SKOPJE (dpa-AFX) – Russia partially prevailed with its blockade stance at the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting of the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe (OSCE). At the end of the meeting in Skopje, North Macedonia, the 57 OSCE states agreed on Friday that German diplomat Helga Schmid will continue to head the organization’s secretariat in Vienna. However, Russia only agreed to a short nine-month extension for Schmid and three other OSCE top representatives. The OSCE leadership must therefore negotiate again by September.
Russia also prevailed in the question of who would be eligible to chair the OSCE next year. Moscow’s representatives rejected Estonia because of its NATO membership. Finally, in another compromise, neutral Malta was awarded the presidency.
Russia also continues to block the adoption of a budget for the OSCE, which not only serves as a dialogue platform on security issues but also runs projects to strengthen democracy and human rights.
After the ministerial meeting, the current OSCE Chairman and North Macedonian Foreign Minister, Bujar Osmani, spoke of a “groundbreaking” result. Almost all 57 member states condemned Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine in Skopje. “Our ministerial meeting has reignited our beacon. Although there are attempts to extinguish it, it still shines,” he said. Osmani emphasized at a press conference that the compromises with Moscow were necessary so that the OSCE could continue its work.
Berlin also rated the meeting positively. “Good news from Skopje,” wrote the Foreign Office on X (formerly Twitter). With the OSCE leadership decisions, the organization can continue to work towards the security of a total of 1.3 billion people in the member state, it said. In addition to Schmid, the terms of office of the OSCE representatives for minorities, freedom of the press and democracy and human rights were extended by nine months. All four were appointed for three years in December 2020.
The meeting was attended by, among others, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Russia’s chief diplomat Sergei Lavrov. Lavrov used the conference to blame the West for the OSCE crisis and to criticize Western counterparts. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell have already left, Lavrov said at his own press conference on Friday. “They probably think that this is underlining their intention to isolate Russia. But I think they are just cowards, they are afraid of any honest conversation with facts,” he said.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, there have been calls within the OSCE for Russia to be excluded. However, many members, including Western countries, do not support this step. However, the remaining members do not agree on such a step, Osmani said. “Some countries point out that the OSCE was created as a platform for dialogue with other countries with which they disagree,” he said./al/DP/ngu