Secretariat - External Co-operation

Since the beginning of the Helsinki process, the European Community/European Union has played a vital role in the work of the CSCE/OSCE. The European Commission has also taken part in the negotiations on the Helsinki Final Act in 1975, which was signed by the Italian Council Presidency on behalf of the European Community. It has become standard practice in the OSCE to add "Presidency/EU" on the name plate of the country holding the Presidency of the Council. Presidents of the Commission have signed the Charter of Paris for a New Europe and the Charter for European Security alongside the EU Presidency.

The scope of co-operation between the OSCE and the EU has both broadened and deepened, following development of the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy, and the launch of the first EU crisis management operations under the European Security and Defence Policy. This is together with an increased engagement of the EU in OSCE participating States through the signing of stabilization and association or partnership and co-operation agreements in regions such as the Balkans, the South Caucasus and Eastern Europe. Today, co-operation includes:

• Judicial and police reform, public administration, anti-corruption measures 
• Democratization, institution-building and human rights 
• Media development 
• Small and medium-sized enterprise development 
• Border management and combating human trafficking 
• Elections

Framework for co-operation

At both the political and working level, relations between the OSCE and the European Union are maintained through:

• Consultations between the respective Troikas - and the OSCE Secretary General - at both the ministerial and ambassadorial / Political Security Committee level. 
• Addresses by the EU Presidency to the OSCE Permanent Council. 
• Invitations to the Secretary General / High Representative and the External Relations Commissioner to address the OSCE Ministerial and Permanent Councils. 
• Invitations to OSCE representatives to informal meetings with relevant EU committees and working groups. 
• Contacts between the Secretary General and the EU External Relations Commissioner and Secretary General / High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy. 
• Participation by the European Commission in the work of the OSCE bodies through its Delegation in Vienna. 
• Annual staff-level talks on topical issues that are on each organization's agenda.

Co-operation is particularly close in the field, where Heads of OSCE field operations regularly liaise and co-ordinate with relevant EU representatives in the host country, such as EU Special Representatives or Heads of EC Delegations. EU representatives on the ground are frequently invited to address the OSCE Permanent Council. The European Commission today is a major source of extra-budgetary funding of OSCE activities in the field.