Nyhedsbrev fra Ambassadør Andreas Nothelle, uge 1-3, 2016

Special Representative
To:
PA President
and
PA Secretary General
PC Brief Week 2/3, 2016
During the Winter Recess, which lasted until January 11, and during the opening week of
the German OSCE Chairmanship, as well as during the first routine week that followed,
there were meetings of the Permanent Council (PC), including several Special PCs, the Fo-
rum for Security Co-operation (new Dutch Chairmanship), the Preparatory Committee
(PrepComm), the Advisory Committee on Management and Finance (ACMF), the three top-
ical committees, other informal meetings, and the Annual Meeting of the Chairmanship and
the Secretariat with the Heads of Field Operations and Institutions. The new OSCE PA Sec-
retary General Roberto Montella participated in the meetings of the opening week and held
bilateral meetings with a number of OSCE ambassadors, the OSCE Secretary General and
other OSCE representatives. The News from Copenhagen has reported about this. During
week 3, all senior staff from the Vienna Office participated in staff meetings in Copenhagen,
including a two-day team-building retreat for all PA staff.
The PC – apart from hearing the programmatic address by the new Chairperson-in-Office
German Foreign Minister Walter Steinmeier - approved the 2016 Unified Budget of the
OSCE on the last day of 2015 and decided to extend the deployment of OSCE observers to
two Russian checkpoints on the Russian-Ukrainian border. The 2016 budget amounts to
141,3 million Euros (+0,2% compared to 2015). Despite the name “Unified Budget” it needs
to be remembered that this budget does not include the costs of the Special Monitoring Mis-
sion (SMM) to Ukraine (around 88 million Euros). The Secretariat’s budget increases by
3,7%. ODIHR gets a symbolic additional 50.000 Euros for activities against intolerance. The
other institutions are at zero nominal growth, accounting for another budget decrease in real
terms. The budget for field operations in the Balkans decreases by 1,8 percent. The budget
for the Project Coordinator in Ukraine increases by 20 percent. Russia, Belarus, Luxem-
bourg/EU, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, USA and Germany expressed their views on the new budg-
et in interpretative statements.
Otherwise, all the meetings during these weeks were the usual annual routine. Regrettably,
during the PC, neither the Chairmanship nor any delegation mentioned the PA, prompting
me to make a short welcoming statement during which I also referred to OSCE PA Presi-
dent Kanerva’s press statement on the Istanbul terrorist attack. However, during the talks
SG Montella held with a high number of OSCE representatives, there was a tangible keen
interest in the work of the PA and prospects for closer cooperation.
Andreas Nothelle
Ambassador
January 26, 2016
OSCEs Parlamentariske Forsamling 2015-16
OSCE Alm.del Bilag 18
Offentligt