Council of Europe and OSCE need to further strengthen co-operation to effectively address current challenges, Belgium’s Foreign Minister tells OSCE Permanent Council

VIENNA, 12 March 2015 - The Council of Europe and OSCE need to further capitalize on their strengths to effectively address the challenges facing their member countries, said Didier Reynders, Belgium’s Foreign Minister and current chair of the Council’s Committee of Ministers, in his address to the OSCE Permanent Council on 12 March 2015.

Reynders named a number of challenges which threaten the societies both from within and from the outside, including a fragile cease-fire in Ukraine, recurring manifestations of intolerance and discrimination, as well as  increasingly frequent breaches of fundamental rights, democratic institutions and the Rule of law, as well as radicalisation and violent extremism.

Reynders said that the Belgian Chairmanship of the Council of Europe supports the work of the OSCE in de-escalating tensions in the crisis in and around Ukraine. He said the Council will concentrate on co-ordinating with the OSCE on a peaceful, diplomatic solution to the conflict

“The Council of Europe plays a role complementary to that of the OSCE.   It provides essential instruments for strengthening democratic institutions, in particular the role that the Venice Commission can play in supporting the Minsk Agreements through constitutional reform, decentralisation and the organisation of local elections.”

In a meeting with OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier, Reynders noted the constructive co-operation between the Council of Europe and the OSCE, and agreed to further strengthen their interaction in order to capitalize on respective strengths. They agreed that the Council and the OSCE would co-operate in support of Ukraine's overall reform agenda including the National Dialogue.

Zannier thanked Belgium's Foreign Minister for his country’s contribution to the Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine.