Special Representative
To:
PA President
and
PA Secretary General
May 8, 2015
PC Brief Weeks 17-19, 2015
During these weeks, there were meetings of the Permanent Council (PC), the Forum for Security Co-
operation (FSC), the Contact Groups with the Mediterranean and the Asian Partners for Co-operation, the
Preparatory Committee (PrepComm), the Advisory Committee on Management and Finance (ACMF), the
PC Committees, as well as retreats of the Human Dimension Committee and the Gender Focal Points and
other informal meetings. In addition, the Chair of the PA’s Human Dimension Committee, Isabel Santos,
spent two days in Vienna in order to – among other things - address the PC’s Human Dimension Commit-
tee. The News from Copenhagen has reported in detail about this visit, which was met with considerable
interest. Roberto Montella and I participated in the PA Bureau Meeting in Copenhagen.
The PC took decisions regarding the 2015 Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM – Warsaw
from 21 September to 2 October 2015), the Human Dimension Seminar (June 1-3, 2015, in Warsaw) and
the Mediterranean Conference (Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, 20 and 21 October 2015). The decision on
the HDIM came earlier than in previous years, although it was again preceded by lengthy debates. OSCE
Secretary General Amb., Zannier introduced the 2016 draft Program Outline, which serves as political guid-
ance for this year’s budget discussions. It will be discussed in detail in the coming weeks. I informed the PC
about the PA’s latest Helsinki+40 Seminar that took place in Copenhagen in conjunction with the Bureau
Meeting. Otherwise, the PC once again dealt mainly with the crisis in and around Ukraine and with the con-
flict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as related polemics. No new decisions were taken with regard
to these issues. There were, however, many references made to the inaugural meetings of the Working
Groups (WGs) established in accordance with the Minsk II agreements. Reportedly, the parties have agreed
that the WG on Security Issues will meet on May 19 to discuss a disengagement plan for Shyrokyne, the
WG on Political issues will meet on May 22 to discuss modalities/conditions for Local Elections, the WG on
humanitarian issues will meet on 19 May to discuss illegally detained persons/ prisoners, and the WG on
Economic Issues will meet on May 14. Except for the WG on Security Issues which will meet in Eastern
Ukraine, all other meetings will be held in Minsk.
The last of the three PC meetings devoted considerable time to statements on the 70
th
anniversary of the
end of World War II. While the statements of several delegations expressed dismay “that this takes place at
times when there is military aggression and interference in internal affairs by Russia”, Russia warned
“against attempts to rewrite history and diminish the heroic role of the peoples of the Soviet Union in liberat-
ing Europe from Nazism and Fascism”. One week earlier, there was also an extensive debate about wheth-
er or not the forced replacement of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire and the massive loss of Armenian
lives a hundred years ago should be addressed as “genocide” – the latter being the position of most partici-
pating States.
The informal Working Group on Helsinki+40 discussed a possible informal High Level – perhaps Ministerial -
Meeting in July that should commemorate 40 years of the signing of the Helsinki Final Act and also deal with
current challenges. Possible dates under discussion are July 3 and 10. I reminded delegates that it would be
very odd to have an informal meeting of this kind before the celebration in Finlandia Hall that the PA has
been planning for a number of years, and before the PA will be able to contribute its finalized report about its
Helsinki+40 Project. Such a meeting, if it comes about, should be held after the PA’s Annual Session.
I also had an informal follow-up meeting on the PA’s Helsinki+40 seminar with the legal advisor of the OSCE
Secretariat, Lisa Tabassi, in order to discuss more in detail how the concerns expressed by the PA could be
accommodated in the different documents under discussion.
Andreas Nothelle, Ambassador