Standing Committee meeting in Vienna, February 2007

Prior to the opening of the Winter Meeting, the Standing Committee of Heads of Delegations met under the chairmanship of OSCE PA President Goran Lennmarker. Mr. Lennmarker reminded the Members of his priorities, including strengthening the role of the Parliamentary Assembly as an OSCE Institution; providing assistance to the OSCE in helping to resolve remaining con. icts in the region; strengthening respect for human rights; and strengthening the OSCE’s election observation work.

 The President also reported on his activities since the last meeting of the Standing Committee. Since November 2006, President Lennmarker had presided over the Bureau meeting in December in Brussels and addressed the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting. The President had also paid visits to countries in South-Eastern Europe, and the Caucasus, as well as to Turkmenistan and to Ukraine, and had led the OSCE’s election observation mission to Serbia in January. During its meeting Brussels, the Bureau had recommended that the Assembly’s 2008 Session be held in Kazakhstan, which the Standing Committee subsequently approved.

The President also announced that the theme for the upcoming Annual Session in Kyiv, July 2007, would be focused on ‘Implementation of OSCE Commitments’. Senator Jerry Grafstein (Canada), the Assembly’s Treasurer, outlined the PA’s . nancial situation. He reported that the OSCE PA continues to function well within budget, and had again received high marks for its . nancial management. The Treasurer announced that the Assembly had now reached its goal of having a reserve equal to the annual budget. Senator Grafstein also highlighted the Assembly’s website as an effective source of information, and encouraged Membersto provide links from their own websites to this. The Secretary General of the Assembly, Spencer Oliver, reported on recent activities conducted by the International Secretariat. He particularly mentioned the work of the Secretariat in supporting the Assembly’selection observation work. The Secretary General highlighted the Secretariat’s bulletin, News from Copenhagen, as an effective tool for keeping all those interested in the Assembly up-to-date on activities.

The Heads of Delegations then heard a report by President Lennmarker on his leadership of the recent OSCE election observation mission to Serbia. He indicated that he had reported to the OSCE Chairman-in-Of. ce that the elections had been well administered, but that there had been internal dif. culties in reaching this conclusion. He stressed that he had placed an emphasis on delivering a clear and concise message on the elections. Members voiced their support for parliamentary leadership of observation missions, which brings unmatched credibility to OSCE work in this . eld. Standing Committee Members supported President Lennmarker’s proposal to arrange a meeting with the OSCE Chairman-in-Of. ce as soon as possible to overcome remaining dif. culties. The President announced that he had appointed Vice-President Tone Tingsgaard to lead the OSCE PA election observation mission being deployed for the 12 May parliamentary elections in Armenia.

 The Chair of the Assembly’s ad hoc Working Group on Belarus, Uta Zapf (Germany) reported on the Working Group’s activities, including plans for a joint seminar on the European Neighbourhood Policy, to be held in Minsk on 15 March with the Belarussian Delegation. Members were also briefed on preparations for upcoming Assembly meetings in Andorra and Kyiv. Before concluding, the Standing Committee agreed that the Assembly would hold a special debate focused on ‘Energy Security in the OSCE Area’ the next day, on 23 February.