2023-11-29 20:37:22
In the spirit of crumbling European unity on the Ukraine issue, the two-day annual meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) begins on Thursday in Skopje. While the French Foreign Minister and her Turkish colleague are unable to attend, Ukraine and the Baltic states are boycotting the meeting. They are protesting against the participation of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
According to Russian sources, Lavrov is planning talks with “numerous states.” It is eagerly awaited whether Lavrov and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet. Washington wants to keep the Russians at a distance. The meeting officially starts at 10 a.m. with a series of speeches by foreign ministers, including Alexander Schallenberg (ÖVP) for Austria. He welcomed the decision of the North Macedonian OSCE Chairmanship to admit Lavrov to the meeting. Last year, Poland, the country holding the presidency at the time, did not allow the Russian chief diplomat to enter the country.
In the run-up to the meeting, an acute leadership crisis was averted for the organization, which is the only security forum spanning North America, Europe and the ex-Soviet region. The 57 OSCE states agreed on Monday that Malta would be the country to hold the presidency in 2024. This was seen as a political success for Russia, which enforced its veto over the official candidate Estonia after years of tug-of-war. In the shadow of the politicians’ appearances, the OSCE ambassadors in Skopje wanted to solve further urgent organizational problems. The mandates of OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid and three other top diplomats from the organization expire on Sunday. Schallenberg was optimistic that there would be an extension.
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