Vienna Candidate for Next OSCE Annual Meeting

The closing meeting of the presidency, organised by the chairing country, is usually attended by the foreign ministers of the 57 member states. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov are expected to participate in the OSCE Ministerial Council in Valletta on Thursday. Malta plans to symbolically hand over the leadership to Finland, which will take over the OSCE chairmanship from January 1.

Next OSCE Annual Meeting Could Take Place in Vienna

The surprising proposal, which still needs to be approved by the OSCE states at the meeting in Malta, is explained by the SHR Monitor as being due to the "difficult budget situation" of the organisation and the desire to reduce the ecological footprint of the meeting. Holding the meeting in Vienna would save travel effort for the OSCE ambassadors and the staff of the OSCE Secretariat. The OSCE has its headquarters in Vienna and also holds its weekly ambassador meetings there. Austria is ready to host the conference. "If it is the wish of all 57 participating states, Vienna is available for the annual Ministerial Council in 2025," the Foreign Ministry said in response to an APA inquiry. However, the decision must be made by consensus, as is customary in the organisation.

By foregoing the OSCE annual meeting, Finland, the second youngest NATO member, also avoids possible controversies about the participation of top Russian politicians like Foreign Minister Lavrov, who are subject to EU entry bans due to the war of aggression against Ukraine. While neutral Malta allowed Lavrov to enter, he was not allowed to travel to the OSCE annual meeting in Poland two years ago. This year, the participation of Russian parliamentarians in the meeting of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in Romania, also a NATO country, also failed. Austria has also been repeatedly asked to refuse entry visas. However, the Foreign Ministry rejected this, citing the international legal obligations that Austria has as the seat of international organisations.

The Finnish waiver is remarkable because the OSCE is celebrating an anniversary associated with the Nordic country next year. The OSCE is based on the Final Act of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE), which was signed by all European states at the time on August 1, 1975, in the Finnish capital Helsinki and represented a milestone in the "thaw" between West and East. Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen said in an APA interview in September that her country would have liked an OSCE summit for the 50th anniversary of the Final Act, but this is unlikely due to the Russian war of aggression. Instead, Finland wants to organise an anniversary conference involving civil society, Valtonen said.

(APA/Red)

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