Special Representative
To:
PA President
and
PA Secretary General
PC Brief Week 22, 2015
This week, which was a week with an OSCE holiday, there were two meetings of the
Permanent Council (PC), as well as meetings of the Forum for Security Co-operation
(FSC), the Preparatory Committee (PrepComm), the Security and the Economic and
Environmental Committees, and additional informal meetings. Roberto Montella and I
participated in the PA 6th Helsinki+40 Seminar in Belgrade.
The PC did not take a decision. The Special PC was addressed by Ambassador Heidi
Tagliavini, Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in
the Trilateral Contact Group on the implementation of the peace plan in the East of
Ukraine. The one hour-meeting did not result in any interesting information or debates.
At the regular PC meeting, the heads of both the OSCE field missions in Ashgabat and
Bosnia and Herzegovina provided their regular reports. The US welcomed the in-
creased involvement of the OSCE PA in Turkmenistan, as well as increased involve-
ment of Turkmen parliamentarians in the work of the OSCE PA. The head of the mis-
sion, Ambassador Petrov, noted the work of the Mission in establishing a permanent
delegation to the OSCE PA. Under Current issues, most debates were a repetition of
debates during previous meetings. In addition, the EU raised the issue of the new Rus-
sian law against "non-desirable" non-governmental organizations. Denmark informed
the PC that is sent invitations to ODHIR and the OSCE PA to observe its parliamentary
elections on June 18.
The FSC equally did not adopt a decision. It featured an edition of security dialogue on
furthering synergies and coordination between the OSCE and UN on conventional arms
transfers. General statements contained the usual debates on Ukraine, with both
Ukraine and the Russian Federation providing slide presentations. Ukraine showed pho-
tos alleging evidence of Russian military equipment in Eastern Ukraine, and Russia
showed slides of every item of military equipment sold to Ukraine by Western countries.
The PrepComm continues to debate the “Program Outline”. The delegate from the U.S.
asked for further cuts in the budgets of several missions in South Europe, in particular
regarding the Mission to Kosovo.
Marc Carillet briefed staff of the OSCE Secretariat on the OSCE PA.
Andreas Nothelle
Ambassador
May 29, 2015