STATEMENT to the SESSION of the PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY
of the COUNCIL OF EUROPE
Strasbourg, 21 June 1999

Mrs. Helle Degn, M.P.
President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly  

Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen!

It is a great honour and pleasure for me to address this Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe as the President of your sister organization, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Representing a young parliamentary institution, I want to start by paying tribute to the oldest member of the family, who has already reached the respectable age of 50 years.

During my short intervention here in September I briefly characterized our two Assemblies and prospects of co-ordination and co-operation. I will not repeat that. Today I would like to take this opportunity to briefly introduce some of the present activities and objectives of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly.

Before doing so let me say a few words about the OSCE as such. I think it is only fair to say that it plays a key role in the European security architecture due to two important factors.

·  Its broad scope as comprising the whole of the Euro- Atlantic area from Vancouver to Vladivostok as well as the new independent states of Central Asia and

·  Its comprehensive concept of security, which combines the maintenance of peace with respect for human rights and economic and environmental co-operation.

In recent years the action of the OSCE has in particular shown the value of its special capabilities in the field of conflict prevention and post-conflict rehabilitation.

At the same time it must be realized that given the complex nature of challenges facing this part of the world on our way into the 21^st century many tasks must be shouldered by several international actors working in close and confident co-operation, each contributing with their special capabilities to a joint effort aimed at finding solutions to the challenge in question.

Bosnia is a good example of such joint efforts by several international organizations acting as lead agencies, within their respective special capabilities. I note that among those lead agencies were both the OSCE and Council of Europe. We are today facing a task of a similar nature and magnitude in Kosovo.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has in the past, while supporting the overall OSCE policy on Kosovo, made several attempts to engage the Yugoslav Parliament in a constructive dialogue on the crisis in Kosovo. Unfortunately all of our attempts failed. This was due to the wrong policy pursued by the rulers in Belgrade. But it was also due to the fact that in Yugoslavia the parliament and parliamentarians do not have the same role and influence as they must have in a real democracy. In Yugoslavia they are there to carry out the policies of the Government, not vice versa, as it should be in a democracy.

I welcome the agreements and decisions, which have now led to the end of the bombing campaign in Kosovo. I think that we have all reason to be thankful that it has been possible to establish an arrangement, which gives the United Nations a central role and provides for a credible international military presence in Kosovo. In the larger context of the tensions and conflicts of the area surrounding Kosovo we must also recognize the promise and the importance of the new Stability Pact for South East Europe.

These developments mean that ethnic cleansing has finally to cease in Kosovo and the ethnic Albanian refugees are starting to return home. Many of them will find their homes destroyed and their loved ones killed. But now is the time to rebuild Kosovo. The OSCE will have a challenging task to give its contribution to this huge construction work, together with several other institutions. The OSCE Troika will meet in Oslo on Thursday this week to discuss and prepare for this task. In this meeting it is my intention to discuss how the parliamentarians will contribute to the reconstruction. We already have preliminary plans concerning “Democracy Teams”, groups of parliamentarians who will at times visit Kosovo, meet with leaders, parties and authorities and advise on matters concerning civil society, democracy and the rule of law. I am sure that also the Council of Europe, and its Parliamentary Assembly, will have a lot to contribute. This is an issue where it might be useful for our two Assemblies to consider whether co-ordination of our activities, and perhaps co-operation on some projects, might be expedient.

We should also consider how to help Yugoslavia, Serbia in particular, to develop democracy. This will be a difficult process. I share the views of those who do not want to work with the present leadership in Belgrade. We have tried in the past 9 years with frustrating results. But we need to discuss how parliamentary democracy can be promoted in Yugoslavia. This presupposes new leadership. One has to recognize that the democratic opposition in Yugoslavia has so far failed to present a credible alternative to the Milosevic regime. Without such an alternative Yugoslavia has no future in the European family of democracies.

Mr. President,

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, like this Assembly, has during the last few years paid special attention to Belarus. You and I have already exchanged views and information on mutual activities concerning Belarus. We should continue to do so in order to promote democracy and the rule of law in that country and to help Belarus come out of its present isolation. The OSCE-PA has an active Democracy Team supporting the OSCE efforts to promote democracy in the country. I am pleased to report that the Team has, with some success, begun the difficult and sensitive task of rebuilding confidence and trust between the divergent political groups. Some contacts and even dialogue, has already taken place between major parties in order to find common ground, so that all sides would participate in the forthcoming elections. Democracy in Belarus would benefit from such change.

I have also appointed a democracy team to assist the OSCE mission to Moldova as well as the parliamentarians of the involved countries in their effort to find a solution to the Transdniestria conflict. Moreover, I am envisaging using this new instrument in our toolbox in other situations where the OSCE PA may bring its contribution to promoting the work of the OSCE for conflict prevention and post-conflict rehabilitation. In these efforts I trust that I shall also be able to rely on your support and active contribution.

An issue of high importance to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, and to me personally, is that of gender equality. I am fully aware of the important contribution of the Council of Europe in this area. Unfortunately I have to assess that the OSCE has not so far been active enough in this vital issue, even if some progress has been achieved, for instance, by appointing personnel both in the Secretariat in Vienna and the ODLHR in Warsaw to work on gender equality. I have drawn the attention of the Chairman-in-Office to this factor as well as to the Parliamentary Assembly’s Copenhagen Declaration of 1998, which includes several paragraphs on the promotion of gender equality. By doing so the Parliamentary Assembly has ensured that the issue of gender equality has been put on the agenda in the politic planning and implementation. This is essential. The latest developments in Kosovo show once again that modern armed conflicts are not any more mainly between the armies, but against civilian populations. We have witnessed the use of ordinary people as bombing shields and the use of systematic rape. We need to develop tools to prevent such practices and to heal the wounded souls of its victims.

Mr. President,

Democratically elected parliamentarians represent democracy. They also have to stand up for the development of democracy in their international organizations. Therefore I, as the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, have raised the issue of “Democratic Deficit” in the OSCE.

The role of the Parliamentary Assembly is a constant subject of debate in the Council of Europe even though in the Council of Europe the Parliamentary Assembly has a clear, statutory role and responsibility. We also know the constant debate in the European Union about the role of the European Parliament. The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has, during its seven years of existence, developed its role as an increasingly important OSCE institution. We have developed for ourselves a role in several important areas of the activities of the OSCE, such as election monitoring and the promotion of peace, stability and human rights in areas of conflicts. I have already mentioned, as examples, the Balkans and Belarus. We are present in the Summits, Ministerial Meetings and the Troika. The Chairman-in-Office addresses our Annual Sessions and answers our direct questions. Moreover, in response to a request from our Assembly the present chairman-in-office, Norwegian Foreign Minister Knut Vollebæk, has submitted a written report to the Assembly well in advance of the Annual Meeting. I welcome this step, which further enhances the already close co-operation between the Assembly and the Chairmanship. Finally the Heads of the OSCE Institutions and other high level OSCE Officials regularly brief our leadership on OSCE developments. But so far we do not have any formal status in the OSCE’s decision making. This creates a democratic deficit, which needs to be corrected.

The events in the European Union earlier this year, which led to the resignation of the entire Commission, drew public attention to the issue of democratic deficit. As the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, it is in my particular interest that the organization I serve as President, the OSCE, should not be left behind the democratization process. Therefore I will raise the issue in the forthcoming Annual Session of the Parliamentary Assembly in St. Petersburg. I am sponsoring a resolution, which includes a number of proposals in this respect. It is no secret that when doing so I, in particular, drew from the experiences in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. I hope that the OSCE Summit in Istanbul in November will consider positively the recommendations, which will be made in St. Petersburg.

Mr. President,

I take this opportunity to thank you, once again, for us to start the meetings of leadership of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to meet with leaders of your Assembly in Paris in March. This meeting of the Delegations of the Bureaus of the two Assemblies was most useful. We agreed on how to proceed to co-ordinate our activities and how to co-operate. The development of our cooperation is part of the construction of the new European architecture, where the parliamentarians must have an important role. The Paris meeting is already bearing fruit. We are two separate institutions. We represent two different organizations; Council of Europe and the OSCE, with their different structures, tasks and methods of work. But since we both are working for the same values, co-ordination, and sometimes co-operation, is expedient and even necessary. The first prerequisite is the flow of information. We need to know of each other’s activities. Therefore I am particularly grateful for your invitation to address this Session.

Mr. President,

I am also very pleased that you have accepted my invitation to attend the Eighth Annual Session of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in St. Petersburg in July - only in two weeks time. The Annual Session will deal with several timely issues. The theme of the Session will be “Common Security and Democracy in the Twenty-First Century”. It is in our particular interest to give the contribution of the OSCE parliamentarians to the development of the Charter for European Security, which will be on the agenda at OSCE Summit meeting in Istanbul on 18 and 19 November this year.

The Annual Session will also consider, as every year, reports prepared by the Rapporteurs of the three General Committees. However, I expect that the situation in the Balkans and in particular in Kosovo will get the greatest attention among the parliamentarians.

All the political issues, which will be debated in St. Petersburg, are also on the agenda of various meetings and bodies of the Council of Europe. Let us support each other. Let us recognize each other’s responsibilities and contributions. That will guarantee the best results.

Once again, Mr. President, I thank you for the possibility to address this Session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.