President Efthymiou speaks to reporters at an internally displaced persons camp in Georgia (Photo by Tina Schoen, OSCE PA) TBILISI, Georgia, 16 June 2011 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Petros Efthymiou today called for the reestablishment of the OSCE Mission to Georgia during a visit to Tbilisi. Offering political support for the OSCE presence, he stressed that the mission would be a mechanism not only of investigation but also for

COPENHAGEN, 14 June 2011 – Members of Parliament from four countries gathered in Copenhagen today to find a common approach to promote greater respect for human rights and rule of law in Belarus, where opponents of the president remain in prison for demonstrating after the December elections. “We call on the authorities in Minsk to release all political prisoners at once,” said Uta Zapf (Germany), chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly

Pia Christmas-Moeller, with OSCE PA Senior Counsellor Semyon Dzakhaev, examining a voters list. ANKARA, Turkey, 13 June 2011 – Turkey’s well-managed, democratic elections demonstrated pluralism but also showed a need for improvements on fundamental freedoms, according to international election observers from the Parliamentary Assemblies of the OSCE and Council of Europe. “To fully live up to its democratic commitments, Turkey must do more than

SKOPJE, 6 June 2011 – Yesterday’s early parliamentary elections were competitive, transparent and well-administered throughout the country, but certain aspects such as the blurring of the line between state and party require further attention, the international observers concluded in Skopje today. On election day, voters were able to freely express their choice in a peaceful atmosphere, despite some irresponsible claims of irregularities by

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE 6 June 2011 Macedonia's ruling conservatives have won snap polls promising further economic and political reforms that would speed up Skopje's entry into the EU and NATO, preliminary results showed Monday. The VMRO-DPMNE-dominated coalition of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski won just over 39 percent of the vote while its main rival, the leftist SDSM grouping, took 33 percent, preliminary results issued by the state electoral

REUTERS 6 June 2011 By Kole Casule SKOPJE, June 6 (Reuters) – Macedonia's conservative ruling party was looking for coalition partners on Monday after it won in Sunday elections but fell short of a majority to govern a country which is struggling to improve its economic outlook. The main task of the new government, expected to be formed by the end of July, will be to revive the economy, fight unemployment and poverty, and speed up the Balkan