News from Copenhagen
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly
Tordenskjoldsgade 1
1055 Copenhagen K, DK
Tel: +45-33 37 80 40
Fax: +45-33 37 80 30
E-mail: osce@oscepa.dk
Join us on Facebook

 

President Efthymiou promotes re-establishment of OSCE Mission in Georgia

2011-Georgia-Efthymiou-IDP-CampTBILISI, Georgia, 16 June 2011 – OSCE Parliamentary Assembly President Petros Efthymiou today called for the reestablishment of the OSCE Mission to Georgia during a visit to Tbilisi.

Offering political support for the OSCE presence, he stressed that the mission would be a mechanism not only of investigation but also for confidence-building.

President Efthymiou also called for continuation of dialogue within the Geneva Process, recognizing that the Geneva forum, including the UN, EU and OSCE, is the most comprehensive format for discussing the conflicts in Georgia. He promoted the idea of strengthening this format for negotiations.

Turkish elections democratic, but improvements needed on fundamental freedoms

EO-2011-Pia-Christmas-Moeller-Turkey-VLANKARA, Turkey, 13 June 2011 – Turkey’s well-managed, democratic elections demonstrated pluralism but also showed a need for improvements on fundamental freedoms, according to international election observers from the Parliamentary Assemblies of the OSCE and Council of Europe.


“To fully live up to its democratic commitments, Turkey must do more than run efficient professional elections on the day of the vote,” said Pia Christmas-Moeller (Denmark), head of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly delegation. “Free expression and a media environment in which reporters are free from political pressure and intimidation are critical for Turkey to strengthen its democracy and be a model in the wider region.”


Observers noted the country’s high threshold for parties to win representation in Parliament.

Parliamentarians seek to strengthen independent voices in Belarus

AD-Belarus-2011-Abramikiene-ZapfCOPENHAGEN, 14 June 2011 – Members of Parliament from four countries gathered in Copenhagen today to find a common approach to promote greater respect for human rights and rule of law in Belarus, where opponents of the president remain in prison for demonstrating after the December elections.

“We call on the authorities in Minsk to release all political prisoners at once,” said Uta Zapf (Germany), chair of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly Working Group on Belarus. “By continually imprisoning opposition figures and refusing to grant visas to international experts and human rights advocates, Minsk has shown time and again it prefers autocratic isolation to democratic dialogue. We look forward to the authorities changing course.”

Zapf chaired the meeting in Copenhagen, which included parliamentarians Claudio D’Amico (Italy), Pawel Poncyljuz (Poland) and Vilija Aleknaite Abramikiene (Lithuania).

Elections were competitive, transparent and well-administered, international observers in Skopje say

EO-2011-Roberto-Battelli-Skopje

SKOPJE, 6 June 2011 – Yesterday’s early parliamentary elections were competitive, transparent and well-administered throughout the country, but certain aspects such as the blurring of the line between state and party require further attention, the international observers concluded in Skopje today.

On election day, voters were able to freely express their choice in a peaceful atmosphere, despite some irresponsible claims of irregularities by political parties. The voting and counting process was assessed as overwhelmingly positive, with no significant differences between Macedonian and ethnic Albanian areas.

“These elections have laid a cornerstone for a stable, democratic future,” said Roberto Battelli, Special Co-ordinator to lead the short-term OSCE observer mission. “The reality of election day has proven many of the pre-election allegations wrong and put the country on track to have a climate free of paranoia that undermines voters’ faith in the electoral process.”