Response to the Report of the OSCE Secretary General

OSCE sign at the entrance to the Hofburg Congress Center, Vienna, Austria, October 13, 2017. (USOSCE/Colin Peters)

Response to the Report of the OSCE Secretary General

As delivered by Political Counselor Elisabeth Rosenstock-Siller
to the Permanent Council, Vienna
March 30, 2023

The Field Missions and their staff, the security services of the OSCE, and conference and language services, are indeed indispensable elements of the OSCE’s capacity to execute their mandates and carry out activities on the ground in support of shared OSCE values and commitments.  The current state of affairs, with no approved 2023 Unified Budget and reliance on monthly allotments, directly undermines the valuable work of the Missions and ability of the Organization to achieve these goals.  More troubling, the accumulating costs and the lack of a budget are now clearly having long-term consequences such as increasing difficulties in retaining staff or recruiting new personnel and inhibiting the coherent planning of future or ongoing projects and activities.

For this reason, we call upon all delegations to view the Chair’s efforts to reach consensus favorably and to act quickly to prevent a further erosion of the OSCE’s financial situation.   

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