President Efthymiou addresses opening plenary of the 20th Annual Session (OSCE PA)BELGRADE, 6 July 2011 – Parliamentary Assembly President Petros Efthymiou today called for significant changes to the operations of the OSCE to make it more effective in addressing modern political and security crises.

Speaking at the opening of the 20th Annual Session of the Parliamentary Assembly under the theme of “Strengthening the OSCE’s Effectiveness and Efficiency – A new start after the Astana Summit,” Mr. Efthymiou recalled the OSCE success in South-Eastern Europe as a model for its role in other parts of the world but said reforms are needed in the Vienna-based operations.

“For the OSCE to be as effective as it has been in the past in regions like this one, I recommend the Ministerial Council meet twice a year to create more opportunities for high level political consultations,” Mr. Efthymiou said. “It is also high time that the OSCE change its consensus-based decision-making process in times of crisis so no one country can alone hold up needed progress on human security issues.”

In addressing the more than 240 parliamentarians gathered in Belgrade, Speaker of the Serbian Parliament Slavica Dukic-Dejanovic said, “It is my message and hope that the session in Belgrade will mark a truly new beginning for the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly so that it might take a central position in the OSCE family in the upcoming period and continue to be a strong and integrating factor in the development of co-operation.”