COPENHAGEN, 29 June 2015 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) issued the following statement today on the passing of Petur Blondal of Iceland, the Assembly’s Special Representative on the OSCE Budget:

“The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly mourns the loss of our longtime colleague and friend, Petur Blondal. Serving for more than a decade as the PA’s Special Representative on the OSCE Budget, Petur will be remembered as a determined advocate for increased transparency and oversight in the Organization’s finances. He was also a strong supporter of the OSCE’s field presences, visiting many of them since his first joined the PA in 1995. We will also remember Petur as a steadfast supporter of the Parliamentary Assembly and a believer in the important role that parliamentarians can play not only in their home countries, but also at the international level. Many of the ideas that the Assembly is proposing for OSCE reform in this, the 40th anniversary year of the Helsinki Final Act, are in line with what Petur had been calling for all along. I extend my deepest condolences to Petur Blondal’s family, friends and colleagues.”