European Union - EEAS (European External Action Service)

OSCE & EU

Background on the OSCE and its activities

All Member States of the European Union are also participating States of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Altogether, the OSCE has 56 participating States from Europe, North America, and Central Asia and spans a geographical area from Vancouver to Vladivostok. All 56 participating States enjoy equal status and decisions are taken by consensus on a politically, but not legally binding basis.

Since the establishment of the OSCE (originally the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, CSCE) through the signature of the Helsinki Final Act in 1975, the organization pursues a comprehensive concept of security in a cross-dimensional approach. The three “dimensions” of the OSCE's work are: the politico-military; the economic and environmental; and the human dimension including the respect for human rights, fundamental freedoms, and democracy and the rule of law. The OSCE's activities range from issues such as military transparency and arms control to fostering economic development, ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources and promoting the full respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms. The OSCE also deals with transnational threats, such as cyber security or fight against terrorism. The autonomous OSCE institutions assist the participating States in monitoring the implementation of their OSCE commitments and help them in improving their record in this respect.

The OSCE also remains an important forum for conflict resolution and confidence building in its area and is directly involved in the negotiations to resolve the protracted conflicts in Georgia and Moldova, as well as the Nagorno Karabakh conflict.

OSCE facts and figures

57 participating States: Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Holy See, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, San Marino, Serbia, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States of America (USA), Uzbekistan.

The OSCE maintains special relations with 12 countries in the Mediterranean region, in Asia, and Australia, which are known as Partners for Co-operation and have observer status. The Partners are: Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Mongolia, and Australia.

OSCE Chairman in Office
2012: Ireland
2013: Ukraine
2014: Switzerland
2015: Republic of Serbia

OSCE Permanent Council
Meets in Vienna

OSCE Secretariat
Secretary General: Lamberto Zannier
Headquarters: Vienna

OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
President (2012): President Riccardo Migliori (Italy)
Secretary General: Spencer Oliver
Headquarters (Secretariat): Copenhagen
http://www.oscepa.org/

Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)
Director: Janez Lenarčič
Headquarters: Warsaw
http://www.osce.org/odihr

Office of the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities
High Commissioner on National Minorities: Knut Vollebaek
Headquarters: The Hague
http://www.osce.org/hcnm

Office of the OSCE Representative on the Freedom of the Media
OSCE Representative on the Freedom of the Media: Dunja Mijatovič
Headquarters: Vienna
http://www.osce.org/fom

Office of the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings
OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings: Maria Grazia Giammarinaro
http://www.osce.org/cthb

16 OSCE field operations: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo, FYROM, Moldova, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, office of the Personal Representative of the Chairman-in-Office on the Conflict Dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference.

OSCE Budget (2012): 148.05 million EUR (without extra-budgetary contributions)

OSCE Staff: a total of 2,831 staff work for the OSCE; 548 staff at the Secretariat and the specialized institutions); 2283 staff at the16 field operations in South-Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe, the South Caucasus and Central Asia

More information about the OSCE can be found under http://www.osce.org/.

EU co-operation with the OSCE

Article 21 (2.c) of the Lisbon Treaty states that "the Union shall define and pursue common policies and actions, and shall work for a high degree of cooperation in all fields of international relations, in order to preserve peace, prevent conflicts and strengthen international security, in accordance with the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, with the principles of the Helsinki Final Act and with the aims of the Charter of Paris, including those relating to external borders."

The EU and the OSCE share a strong interest to co-operate on security-related discussions and conflict prevention in Europe and co-operate closely at all levels, including in the field. The EU and the OSCE pursue a permanent political dialogue among their members and coordinate efforts in pursuing common objectives and finding shared solutions. The agendas of the two organizations, as set out in particular by the EU security strategy ‘A secure Europe in a better world ’ and its Implementation Report of 2008 ‘Providing Security in a changing world’ of 2008 (http://www.consilium.europa.eu/eeas/security-defence/european-security-strategy?lang=en) on the one hand, and the OSCE ‘Strategy to address threats to security and stability in the 21st century’ on the other, overlap to a considerable degree. There are also considerable common objectives in the area of the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

The EU actively supports this comprehensive and co-operative approach to security. As the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the EU grows in importance and effectiveness, especially with the development of a European Security and Defence Policy and of a crisis prevention and civilian crisis management capacity, the co-operation between the EU and the OSCE increases. The EU also greatly values the role of OSCE missions, of the autonomous OSCE institutions, such as the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), the OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, and the OSCE Representative on the Freedom of the Media, as well as the role of the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings.

The main priorities of the EU in the OSCE are strengthening the OSCE’s ability to address conflicts, including early warning, conflict prevention and crisis management; modernising conventional arms control and confidence and security building measures; strengthening the implementation of all OSCE commitments, in particular those in the Human Dimension; and addressing transnational threats (police cooperation, border security, cyber security, fight against drugs and terrorism).

EU Member States contribute over two third of the OSCE's main budget and the EU and its Member States also contribute to the funding of a number of OSCE implemented extra-budgetary projects. Examples of EU support for the OSCE include assistance for the ODIHR in developing national electoral and human rights institutions and crisis management, for instance in the Western Balkans.

The EU Delegation to the International Organisations in Vienna coordinates the EU policies in the OSCE on a day-to-day basis and represents the EU in the OSCE.

The role of the EU in the OSCE

The role of the European Union in the OSCE has never been formally defined in a comprehensive manner. For a long time, the participation of the European Commission (before the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in December 2009) in OSCE proceedings was simply based on established practices, most of which dated back to the preparatory negotiations of the Helsinki Final Act in 1975, in which the Commission was already involved. This participation was formalized only in November 2006 when OSCE Ministers adopted the Rules of Procedure of the organization.

The basic justification for EU participation in OSCE proceedings stems from the fact that the legal competence concerning some issues addressed by the OSCE has been transferred from EU Member States to the European Union. Hence, already the Helsinki Final Act was signed by Prime Minister Aldo Moro "as Prime Minister of the Italy and in his capacity as President of the Council of the European Communities" (so-called Moro Declaration ). The other two key OSCE basic documents, the Charter of Paris (1990) and the Charter for European Security (1999) were signed directly by the then Presidents of the Commission Jacques Delors, respectively Romano Prodi.

The key features of the EU's participation in the OSCE are:

The Delegation of the EU is regarded as being part of the Delegation of the OSCE participating State holding the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU. As such the Delegation is participating in all proceedings unless the issue under discussion clearly falls fully outside the scope of the EU.

As the EU has its own Ambassador/Head of Delegation accredited to the OSCE, it is, in principle, treated as an individual OSCE participating State as concerns protocol issues, and as regards the circulation of documents or other information or invitations.

In all OSCE decision-making bodies, including on Ministerial and Head of State and Government level, the EU has a seat reserved beside the country holding the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU (in non-decision-making bodies the question does not arise as the OSCE practices 'free seating').

In cases where the issue under discussion mainly falls under the competence of the European Community, the Delegation of the EU, representing also the Commission, can intervene in the same way as an OSCE participating State.

In OSCE decision-making bodies, where the EU is speaking 'with one voice', the EU Delegation may speak on behalf of all EU Member States.

In non-decision-making bodies, the Delegation usually coordinates the position of all EU Member States and presents it in meetings.

At meetings at the levels of Ministers or Heads of State and Government, the EU High Representative or the Presidents of the Council or Commission are intervening.

In particular through its Delegation accredited to the OSCE, the European Union has developed close contacts both with other OSCE Delegations and with all OSCE Institutions, notably the OSCE Secretariat in Vienna as well as the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) in Warsaw. Although the EU as such cannot contribute to the Unified Budget of the OSCE, it has become in recent years a big donor of extra-budgetary contributions for a large variety of programs and projects. One recent example is the OSCE's Community Security Initiative (CSI) in Kyrgyzstan, to which the EU through its Instrument for Stability contributed 750.000 Euros.

The close relations between the EU and the OSCE are also maintained through regular meetings, from EU-OSCE Ministerial Political Dialogue meetings to PSC-level Political Dialogues and staff-to-staff talks. At field level, there are regular contacts between the OSCE field missions and the respective EU Delegations, as well as the CSDP Missions of the EU. In addition, the EU works with the OSCE and other partners in the conflict resolution processes for the Transnistrian conflict (Moldova) and in the Geneva process (Georgia).