COPENHAGEN, 27 April 2015 – The Bureau of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, composed of the Assembly’s elected leadership from nearly 20 OSCE participating States, met today in the Danish capital to discuss recent work, initiatives in progress and plans for the future.
In opening the meeting, PA President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) discussed the Assembly’s upcoming Annual Session in Helsinki, the ongoing Helsinki +40 seminar project and co-ordination with the Serbian OSCE Chairmanship-in-Office. He updated Bureau members on the latest security reports from Ukraine and expressed deep concern about the sharp escalation of fighting and amassing of forces near Mariupol.
Bureau members later discussed the Assembly’s efforts to support accountability and a resolution to the crisis in Ukraine, including in the context of the draft Reports and Resolutions that are being prepared for the Annual Session in July.
Rapporteurs of the OSCE PA’s three General Committees, covering political affairs and security; economic affairs, science, technology and environment; and democracy, human rights and humanitarian questions, respectively, presented the drafts, followed by the Bureau’s comments and questions.
The meeting also featured remarks by Peter Juel Jensen, the Head of the Danish Delegation to the Assembly. Secretary General Spencer Oliver and Treasurer Roberto Battelli (MP, Slovenia), thanked the Danish Parliament for its generous support, including its hosting of the PA’s International Secretariat. Oliver and Battelli presented their reports, highlighting the Assembly’s continuing record of clean financial audits and the benefits of potential increases to the Assembly’s budget.
The Bureau also heard reports on the Assembly’s recent election observation missions and the work of its Special Representatives.
Bold Luvsanvandan, a Member of Mongolia’s Delegation to the PA, discussed his national parliament’s preparations for the Assembly’s Autumn Meeting, to be held in Ulaanbaatar in September. Bureau members also discussed plans for the Annual Session and further meetings.
Earlier, the Bureau unanimously decided to recommend to the Standing Committee Roberto Montella of Italy, the current Director of Presidential Administration, to be elected to the position of OSCE PA Secretary General. He will need confirmation by a 2/3 majority of the votes cast at the Standing Committee’s meeting at the Annual Session. Secretary General Spencer Oliver, whose term expires at the end of 2015, previously announced that he would not seek re-election.
