Special Representative
To:
PA President
and
PA Secretary General
PC Brief Weeks 45/46, 2016
During these two weeks, there were many meetings of the Permanent Council (PC), the Fo-
rum for Security Cooperation (FSC), the two Contact Groups with the Partners for Coopera-
tion, the Preparatory Committee (PrepCom), the Advisory Committee on Management and
Finance (ACMF), the three topical committees, and other dozens of other informal meetings
– altogether 36 meetings/events we had to cover, several of them all-day. In addition, there
was a two-day Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting (SDHM) on National Minorities, a
Reinforced Ambassadorial Retreat in Hainburg a.d. Donau, and a meeting of the Group of
Friends on Mediation with President Emeritus/PA Special Representative on Mediation Ilkka
Kanerva on Cooperation between the OSCE and the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and on
Inclusion of Women in Peace Processes. During those two weeks, Francesco Pagani had
only one day in the Vienna office, between his stay in the US for the Election Observation
Mission and a visit to Malta with the OSCE Secretariat.
The PC did not take any decisions. Polemics among participants, including calling the state-
ments of other Permanent Representatives “silly” and “lies”, continue. The succession in the
leadership of two of the three autonomous institutions High Commissioner for National Minor-
ities and Representative on Freedom of the Media are still up in the air. Also, next year, par-
ticipating States will have to find a successor for Secretary General Lamberto Zannier.
As to the numerous informal negotiations regarding possible draft Ministerial Council (MC)
Decisions, there is little progress on controversial issues, although some texts contain long
passages which could be consensual. Despite this, the German Chairmanship continues to
be optimistic, which includes their efforts in negotiating on a draft (political) MC Decision and
a text on the “Conflict in and Around Ukraine” (I attach a list of “official” drafts, i.e. drafts that
the Chairmanship has taken on board). As reported last time, some of the texts on the table
contain language on the role of the OSCE PA, but many of them are unlikely to succeed.
This includes several texts in the Human Dimension and a text on OSCE efforts addressing
the Conflict Cycle, including through mediation. The latter draft contains two very good para-
graphs on the contribution by the OSCE PA, but Russia has declared it will not even partici-
pate in any drafting of the text.
In this context, the PA was prominently represented in the special meeting of the “Group of
Friends on Mediation”, making the PA contribution very visible once again.
Andreas Nothelle
Ambassador
November 21, 2016