Forstørrelse/Enlargement 1344x1012 (182KB or 98KB)

Speech by Helle Degn

to the Ministerial Council,

Oslo, Norway on the 2nd of December 1998

Mr. Chairman, Ministers and Heads of Delegations, Your
Excellencies, Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen.

As the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE I'm pleased to address you today on behalf of the more than three hundred Parliamentarians from the participating States of the OSCE, who are members of our Assembly.

Since nearly all of the Ministers in this room are or have been parliamentarians themselves, I need not emphasize the important role of Parliaments - Democratic Parliaments - in the affairs of States and in international relations.

The OSCE has come a long way, through co-operation and interaction, with complementarity of purpose and with total commitment to Democracy and democratic institutions - so the OSCE, NATO and the EU must lead the way into the twenty-first century.

This responsibility requires courage and sacrifices, imagination and determination, but above all COOPERATION, and it is most important that this co-operation is approached in a spirit of generosity and understanding.

When the OSCE and NATO meet at regular summits - and when the EU meets with the United States at the summit level - the essential trans-atlantic link is represented at the highest political level. This "triple crown" of summitry, supported by meetings at the Ministerial level, such as our meeting today, provides the political foundation needed to complete the unfinished work of the twentieth century - the firm establishment of stable democracies, market economies, and unchallenged security within the trans-atlantic, pan-european geographic space.

Speaking of change, Mr. Chairman, let me be so bold as to suggest that the unanimous consensus requirement for all decision-making within the OSCE, should be reviewed once again. This OSCE anachronism is simply not adequate to address the challenges of the next millenium. The Parliamentary Assembly, in each of its annual sessions for the past 6 years, has called for a change in the unanimous consensus requirement.

We have suggested, what we have called the "Approximate Consensus", a formula requiring 90% of both membership and financial contributions for decisions within the OSCE. We believe that - among more than fifty countries - this is a reasonable as well as a necessary approach.

I am not saying that decisions in the OSCE should be made by majority vote, because when issues of sovereignty and security are at stake there should be substantial guarantees against political or geographic abuse by a mere majority of states.

Another idea would be to apply the 90% solution or "consensus less two",  initially only to decisions related to budgets or personnel. This may be particularly relevant at the moment, since the OSCE will be required to make a decision on a new Secretary General within the coming six months.

Should a highly qualified candidate, who has support of 52 or 53 countries, be vetoed by one or two countries? It is my view, and certainly the view of the Parliamentary Assembly, that a candidate for Secretary General or for any other senior post in the OSCE - or for that matter, any budget proposals - that can get the support of 90 or 95 per cent of all participating States should be approved.

I hope that you will seriously consider this question, since I believe that this may well be crucial to the success of the OSCE in the years to come.

As responsible leaders at the political level we must take this on our shoulders, if we are to meet the challenges before us.

Mr. Chairman, in recent months the Parliamentary Assembly has worked hard to ensure the success of the OSCE election monitoring projects. I was pleased to represent the OSCE chairman-in-office in the critical election monitoring project in Slovakia, where we were able to assure the international society that the elections fairly represented the will of the people and where we were able to forge a cooperative partnership between the OCSE-PA, the OSCE ODIHR, the Parliamentary Assembly of Council of Europe and European Parliament. I am pleased to say that this co-operation continued through the elections in FRY Macedonia and the referendum last week in Albania.

Obviously the Assembly is ready to play its parts and when it will be possible to hold free elections in Kosovo. I also want to put on record our readiness to send short term "Democracy Teams" of parliamentarians to undertake assignments from the head of the OSCE-mission. Let me add that the participants of such teams would undoubtedly become effective advocates within their countries in general for the provision of the financial and other resources that this challenge will require in months ahead.

In fact, The Parliamentary Assembly has already set up one "Democracy team". I have appointed a special Commission, which has been tasked with supporting the work of the Assistance and Monitoring Group in Belarus. I trust that its work will bring a significant contribution to promoting democracy and respect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Belarus.

I also want to attract your attention to a recommendation that you consider a role for the OSCE with regard to new threats to security such as economic crime, terrorism and corruption. I am convinced that we all have to consider such activities as grave dangers for the viability of new and established democracies alike. The recent killing of a prominent Russian fellow [woman] politician underscores my concern in this regard.

Last, but certainly not least, I want to ask you to reflect and take action on the various recommendations, including those made by a meeting of the women parliamentarians in Copenhagen, which call upon you to ensure full participation of women in the activities of the OSCE.

In conclusion, I want to pledge to you that as parliamentarians we will do our part in the ongoing OSCE efforts to realize the promises of Helsinki and the Charter of Paris as well as the other commitments made at the political levels of the OSCE during the past 23 years.

Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank you and Poland for an excellent chairman-ship and we look forward to continuing our good co-operation with the new chairman-in-office from Norway, with the Troika, with the Permanent Council and with the other OSCE-institutions in the future.

Thank you for your attentions, Mr. Chairman.