Special Representative
To:
PA President
and
PA Secretary General
PC Brief Week 48, 2015
This week there were the regular meetings of the Permanent Council (PC), the Forum for Security
Co-operation and the Advisory Committee on Management and Finance (ACMF), as well as many
meetings, mostly in drafting format, of the Preparatory Committee (PrepComm), the three topical
committees, many informal meetings, including one of ambassadors on the discussions of the 2016
Unified Budget, and a Gender workshop (“Beijing +20”) with the Rapporteur of the PA’s First Com-
mittee, Margareta Cederfelt (Sweden).
The Permanent Council extended the mandates of the field presences in Kazakhstan and in Tajiki-
stan and debated the regular report by the Representative on the Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mija-
tovic. She put the main emphasis of her report on the issue of the misuse of the media for propa-
ganda purposes. Apart from that, it debated the usual items under “Current Issues”, among them the
conflict in and around Ukraine. In addition, there was an event of the “White Ribbon” campaign, in
which the OSCE is participating, on the occasion of the International Day of the Elimination of Vio-
lence against Women.
In conjunction with the Gender workshop, I had a meeting with Anne Lammila (Ambassador for gen-
der issues, MFA Finland). The News from Copenhagen has reported about Margareta Cederfelt.
Drafting of documents for the Belgrade Ministerial Council (MC) continues. The drafts of the two
main declarations, the Political Declaration and the Helsinki+40 Declaration, do not mention the PA.
The Helsinki+40 draft, after the EU had proposed to add language on the PA, has been cut down to
a very short text, eliminating any reference to contributors to the Process, with the exception of the
current and the two previous OSCE Chairmanships. I have intervened and received support from
several delegations, but the current negative climate in the OSCE impacts the position of some del-
egations with regard to OSCE institutions, with the ODIHR being the principal victim.
Next week, everybody will move to Belgrade. Before the MC begins on Thursday December 3, there
will be more intensive negotiations on the possible decisions. The Chairmanship is determined to
also achieve a text on the role of the OSCE regarding the crisis in and around Ukraine, despite clear
signals that this will be almost impossible.
The only consensual text so far is the decision on time and place of the 2016 MC. It will take place
on December 8/9 in Hamburg, Germany.
At the same time, the usual “game” regarding the draft OSCE budget for the next year continues.
The purpose of the informal ambassadorial meeting on this issue was to urge delegations to be
ready for compromises. Also here, the financing of the OSCE institutions, meaning the OSCE activi-
ties regarding the implementation of human rights commitments, is the most controversial issue.
Finally, I had a very constructive meeting with the OSCE’s Legal Advisor regarding the inclusion of
the PA in OSCE efforts to move participating States towards granting the OSCE the necessary dip-
lomatic protection in their countries.
Andreas Nothelle
Ambassador
November 27, 2015