The Winter Meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly will take place on Thursday 22 (from 09:00 to 18:00) and Friday 23 February 2024 (from 09:00 to 17:00) in the Congress Center Hofburg, Heldenplatz, 1014 Vienna, Austria.

PROGRAMME

This year, the Winter Meeting will be comprised of meetings of the Standing Committee, each General Committee, and Joint sessions of the three General Committees. All meetings will be held in person. The draft schedule and agenda of the meeting will be forwarded to the Secretaroes of Delegations in due course.

REGISTRATION

Registration of OSCE Parliamentary Delegations to the OSCE PA

Secretaries of Delegations are kindly asked to register their delegation via the OSCE PA online registration system no later than 2 February 2024. Note that the online registration system will be activated first on 11 December 2023. Please indicate the preliminary travel information and name of the hotel when you register your delegation.

Registration of Parliamentary Delegations of Partners for Cooperation and Official Observers

The specific links for registration of Parliamentary Delegations of Partners for Cooperation and Official Observers will be sent to the Points of Contact of those delegations on 11 December 2023.

Registration of Delegates from the Diplomatic Representations to the OSCE /International Organizations in Vienna

Due to enhanced security measures, Delegates from the Diplomatic Representations to the OSCE/International Organizations in Vienna are asked to register for the Winter Meeting of the OSCE PA to have access the premises on Thursday 22 and Friday 23 February 2024. Note that the registration link for this category of Delegates will be shared and activated on 8 January 2024.

Registration of Representatives from other Organizations, Guests, and Groups

Access by non-parliamentarians is welcome upon request by Members of the OSCE PA officially registered for the meeting. Sponsoring Members take full responsibility for the sponsored participants and are requested to clarify the duration of their access to the OSCE PA meeting. Access to certain parts of the premises and program may be restricted to
parliamentarians and their staff. The sponsorhip form can be obtained by email to [email protected] . The link for online registration of representatives from other organizations and groups will be sent to the applicants once the process of their sponsorship is duly completed and not before 15 January 2024. The seating of representatives of these outside bodies is ruled by the General conditions of access to the meeting rooms.

Registration Desk

On Wednesday, 21 February, from 14.00 to 19.00, the Registration Desk will be open in the lobby of the hotel Park Marriott.
On Thursday, 22 February 8.00 to 18.00 and Friday, 23 February from 8.00 to 15.00, the Registration Desk will be open in the Security container located at the entrance of the Congress Center Hofburg .
We strongly advise Secretaries of Delegation to register and get the accreditation badges for their delegation on Wednesday, 21 February. Participants may be asked to show some official identification to obtain their badges.
Participants are requested to wear their identity badge at all meetings. For security reasons, participants should also be in possession of some other means of identification and be prepared for identity checks when entering the Hofburg. Loss of identity badges should be reported immediately to the Registration Desk.

MEETING ROOMS AND SEATING

GENERAL CONDITIONS OF ACCESS TO THE MEETING ROOMS: Due to space limitations, access to the meeting rooms will be exclusively granted to OSCE Parliamentary Delegations, Parliamentary Delegations of Partners for Cooperation and Official Observers and under the presentation of the proper accreditation badge delivered by the OSCE PA International Secretariat. A viewing room will be organized for the Delegates who are not entitled to enter the meeting rooms.
The OSCE in Vienna will provide the OSCE PA with its two largest meeting rooms, Neuer Saal and Ratsaal in the Congress Centre Hofburg.
Special efforts have been made to rearrange these rooms to accommodate as many people as possible, especially during the joint sessions of the three General Committees.
Each Parliamentary Delegation will be provided a certain number of seats at its assigned table with additional seats available behind those chairs. The Delegations’ assigned seating will be indicated by signs with the name of each country.

At the Standing Committee meeting, due to the limited space, Rule 35 §1 of the Rules of Procedure will be followed: “There shall be a Standing Committee consisting of the President of the Assembly, the Vice-Presidents, the Treasurer, the Officers of the General Committees and the Heads of National Delegations.” Therefore, only members of
the Standing Committee will be allotted seats at tables.
Appropriate seating arrangements will also be prepared for the separate meetings of the three General Committees.

MEETING FACILITIES FOR SIDE-EVENTS AND OTHER MEETINGS: Availability of meeting facilities on the Hofburg premises is particularly restricted. We encourage Delegates to look for premises outside of the Hofburg Congress Center to hold such side-events and meetings. Enquiries for a meeting room can only be presented by a Member of Parliamentary Delegation duly registered to attend the Winter Meeting and must be done not before 8 January and not later than 2 February 2024 by using the Room Booking Form (available upon request by email to [email protected] ).

DOCUMENTS

Documents related to the Winter Meeting, including the Standing Committee meeting, will be sent electronically and be accessible on the OSCE PA App. They will also be available for download on this page prior to the meeting.
Specific documents for the Standing Committee will be sent electronically to the Heads of Delegations and Secretaries of Delegations.
A limited amount of printed material will be available on the tables outside of the meeting rooms in the Hofburg.

LANGUAGES

Simultaneous interpretation into all six OSCE languages (English, French, German, Italian, Russian, and Spanish) will be provided during the scheduled times of the various official sessions of the Winter Meeting.
No written translation service will be available. It will not be possible to accommodate requests for organizing simultaneous interpretation in any additional languages.

TRANSPORTATION

No transportation will be provided. Participants are responsible for their own transport to and from the airport as well as to and from the Hofburg Conference Center.

CATERING

There are limited catering facilities in the Congress Center Hofburg. However, there are numerous restaurants and cafeterias around the Hofburg.

Check this space for additional details as they become available. For information on previous Winter Meetings, please click here.