Friday, 3rd December 2010
Support for the OSCE in Central Asia
[Written PQ for the Council, co-signed with Fiorello Provera MEP]
On December 1, government leaders from 68 countries came to attend the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) summit in Astana Kazakhstan. Radio Free Europe reported that Kazakh foreign minister Kanat Saudabaev, who is the current chairman-in-office, said the Astana summit offers a unique opportunity for member countries to discuss urgent security challenges that include threats like terrorism and trafficking, recent unrest and ethnic violence in Kyrgyzstan, and the ongoing war in Afghanistan. Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbayev also expressed his desire for world leaders to revive the role of the OSCE.
The OSCE is one of Europe's leading security agencies, and Central Asia is a region which is rife with conflict and instability i.e. the war in Afghanistan and al-Qaeda affiliates operating in Uzbekistan.
The Reuters news agency reported that EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy said recent experiences in some Central Asian countries had shown the need for the OSCE "to move from early warning to early reaction and improve decision making".
The EU plays an important role within the OSCE, as it provides a substantial portion of its budget, and all EU member states play a participatory role. On November, 3 2010, a motion for a resolution was tabled concerning the EU's role in the OSCE. It acknowledges that the OSCE has "an essential role to play on a number of issues, including non-proliferation, disarmament, economic cooperation, protection and promotion of human rights, and the rule of law".
Given Central Asia's strategic importance to Europe, and the problems posed by regional conflict-overspill, what steps has the Council adopted to improve the efficacy of the OSCE in dealing with these issues? What new proposals is the EU willing to put forward during the next OSCE-EU Troika meeting? Does the EU president have concrete suggestions in order to "improve decision making" for the OSCE?
