Nyhedsbrev fra Ambassadør Andreas Nothelle, uge 8-10, 2016

Special Representative
To:
PA President
and
PA Secretary General
PC Brief Week 8/9, 2016
The first of these two weeks saw very limited governmental activities because of the PA Winter
Meeting taking place in the Hofburg Conference Center. During both weeks, there were meet-
ings of the Permanent Council (PC) – one with Georgian Minister of Defense Ms. Tinantin
Khidasheli, the Forum for Security Co-operation, the Preparatory Committee (PrepComm), the
Advisory Committee on Management and Finance (ACMF), the three topical committees, other
informal meetings, as well as the two-day Annual Implementation Assessment Meeting (AIAM).
In addition, the first meeting of the Contact Group with the Mediterranean Partners for Coopera-
tion took place in the presence of the winners of the 2015 Peace Nobel Prize, the Tunisian
Quartet that had helped to organize the elections and helped the democratic transition.
On Monday of the first week, I briefed a Bundestag Subcommittee in Berlin on possibilities for
the OSCE PA and its members to address crises and conflicts. On Friday of the second week, a
Security Day on Migration organized by the OSCE Secretary General took place in Rome and
was attended by most ambassadors. Francesco Pagani spent most of that week in Rome ac-
companying a PA delegation and PA Secretary General Roberto Montella.
The PC approved the Year-end Unified Budget Revision and the dates of the 2016 Annual Se-
curity Review Conference (ASRC – June 28 until 30, 2016). There is no consensus yet about a
new Representative on the Freedom of the Media as a successor for Dunja Mijatovic. The
regular report by the Head of the Mission in Montenegro briefed the PC about the current politi-
cal difficulties in the country, which are partly caused by the country’s desire to become member
of NATO and by the upcoming elections. The delegations of Mongolia and the USA extended an
invitation to observe their 2016 elections. I briefed the PC about the outcome of the PA’s Winter
Meeting.
I also used the opportunity of the Contact Group Meeting and the presence of the Nobel Prize
Winners to remind delegations of the successful OSCE PA observation of the first democratic
elections under the leadership of the PA President Riccardo Migliori.
The AIAM is the meeting that looks into commitments undertaken in the military part of the Se-
curity Dimension. For many years in a row it has been underused because of the existing diffi-
culties regarding the state of the OSCE acquis of confidence and security building measures.
While most OSCE participating States urge for an update of the Vienna document, which has to
be reissued this year, the Russian Federation opposes it. As a consequence, the conference did
not make any substantial contribution to the OSCE’s work.
Andreas Nothelle
Ambassador
March 7, 2016
OSCEs Parlamentariske Forsamling 2015-16
OSCE Alm.del Bilag 22
Offentligt


Special Representative
To:
PA President
and
PA Secretary General
PC Brief Week 10, 2016
This week, there were meetings of the Permanent Council (PC), a joint meeting of the PC and
the Forum for Security Cooperation (FSC), the first Contact Group Meeting with the Asian
Partners for Co-operation, several meetings of the Preparatory Committee (PrepComm)
and a number of informal meetings. Francesco Pagani participated in a meeting on “The EU,
the OSCE and the Future of European Security” in Rome.
The PC took a decision on a second set of (voluntary) “OSCE Confidence-Building Measures to
Reduce the Risks of Conflict Stemming from the Use of Information and Communication Tech-
nologies - PC.DEC/1202”. The main activities this week, however, revolved around the urgent
issue of finding a successor for Dunja Mijatovic as the Representative on Freedom of the Media.
Her term expired on Thursday. After Russia had made clear that it would not agree to any of the
nine candidates that delegations had interviewed – some of them several times – during the last
months, efforts were made to extend Mijatovic’s term. On Friday, delegations were close to a
consensus on a one-year extension, but one delegation made a timely consensus impossible,
because that delegation could not get instructions from the capital on time, due to holidays in
the country. Mijatovic presented to the PC what was meant to be her last report, so an extreme-
ly high number of delegations had prepared farewell statements. In light of the ongoing negotia-
tions about the extension of her mandate, the many hours that the PC spent on this agenda
item seemed almost surreal.
Another agenda item, triggered by the International Women’s day and introduced by the State
Secretary of the German Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth,
Ralf Kleindiek, also resulted in a high number of solemn statements by delegations – nota bene,
all this taking place behind closed doors. In exchange, the repetitive mutual polemics on the
crisis in and around Ukraine were a little shorter than usual.
I met with the Permanent OSCE Representatives of Albania and the Russian Federation, and
the Ambassador of Israel, discussing matters relating to PA activities.
Andreas Nothelle
Ambassador
March 11, 2016
OSCEs Parlamentariske Forsamling 2015-16
OSCE Alm.del Bilag 22
Offentligt