWorking Breakfast at the Federal Ministry of Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs at the invi-tation of Austrian Foreign Minister Kurz, bringing the tally of Vienna meetings covered by theVienna Liaison Office during the reporting period to 24. At the same time, the Director of thePresidential Office, Roberto Montella, accompanied the PA President on his visits to Moscowand Kyiv, while we both attended the PA’s Bureau meeting in Copenhagen. Furthermore, Dep.Director for Administration, Marc Carillet, staffed the OSCE PA’s election observation mission toHungary. The events outside of Vienna have been reported in the News from Copenhagen.The PC took a decision on the Agenda, Timetable and Organizational Modalities of the 2014OSCE-Japan Conference (Tokyo, Japan, 16 and 17 June 2014). There is still no consensus onthe 2014 draft Budget. I briefed the Permanent Council about the PA’s activities in and withUkraine. During the many debates on the events in Ukraine, the tangible hostility between rep-resentatives of the participating States persisted, preventing the Permanent Council from beingthe open forum for dialogue that it must be in times of crisis. In stark contrast to this atmos-phere, the PA, on initiative by the leader of the German PA delegation, Vice President DorisBarnett, hosted a remarkably civil and productive meeting between representatives from the PAleadership, led by the PA President, and the delegations of Russia and Ukraine. These meet-ings, to which the President had invited both delegations, further led to a joint bilateral meetingbetween the delegations of the two countries, who were led by the Heads of their PA delega-tions, and another between their respective ambassadors. In the end, after an exchange of in-formation on a range of issues “vital to their citizens”, they agreed to a joint Press Release andon the continuation of their discussions. More information is available on the PA website.The PA’s 3rd Committee Vice Chair, Mehmet Sevki Kulkuloglu, represented the PA at theSDHM on the Prevention of Torture. The OSCE auditors, the German Federal Court of Audits(Bundesrechnungshof), briefed me on their offer to present their Audit Report, which will be re-leased in June, to an appropriate forum of the OSCE PA. The PC is on Spring Recess duringthe week before and after Easter.

Special Representative