EU Statement in response to the Presentations by the Chairs of the Three Committees

1.    The European Union warmly welcomes and thanks the Chairs of the Security, the Economic and Environmental and the Human Dimension Committees for their presentations and for ensuring a collaborative approach among the Committees, promoting the OSCE’s comprehensive concept of security. In a challenging year for the OSCE area and beyond, exacerbated by Russia’s ongoing unprovoked, unjustifiable and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine, we commend the flexibility of the three Committees in adapting their programme to address the most pressing and relevant issues. We particularly appreciate the Committee Chairs' consultative approach in the development of the Committee work programmes, and thank them for their dedication to fostering meaningful discussions within the OSCE framework amidst difficult circumstances.

2.    We congratulate Ambassador Peter Burian and his team on assuming the Chairpersonship of the Security Committee. We attach great importance to the Security Committee as a platform for discussing non-military security issues and advancing OSCE commitments related to transnational threats. The first meeting on 11 March provided an excellent opportunity to consider topics for the Committee’s work in 2024. We commend the Chair’s commitment to focus the work of the Committee on addressing the impact of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine across the first dimension. The EU fully supports your intention to promote interactive discussions and your commitment to ensure the full, equal and meaningful representation of female experts in the first dimension, as well as the involvement of a broad range of stakeholders from civil society, academia and field operations, including representatives from Ukraine. 

3.    We extend our gratitude to Ambassador Florian Raunig, Chair of the Economic and Environmental Committee, for his continued leadership and the valuable contributions of his team to the successful work of the Second Dimension. We reiterate our support for maintaining the balance between economic and environmental topics within the Committee, and we appreciate the emphasis on digitalisation. We applaud the Committee's focus on important topics such as the economic empowerment of women, the fight against corruption, strengthening climate resilience, food security, transboundary water management, and the promotion of connectivity and economic cooperation. We appreciate the attention on these issues as an integral part of the OSCE’s comprehensive concept of security. It is also crucial to continue addressing the security risks stemming from environmental degradation and damage to critical energy infrastructure due to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

4.    Ambassador Callan, we look forward to continue working under your excellent leadership this year and extend our thanks to your dedicated team. We commend your extensive choice of topics for the Human Dimension Committee meetings and value your intention to keep the focus on the most pertinent issue: Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, and its deplorable impact on the human rights situation in the region. We appreciate your intention to continue involving a broad range of stakeholders in the HDC, including civil society representatives, and to encourage interactive discussions. We also welcome plans to continue the practice of voluntary reporting and encourage participating States to continue making full use of this agenda item, for example to follow up on ODIHR’s electoral recommendations. We also fully support the Maltese Chair’s approach to this year’s Human Dimension events. The annual HDIM in Warsaw remains the most important platform in the OSCE region for civil society and human rights defenders to speak and hold our governments accountable for the implementation of our joint OSCE commitments. It is a responsibility of all participating States to reach consensus on its organisation.

5.    In conclusion, we thank once again the Chairs of the three Committees for their dedication and their leadership. We remain committed to actively supporting and contributing to their efforts.

The Candidate Countries NORTH MACEDONIA*, MONTENEGRO*, ALBANIA*, UKRAINE, the REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA, BOSNIA and HERZEGOVINA*, and GEORGIA, and the EFTA countries ICELAND and LIECHTENSTEIN, members of the European Economic Area, as well as ANDORRA, MONACO and SAN MARINO align themselves with this statement.

* North Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, and Bosnia and Herzegovina continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.