No OSCE AMG’s Presence in Belarus This Year :: Charter'97 :: News

Radio Svaboda was told by one of the participants of the Permanent Council’s session, that the delegations of the USA and Canada declared that they aren’t ready to vote for the new mandate of the OSCE office in Minsk and will be waiting instructions in this respect from their governments. The EU delegation also said that they are still trying to formulate their position on the matter.

Today’s meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council came last this year with Portugal as its chairing country. Starting from January 1, the OSCE chairman-in-office will be the Dutch Foreign Minister. As you know, Netherlands keeps to a stricter position towards Belarus than their predecessor. As different from Portugal, they upheld the EU travel ban on Lukashenko and 7 other officials.
The following session of the OSCE Permanent Council will take place on January 13 next year, during which the Foreign Minister of Netherlands Mr.Jaap de Goap-Shefer will run a press-conference in Vienna and formulate his vision of the Belarusian problem’s solution.