Little Hope Placed on OSCE Office :: Charter'97 :: News

The head of the OSCE Minsk representation Eberhard Haiken called the agreements, reached between the Belarusian authorities and OSCE, a consequence of the classic style diplomacy. “Izvestia” reports that he voiced this statement of his at his first every press-conference in Minsk in capacity of the OSCE office chair in Belarus.

Haiken quite diplomatically responded the questions on the differences between the former and new mission’s mandate. According to him, there’s absolutely no difference between their current status and the previous one. Haiken considers “wrong” any claims that the mission work’s resumption was a victory of either Minsk or Vienna. “Both sides entered into meaningful negotiations with their positions, which they somewhat changed during the negotiations and reduced to a common denominator, which found expression in a compromise,” – said he. However, he didn’t emphasize what kind of concessions each side had made.

The head of OOM (OSCE Office in Minsk – the term has already been accepted in the central OSCE office towards the Belarusian mission) received an impression as though too much hope is being placed on the OSCE representation. He reminded the audience that diplomacy is an art of achieving the things possible. When asked whether or not they can lift travel ban, imposed on Lukashenko and his encirclement, Haiken underscored that the final decision stays with the countries, which passed it. According to him, they can speak of the cancellation of sanctions not until the foreign employees of the mission get down to their regular work.

“I will do my best to restore the atmosphere of trust and mutual respect and work in the spirit of sincerity,” – said Eberhard Haiken. He pointed out that it wouldn’t be easy to reach that goal. He added that the mission would assist democratic development in the country and thoroughly watch over the human rights situation in Belarus. He likewise turned down Belarusian side’s demands to submit OSCE projects for their approval, by saying that “the necessity to consult the authorities does not imply the need for approval”.