Nyhedsbrev fra Wien 23/24

Special Representative
To:
PA President
and
PA Secretary General
PC Brief Weeks 23/24, 2005
OSCE's parlamentariske Forsamling
(2. samling)
OSCE alm. del - Bilag 85
Offentligt
Although almost no meetings took place in Vienna during the first week, because everybody had
moved to Cordoba for the Conference on Tolerance Issues, it turned out to be an important week
inasmuch that on Friday Marc Perrin de Brichambaut was appointed new OSCE Secretary
General, effective on July 1.
During the weekend, I participated in a conference of the Parliamentary Network of the World
Bank on Mobilizing Parliamentarians for Development in Vienna. Although practically all inter-
parliamentary assemblies and networks had been invited, only very few parliamentarians, mostly
from Africa and from Austria as the host country, participated in the meeting. Former PACE Presi-
dent Peter Schieder in his closing remarks made a strong plea for the role of formalized parliamen-
tary assemblies and expressed hope that the exercise started with the network would eventually
lead to a real parliamentary dimension and an enhanced accountability of the institutions. In this
context, the Dutch member of Parliament Bert Koenders (Network, NATO PA) said when making
his presentation that the OSCE PA had taken a lead in enhancing transparency and interaction by
establishing its Vienna Office.
On Monday and on Tuesday this week the Heads of Missions (HoMs) Meeting took place. One
discussion focused on local staff salaries, which are considered as a severe political problem not
only by the HoMs, but also by several of the Heads of Delegations. This is not only so because of
the extreme variety of salaries between the missions, but in particular within each mission. In many
cases, high ranking staff recruited locally earns only a small portion of the salary that their sec-
onded collaborators are getting. Another point of discussion was Election Observation Missions.
One delegation urged not to see them as merely technical exercises without follow-up. It was also
discussed in which way one could in future avoid competition between different EoMs, in particular
between those of ODIHR and of the CIS countries.
The PC took the following decisions:
1. Decision on a recommendation to adopt a ministerial statement on the International Con-
vention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism
2. Decision on the agenda and organizational modalities of the 2005 Mediterranean Seminar
3. Decision on the extension of the mandate of the OSCE Project Co-ordinator in Ukraine
4. Decision on the extension of the mandate of the OSCE Mission to Moldova
5. Decision on the extension of the mandate of the OSCE Spillover Monitor Mission
The PC also debated the Report of the Special Co-ordinator of the Stability Pact, Erhard Busek, as
well as the report by Ambassador Dr Maurizio Pavesi, Head of the OSCE Office in Baku, and the
Subcommittee's Report on Enhancing the Efficiency and Effectiveness of the Economic Forum. It
is the intention of the incoming Belgian Chair to make Transportation a major issue under its Chair-
manship.
Under Current Issues, the PC debated ODIHR's criticism contained in the final report on the last
elections in Moldova as well as in Tajikistan, the detention of Mahmadruzi Iskandarov, the Chair-
man of the Democratic Party of Tajikistan, the forced return of some Uzbek refugees from Kyr-
gyzstan, recent fatal events in South Ossetia, Georgia, including Georgia's wish to enlarge the
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Offentligt
OSCE Alm.del - Bilag 85
OSCE's parlamentariske Forsamling 2004-05 (2. samling)
group of observers, elections in Azeri territories which are under Armenian occupation, the situa-
tion in Uzbekistan and the upcoming Election Observation Missions to Albania and Kyrgyzstan. For
the latter two the number of observers seconded by Participating States are far away from meeting
the demand.
The PrepCom continued to debate the Program Outline for the 2006 OSCE budget, which will
serve as a political guideline for fund managers when they draft their budget proposals.
In the Mediterranean Contact Group, a number of points were debated, including the outcome of
the Cordoba Conference. Following a strong statement of the Egyptian Ambassador on the need to
arrive at a holistic approach of tolerance issues, including his country's wish to only have one rep-
resentative on all the issues, many Participating States joined in the call for a change in the pre-
sent system. Algeria made a strong plea for an enhanced inclusion of the Partners in the OSCE's
work on borders. I briefed the participants about the relevant points of the Annual Conference in
Washington, including the side event and the supplementary issues.
The outgoing Economic and Environmental Coordinator, Marcin SwiQcicki, will soon be re-
placed by Bernard Snoy, a Belgian, who until now has been Director of Table II of the Stability Pact
for South-Eastern Europe.
This week, we also organized and accompanied a visitor's program for the Secretary of the Dele-
gation of the Russian Federation Council Dmitry Piskarev, who had spent the beginning of the
week in the Sekretariat in Copenhagen.
The preparations for the Albanian EOM are making progress; so far 25 observers from national
parliamentary delegations have registered.
Andreas Nothelle
June 20, 2005
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