COPENHAGEN, 9 March 2016 – OSCE parliamentarians will observe the upcoming early parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan and provide leadership for the OSCE’s short-term observer mission. OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Frank-Walter Steinmeier has designated Marietta Tidei (MP, Italy) as Special Co-ordinator to lead the short-term OSCE observer mission for the 20 March vote. Geir Joergen Bekkevold (MP, Norway) will serve as Head of the OSCE

ROME, 4 March 2016 – The Chairperson of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Questions, Isabel Santos (MP, Portugal), and OSCE PA Secretary General Roberto Montella addressed high-level panels in Rome this week on the crisis of migrants and refugees and the international community’s response. On 4 March, Chairperson Santos joined senior government officials and representatives of a range of

VIENNA, 26 February 2016 – Lawmakers from across the 57-country OSCE area gathered today at the concluding session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s 2016 Winter Meeting for a wide-ranging special debate on the crisis of migrants and refugees and ways to strengthen the collective response. The debate, featuring interventions by dozens of parliamentarians, including from countries of arrival, transit and destination, also featured a keynote

VIENNA, 25 February 2016 – Nearly 300 lawmakers from Europe, Asia and North America, including four speakers of parliament, assembled today in Vienna for the opening of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly’s 2016 Winter Meeting , its first major convocation of the year. The crisis of migrants and refugees, which tops the agenda at the two-day meeting, as well as the situation in and around Ukraine, were topics of parliamentary debate and

COPENHAGEN, 22 February 2016 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Secretary General Roberto Montella and Danish Parliament Speaker Pia Kjaersgaard met at the Danish Parliament (Folketinget) today to discuss a range of OSCE-related matters. Montella expressed particular gratitude to the Speaker for Denmark’s generosity in hosting the Parliamentary Assembly’s headquarters for more than 20 years. Montella described his priorities as the Assembly’s

COPENHAGEN, 18 February 2016 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Ilkka Kanerva (MP, Finland) issued the following statement on the 17 February terror attack in Ankara: "On behalf of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, I condemn in the strongest terms the deadly attack on military personnel and civilians in Ankara. Turkey has yet again been struck by the scourge of terrorism, for which there is never any justification and which accomplishes