The Secretary General
To:
OSCE PA Standing Committee
Copenhagen, 9 December 2020
Dear Members of the Standing Committee,
I am writing to inform you about the operational measures the Bureau has decided upon at the online
meeting on 2 December in response to COVID-19 related challenges.
Firstly, concerning the upcoming OSCE PA Winter Meeting scheduled from 24-26 February 2021,
the Bureau has unanimously decided that the meeting will be held in a full online format. This
decision was taken after careful consideration of current travel limitations and health concerns, and
particular in view of the impossibility to assess how severely the pandemic will continue to affect
our activities in the near future. The online 2021 Winter Meeting will encompass all regular
meetings of the Standing Committee, three General Committees and a Joint Session.
Secondly, the Bureau has endorsed a set of provisional emergency rules (please see attached) that,
if approved by the Standing Committee, would apply in the unfortunate event of the 2021 OSCE
PA Annual Session in Bucharest not taking place in a conventional format, but rather as a
remote/virtual session should COVID-19 restrictions continue to prevent physical meetings.
The adoption of the emergency provisions is indispensable for the continuation of our work in the
current crisis, specifically as it relates to the election of officers of the Assembly. In this regard,
please rest assured that the International Secretariat is assessing the most secure remote
conferencing options to ensure the conduct of a safe and effective voting method should the 2021
Annual Session end up being held in virtual modality.
Furthermore, I would also like to inform you about the recently launched OSCE PA initiative
entitled “OSCE
Call for Action: Reaffirming a Common Purpose”,
aiming to stimulate the work
of
the OSCE and increase high-level political attention to the organization by participating States,
particularly in light of the
unprecedented leadership crisis the OSCE faced. The PA’s Call for
Action, endorsed by 52 OSCE Chairpersons-in-Office, Presidents of the OSCE PA, Secretaries
General and other Heads of Institutions of the OSCE, was presented at a
side event
organized by
the Assembly on the margins of the OSCE Ministerial Council on 3 December, which featured
participation of more than 100 parliamentarians and diplomats.