FM Rupel Says Slovenia Ready for OSCE Presidency

Ljubljana, 15 December

Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel on Wednesday briefed the parliamentary foreign policy committee on Slovenia's preparations for the 2005 OSCE presidency. The committee pointed out that the OSCE presidency was a national project that must be carried out in collaboration with the National Assembly.

Asked by the head of the parliamentary committee Jozef Jerovsek about the future of the OSCE mission in Croatia, Rupel said that the OSCE would "gladly withdraw if its presence was no longer necessary," but he also stressed that it was not for Slovenia to decide.
Minister Rupel is expected to reveal more details about Slovenia's OSCE presidency at the meeting of the OSCE permanent council in Vienna, due on 13 January 2005.
One of the key issues awaiting Slovenia during its OSCE presidency is how to restructure the organisation so that it would be more effective. A special body including many distinguished figures is set to be established for this very purpose.
The OSCE is also to choose a new secretary general to succeed Jan Kubis, whose term in office expires in 2005. Rupel said there were three candidates, namely Zef Mazi of Albania, Gerard Stoudmann of Switzerland, and Christian Perrin de Brichambaut of France. The new OSCE secretary general is expected to be named within two or three months.
Darja Lavtizar, an MP of the opposition Liberal Democrats (LDS), said the OSCE should also focus on issues concerning ethnic minorities.
Aurelio Juri of the opposition United List of Social Democrats (ZLSD) stressed that the issue of the erased - former Yugoslav citizens erased from Slovenia's population register in 1992 - should be solved before Slovenia assumed the OSCE presidency.
He also noted that Slovenia should stress the importance of the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas reduction. Rupel assured him that Slovenia would promote the implementation of the protocol, but added he did not believe the OSCE could convince the US to take this direction.

FM Rupel Says Slovenia Ready for OSCE Presidency

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