HL Deb 18 November 2004 vol 666 cc1605-7

11.21 a.m.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire asked Her Majesty's Government:

What progress in strengthening European security they expect the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe ministerial meeting in December 2004 will achieve.

Baroness Crawley

My Lords, the ministerial council of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe—The OSCE—in December will play a key role in setting the OSCE's agenda for the coming year. The main focus will be on conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction activities. We expect the ministerial council to discuss frozen conflicts including Moldova and Georgia and the OSCE's role following the EU's and NATO's enlargement, measures to combat terrorism and several other issues.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire

My Lords, I thank the Minister for that Answer. Will she confirm that the Russians have threatened to block the 2005 budget of the OSCE unless the OSCE accepts that it has gone back and will not fulfil its Istanbul commitment of 1999 to withdraw its forces from Transnistria, South Ossetia and Abkhazia? Will she also confirm that the Russians have put the strongest pressure for the OSCE to drop its democracy promotion programmes in the CIS? If that is the case, does she not think that we are approaching the point where it would be better to allow the OSCE to become a non-functioning organisation than simply to allow Russia to veto any effective operation of an organisation that is supposed to be about improving security and co-operation across the whole of Europe and Eurasia?

Baroness Crawley

My Lords, I hope that I can reassure the noble Lord, Lord Wallace of Saltaire, that we see no prospect of consensus on a declaration at this forthcoming ministerial council if it fails to reaffirm the Istanbul commitments. We are very clear about that and we have made that known to our participating colleagues in the OSCE, including our Russian friends.

We also believe that it is important to engage with Russia in the OSCE without sacrificing the human dimension. The dogged, consistent and progressive work that the OSCE does on human rights is very close to our hearts.

Lord Howell of Guildford

My Lords, does the Minister agree that it is quite hard to find out what this 55-nation organisation is getting up to in the many areas in which it is involved? I was glad to hear her mention the agenda for the ministerial meeting. Is she aware that on the Internet the agenda is not yet available or available only in Bulgarian? It is difficult to find out what our role will be.

Following the Question asked by the noble Lord, Lord Wallace, will she define a little more precisely what our representatives who will go to this ministerial meeting in Sofia will aim for? What is their objective, what are our purposes and what do we hope to gain from this meeting?

Baroness Crawley

My Lords, I can reassure the noble Lord that the official language for the OSCE is not Bulgarian. The agenda is probably in Bulgarian on the Internet because the present chair of the OSCE is the Bulgarian Foreign Minister—it is a rotating chair. However, I agree that there should be as much transparency as possible. This is a very positive organisation. As the noble Lord said, 55 states worldwide participate in the OSCE. It does a tremendous amount of work on monitoring border disputes and monitoring elections. Many noble Lords present have been election monitors through its activity.

Our aims for this conference are to ensure that the OSCE improves and enhances its role following EU and NATO enlargement, that it ensures that there are efficient measures to combat terrorism and proper strategies to combat new security threats as well as considering all the relevant economic and environmental matters that participating colleagues wish to put on the agenda.

Lord Renton

My Lords, is there any European country that is not a member of this organisation?

Baroness Crawley

My Lords, I can give the noble Lord a list of the 55 countries. I think that all European Union members are members of the OSCE and the work of both organisations overlaps and complements each other.

Baroness Whitaker

My Lords, will my noble friend confirm that the OSCE also does extremely good work in training lawyers, for instance, in Kosovo and Bosnia so that justice and the rule of law can take root there?

Baroness Crawley

Yes, my Lords; absolutely. The human rights report sets out very clearly some of the work referred to by my noble friend.

Lord Wallace of Saltaire

My Lords, I thank the Minister for her extremely robust answers. In view of those, how do the British Government see the future of OSCE observation missions about which the Russians have also been rather obstructive? Does she see these missions as playing a larger role in these frozen conflict areas?

Baroness Crawley

My Lords, we want to ensure that the observation missions play their full role in the frozen conflict areas. There is not a package of solutions, as the noble Lord knows, for all these different frozen conflicts that go back many years. However, it is very important that all the participating OSCE countries, including our Russian friends, sign up to the efficient mechanisms to ensure that these frozen conflicts are resolved.

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