- Title: OSCE member states, including Russia, reach deal to fill vacant posts
- Date: 11th July 2017
- Summary: MAUERBACH/VIENNA, AUSTRIA (JULY 11, 2017) (REUTERS) OSCE CONFERENCE ROOM RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER SERGEI LAVROV (LEFT) AND AUSTRIAN FOREIGN MINISTER, OSCE CHAIRMAN-IN-OFFICE SEBASTIAN KURZ SHAKING HANDS IN DOORWAY CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS STANDING AND TALKING LAVROV AND COLLEAGUES TALKING PARTICIPANTS AHEAD OF CONFERENCE PARTICIPANTS STANDING AT CONFERENCE TABLE PARTICIPANTS STANDING, TALKING KURZ (CENTRE) AT OSCE CHAIRPERSON'S SEAT PARTICIPANTS SEATED AT TABLE LAVROV WALKING UP TO TABLE, GREETING COLLEAGUES MEDIA CLEARING CONFERENCE ROOM START OF CONFERENCE CONFERENCE PEOPLE STANDING IN HALLWAY KURZ OPENING MEDIA CONFERENCE, APOLOGISING FOR DELAY (SOUNDBITE) (German) AUSTRIAN FOREIGN MINISTER AND OSCE CHAIRMAN-IN-OFFICE SEBASTIAN KURZ, SAYING: "The German chairmanship was strongly in favour of finding candidates for the two open leadership posts. There was no understanding and now two additional leading posts became vacant, so now we must fill four positions at once, which is a major challenge in an organisation (OSCE) where 57 members or participants must approve. I want to thank all who put in an effort in recent months into the search for a compromise. I have also sought here for more will to compromise within the organisation." MEDIA, KURZ AT LECTERN IN BACKGROUND MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (German) AUSTRIAN FOREIGN MINISTER AND OSCE CHAIRMAN-IN-OFFICE SEBASTIAN KURZ, SAYING: "(Russian) Foreign Minister (Sergey) Lavrov had a very constructive role. It is also his concern to have this organisation run properly, to find a solution so we can fill these four positions well. Of course, we require a compromise to make that possible, we all must move a bit and I can say that I'm very thankful that Foreign Minister Lavrov, as many others in my opinion, played a very constructive role." MEDIA KURZ LEAVING MEDIA CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 25th July 2017 15:05
- Keywords: OSCE foreign ministers Kurz
- Location: MAUERBACH/VIENNA, AUSTRIA
- City: MAUERBACH/VIENNA, AUSTRIA
- Country: Austria
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0016P9W5DZ
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Members of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which monitors the conflict in eastern Ukraine, overcame months of deadlock on Tuesday (July 11) on filling top posts, its chairman said, praising Russia's "constructive" role.
Four leadership positions are empty because of a failure to reach unanimous agreement among the 57 member states of the security organisation, which groups the United States and Russia.
The vacant positions are the secretary general, the high commissioner on national minorities, the representative on freedom of the media and the director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), which is in charge of monitoring elections to see if they are free and fair.
Kurz said member states backed Austria's proposal that the positions be filled respectively by Switzerland's former OSCE envoy Thomas Greminger, former OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier, French former Socialist Party leader Harlem Desir and Iceland's former foreign minister Ingibjorg Solrun Gisladottir.
The decision has to go through a formal process, but is expected to be confirmed next week.
An OSCE spokesman said the problem of so many unfilled positions was unprecedented in the OSCE, which has a 700-strong observer mission monitoring the conflict in Ukraine.
Fighting between pro-Russian rebels and government forces broke out in April 2014 after a pro-European uprising in Kiev ousted Ukraine's Moscow-backed president. About 10,000 people have been killed in the three-year conflict. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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