Special Representative
To:
PA President
and
PA Secretary General
PC Brief Weeks 47/48, 2016
During these two weeks, there were many meetings of the Permanent Council (PC), the Forum for
Security Cooperation (FSC), the two Contact Groups with the Partners for Cooperation, the Preparato-
ry Committee (PrepCom), the Advisory Committee on Management and Finance (ACMF), the three
topical committees, and dozens of other informal meetings. Francesco Pagani accompanied PA Pres-
ident Muttonen to Istanbul for the NATO PA Annual Session.
The PC took a number of decisions, in particular on extensions of mandates of OSCE field presences.
The proposed extensions of the mandates of the OSCE Office in Tajikistan and of the OSCE Office in
Yerevan had to be postponed. The Centre in Bishkek and the Project Co-ordinator in Uzbekistan are
still pending. Two field presences, the Mission in Kosovo and the Centre in Ashgabat, run on an open-
ended mandate and do not need a decision. The other mandates were extended. In addition, the PC
decided some technical amendments to the financial regulations and decided that the concluding
meeting of the 25th Economic and Environmental Forum will be held from 6 to 8 September 2017 in
Prague. The PA was positively mentioned in the discussion with the Chairs of the three topical com-
mittees.
The PC also heard reports by the Chief Monitor of the OSCE SMM Ukraine, Ambassador Apakan, and
the Special Representative of the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office in Ukraine and in the Trilateral Contact
Group, Amb. Sajdik, on the latest developments in Ukraine. There is a very worrying increase in
cease-fire violations, the urgent need for a new commitment regarding the withdrawal of heavy weap-
ons, since the positive dynamic in this direction has been reversed in the past months. Although there
is some progress on individual practical issues, the prospects for the people in the affected areas
looks very dim, in particular in light of the beginning winter, the spreading of hostilities to new loca-
tions, the destruction of crucial infrastructure, difficulties in access to drinking water, and the difficult
passage at the crossing points.
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. I attach again a list of “official” drafts, i.e. drafts that the Chairmanship has taken on
board. In addition, several delegations have proposed drafts, one of them (sexual exploitation of chil-
dren) is based on a PA resolution. As reported last time, some of the texts on the table contain lan-
guage 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. Russia is now participating in the drafting of the latter, but has immediately re-
quested to cut the text on the PA very short. It has also requested to delete the reference to the PA in
the text on the crisis in and around Ukraine, to cut the PA-related text in the draft Political Declaration
very short, and to delete or dilute references to the PA made in Human Dimension texts.
I had the opportunity to host a working lunch for the new Turkish ambassador and the new ambassa-
dors from the Partner Countries Australia and Japan.
Andreas Nothelle
Ambassador
December 2, 2016