EU Statement in Response to the Address by the President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, Mr. Pere Joan Pons Sampietro, OSCE Permanent Council No. 1578 - Vienna, 24 September 2026

1. The European Union warmly welcomes Mr. Pere Joan Pons Sampietro, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, back to the Permanent Council. 

2. Since your last address to this Council, the Parliamentary Assembly has maintained an active agenda across the OSCE region. We welcome the successful  Annual Session held in The Hague in July under the timely theme “International Law and Shared Principles: Foundations for Security and Co-operation in the OSCE Area”, and the adoption of the Hague Declaration. At a time when international law and the fundamental principles underpinning the European security order are under severe pressure, the Assembly’s strong reaffirmation of the principles of the Helsinki Final Act is of key importance.

3. Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine remains the gravest threat to security in the OSCE area and a flagrant violation of international law and the core principles and commitments on which our Organisation is founded. The European Union reiterates its unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, and its steadfast commitment to a just, comprehensive and lasting peace grounded in the international law, including the UN Charter.

4. We highly appreciate the Parliamentary Assembly’s sustained and principled engagement in support of Ukraine. Your visit to Kyiv and Bucha earlier this year, the continued work of the Parliamentary Support Team for Ukraine, chaired by Ms. Nancy Faeser, and the prominent attention devoted to Ukraine at both the Winter Meeting and the Annual Session have sent an important message of solidarity. We also welcome the Assembly’s continued emphasis on accountability and international justice.

5. We commend the attention that you and the Parliamentary Assembly continue to devote to Ukrainian children deported or forcibly transferred by Russia. Your participation in the May High-Level Meeting of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, co-hosted by the European Union, Ukraine and Canada, as well as the sustained work of Special Envoy Carina Ödebrink, have maintained this urgent humanitarian and human rights issue high on the international agenda. We also welcome the Parliamentary Assembly’s continued attention to and the efforts of Special Rapporteur Boris Dittrich to end the unjust detention of  the three OSCE officials Vadym Golda, Maksym Petrov and Dmytro Shabanov, who have now been unlawfully detained by Russia for more than four years. We reiterate our call for their immediate and unconditional release.

Mr. President,

6. We appreciate your active engagement across the OSCE region and the Parliamentary Assembly’s contribution to dialogue and confidence-building through parliamentary diplomacy. Your visits to Georgia and, most recently, Azerbaijan illustrate the value of sustained engagement with participating States and parliamentary counterparts. 

7. The Parliamentary Assembly also continues to make an important contribution across all three dimensions of the OSCE’s comprehensive concept of security. We welcome its engagement on human rights and fundamental freedoms, democratic resilience, gender equality, migration, counter-terrorism, combating organised crime and corruption, climate and environmental security, as well as on emerging challenges, including artificial intelligence and digital threats. 

Mr. President,

8. Election observation remains one of the OSCE’s most valuable instruments for assessing the conduct of elections in accordance with our shared democratic commitments. We appreciate the Parliamentary Assembly’s continued participation in election observation activities during this year. We reaffirm our full support for ODIHR’s election observation methodology and commend the independent, impartial and professional manner in which election observation is carried out by ODIHR in partnership with the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. We underline the importance of timely and unconditional invitations by all participating States and of ensuring the conditions necessary for meaningful observation, in line with the commitments undertaken by all OSCE participating States in the 1990 Copenhagen Document and the 1999 Istanbul Document. 

9. We condemn the organisation of so-called “elections“ and the opening of polling stations by Russia in territories outside its internationally recognised borders, most recently in Ukraine, Republic of Moldova and Georgia, without the consent of the respective legitimate governments. The EU reiterates its unwavering support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the countries concerned within their internationally recognised borders and does not recognise the legitimacy of such electoral processes or their results.

Mr. President,

10. We wish you every success in fulfilling your mandate and count further on your leadership in defending the principles of the Helsinki Final Act and strengthening the OSCE’s contribution to peace and security.

Albania, Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, San Marino and Ukraine align themselves with this statement.

1. The European Union warmly welcomes Mr. Pere Joan Pons Sampietro, President of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, back to the Permanent Council. 

2. Since your last address to this Council, the Parliamentary Assembly has maintained an active agenda across the OSCE region. We welcome the successful  Annual Session held in The Hague in July under the timely theme “International Law and Shared Principles: Foundations for Security and Co-operation in the OSCE Area”, and the adoption of the Hague Declaration. At a time when international law and the fundamental principles underpinning the European security order are under severe pressure, the Assembly’s strong reaffirmation of the principles of the Helsinki Final Act is of key importance.

3. Russia’s ongoing war of aggression against Ukraine remains the gravest threat to security in the OSCE area and a flagrant violation of international law and the core principles and commitments on which our Organisation is founded. The European Union reiterates its unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders, and its steadfast commitment to a just, comprehensive and lasting peace grounded in the international law, including the UN Charter.

4. We highly appreciate the Parliamentary Assembly’s sustained and principled engagement in support of Ukraine. Your visit to Kyiv and Bucha earlier this year, the continued work of the Parliamentary Support Team for Ukraine, chaired by Ms. Nancy Faeser, and the prominent attention devoted to Ukraine at both the Winter Meeting and the Annual Session have sent an important message of solidarity. We also welcome the Assembly’s continued emphasis on accountability and international justice.

5. We commend the attention that you and the Parliamentary Assembly continue to devote to Ukrainian children deported or forcibly transferred by Russia. Your participation in the May High-Level Meeting of the International Coalition for the Return of Ukrainian Children, co-hosted by the European Union, Ukraine and Canada, as well as the sustained work of Special Envoy Carina Ödebrink, have maintained this urgent humanitarian and human rights issue high on the international agenda. We also welcome the Parliamentary Assembly’s continued attention to and the efforts of Special Rapporteur Boris Dittrich to end the unjust detention of  the three OSCE officials Vadym Golda, Maksym Petrov and Dmytro Shabanov, who have now been unlawfully detained by Russia for more than four years. We reiterate our call for their immediate and unconditional release.

Mr. President,

6. We appreciate your active engagement across the OSCE region and the Parliamentary Assembly’s contribution to dialogue and confidence-building through parliamentary diplomacy. Your visits to Georgia and, most recently, Azerbaijan illustrate the value of sustained engagement with participating States and parliamentary counterparts. 

7. The Parliamentary Assembly also continues to make an important contribution across all three dimensions of the OSCE’s comprehensive concept of security. We welcome its engagement on human rights and fundamental freedoms, democratic resilience, gender equality, migration, counter-terrorism, combating organised crime and corruption, climate and environmental security, as well as on emerging challenges, including artificial intelligence and digital threats. 

Mr. President,

8. Election observation remains one of the OSCE’s most valuable instruments for assessing the conduct of elections in accordance with our shared democratic commitments. We appreciate the Parliamentary Assembly’s continued participation in election observation activities during this year. We reaffirm our full support for ODIHR’s election observation methodology and commend the independent, impartial and professional manner in which election observation is carried out by ODIHR in partnership with the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. We underline the importance of timely and unconditional invitations by all participating States and of ensuring the conditions necessary for meaningful observation, in line with the commitments undertaken by all OSCE participating States in the 1990 Copenhagen Document and the 1999 Istanbul Document. 

9. We condemn the organisation of so-called “elections“ and the opening of polling stations by Russia in territories outside its internationally recognised borders, most recently in Ukraine, Republic of Moldova and Georgia, without the consent of the respective legitimate governments. The EU reiterates its unwavering support for the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the countries concerned within their internationally recognised borders and does not recognise the legitimacy of such electoral processes or their results.

Mr. President,

10. We wish you every success in fulfilling your mandate and count further on your leadership in defending the principles of the Helsinki Final Act and strengthening the OSCE’s contribution to peace and security.

Albania, Andorra, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Republic of Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, San Marino and Ukraine align themselves with this statement.