Special Representative
To:
PA President
and
PA Secretary General
PC Brief Weeks 19-21, 2016
During these weeks, there were meetings of the Permanent Council (PC), the Forum for Security
Cooperation (FSC), the
Contact Group with Asian partners,
the Preparatory Committee (PrepComm), the
Advisory Committee on Management and Finance (ACMF), the topical committees, working groups and
several other informal meetings, as well as ambassadorial retreats of the Permanent Council and of the
Mediterranean Contact Group that I attended, the latter preceded by a workshop of experts on Dialogue
in Search for Social Cohesion. Francesco Pagani participated in the Needs Assessment Mission for the
next elections in Montenegro and attended a two-day brainstorming retreat for the PA on mediation in
Helsinki. Marc Carillet attended a two-day Gender Focal Points meeting. One of the weeks was devoted
to part 2 of the Economic and Environmental Forum in Berlin.
The PC extended the Mandate of the Project Coordinator in Ukraine and decided that the next OSCE
Mediterranean Conference will take place in Vienna from the 5-6 October 2016. Secretary General
Zannier presented the Program Outline (draft political instructions for the next OSCE budget), which is
undergoing intensive discussions in the PrepCom. The EU welcomed the joint statement by PA President
Kanerva and Director Link of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights regarding a
constitutional amendment passed by the Turkish parliament lifting the parliamentary immunity of certain
members of parliament.
The ambassadorial (PC) retreat served as an opportunity to discuss the role of the OSCE with respect to
the crisis in and around Ukraine, the OSCE’s involvement in the efforts on tolerance and non-
discrimination, and possible issues for the December Ministerial Council Meeting (MC) in Hamburg. The
discussions, while being lively, did not yield in anything going beyond the OSCE’s routine work. On
Ukraine, the main point of discussion was considerations for an eventual protection of local elections by
international armed police. Among other topics, there was also a discussion on migration.
The retreat of the Mediterranean Contact Group focused on ideas for strengthening cooperation with the
Partners in general, on the outcome of the Expert Workshop on Social Cohesion, which was attended by
the PA’s Special Representative on Border Issues, Ignacio Sanchez-Amor, and on possible OSCE
contributions to stabilizing the situation in Libya. The UN’s Special Representative on Libya, Amb. Kobler,
and representatives from the country’s civil society attended the meeting. Kobler suggested that the
OSCE PA should organize a Libyan “youth parliament” in order to reach out to the Libyan society, help
develop democratic ideas and promote reconciliation efforts.
The FSC discussed the future of conventional arms control and confidence building measures, which
triggered a comprehensive statement by Russia on what it considers to be a hostile atmosphere spread
by countries west of Vienna. It also saw a controversy with Russia about the Anaconda NATO military
exercise to be held next month (7-17 June). It is Polish led and the largest NATO exercise this year with
25.000 troops, including air and land forces.
In a special event on the issue of disabled persons, I recalled the Baku Declaration of 2014.
Marc Carillet referred to the PA’s resolution on the Scales of Contribution in a meeting on the same topic.
The Mediation Retreat in Helsinki was hosted by the Finnish Parliament and sponsored by the OSCE's
Conflict Prevention Centre (CPC). Participants included President Ilkka Kanerva, Vice-Presidents Kent
Harstedt, Christine Muttonen and George Tsereteli as well as Secretary General Roberto Montella.
Andreas Nothelle
Ambassador
May 27, 2016