Rupel Says OSCE Still Has Much Work to Do
Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel called for a balanced approach to all three dimensions of the OSCE - the security, economic and humanitarian fields - as he delivered a speech at the OSCE ministerial meeting in Sofia on Monday.
As Slovenia is to preside over the OSCE next year, Rupel said that the organisation's three dimensions need to be strengthened in order to "fulfil the expectations of all 55 participating states and to return to the countries east and west of Vienna a sense of true ownership of the organisation".
By highlighting the three dimensions, Rupel is believed to be responding to the criticism of Russia and some other former Soviet states, which have called for OSCE reforms and have complained about the organisation focusing too much on human rights issues in Eastern Europe rather than on the economic and security cooperation.
The organisation is facing two other burning issues at the moment, namely who will become its new secretary general and how to adopt the 2005 budget. While hopeful that the name of the new secretary general would be agreed on soon, Rupel regretted the fact the negotiations on the OSCE funding had been trailing.
The organisation's budget for 2005 has not been adopted yet since some of its members have demanded changes to the scale of contributions. "When moving forward it is difficult to look ahead if one has a valuable baggage to drag behind", Rupel was worried about the current state of negotiations on the matter.
Rupel also focused in his speech on the situation in the Western Balkans, notably Kosovo. He said he would be delighted if he was in a position to call for reducing the OSCE presence in the province, however this could not be done yet.
Rupel maintained that some OSCE members, notably in the Western Balkans, the Caucasus and Central Asia, remain in "dire need of long-term security and stability with a vision of economic progress" and that some of them still do not "live up to the OSCE standards of democracy and human rights".
Due to preside over the OSCE next year, Slovenia is convinced that OSCE should play a major role in providing security and stability in its member states and wider. At the same time, "we must be realistic and acknowledge that there is still plenty of unfinished business as recent events have demonstrated," said Rupel.
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