COPENHAGEN, 21 May 2014 – The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Special Representative on South East Europe Roberto Battelli (MP, Slovenia) today issued the following statement regarding recent flooding in the Balkans: "On behalf of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, I wish to express my heartfelt condolences to the victims of the recent floods in the Balkans. My thoughts are with the families of the deceased, as well as the hundreds of thousands of

COPENHAGEN, 21 May 2014 – The Finnish Institute of International Affairs has joined the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Helsinki +40 Project, an initiative that will bring together security and human rights experts, politicians and academia to evaluate the OSCE's past and chart concrete lines of action for the future. The Project marks the 40th anniversary of the OSCE's founding document, the Helsinki Final Act. Consisting of seminars at the

Doris Barnett (MP, Germany) speaks with the press in Lviv on 15 May 2014. LVIV, 16 May 2014 – In the latest in a series of high-level visits to Ukraine ahead of the presidential election later this month, senior members of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly emphasized today in Lviv the importance of holding a fair vote in line with OSCE election-related commitments. "Being in this old European city, I can only say that Ukraine does not have to

COPENHAGEN, 15 May 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ranko Krivokapic today issued the following statement on the mine disaster in Turkey: "I am greatly saddened by the mining tragedy in Soma, Turkey, which has claimed the lives of at least 282 people in what is being called Turkey's worst mine disaster ever. My deepest condolences go out to the families of the victims, the communities affected and to the people of Turkey. "Mine

From R to L: Mehmet Sevki Kulkuloglu of the OSCE PA; Amb. Zoltan Taubner, Director of External Relations for the Council of Europe; Amb. Ivan Simonovic, Assistant Secretary General of OHCHR at the UN; Amb. Thomas Greminger, Chairperson of the OSCE Permanent Council; Amb. Janez Lenarcic, Director of OSCE/ODIHR. COPENHAGEN, 12 May 2014 – Deepened co-operation and permanent channels of communication between parliamentary bodies are needed to meet

COPENHAGEN, 10 May 2014 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ranko Krivokapic today called on separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts of eastern Ukraine to cancel planned referendums on self-rule scheduled for 11 May. "The idea that free and fair voting could take place in these so-called referendums is absurd. Not only are these referendums completely illegitimate in the eyes of the international community, they would be taking place