OSCE Chairmanship welcomes approval of 2006 budget by participating States

VIENNA, 20 December 2005 - The Slovenian Chairmanship today welcomed the decision, at a special meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council, to approve the Unified Budget for 2006, amounting to 168.2 million EUR.

"I am extremely pleased consensus has been possible on this crucial issue and that the OSCE is again able to move forward. For the first time, I believe, we have adopted a budget by the deadline stipulated in the Financial Regulations", said Ambassador Janez Lenarcic, Slovenian Chairman of the Permanent Council.

"This timely agreement owes a great deal to the compromise we achieved last month over the so-called scales of contribution, or percentages of the budget borne by individual States. In itself, that created a positive atmosphere which inspired the adoption of the 2006 budget on schedule", he added.

Agreement was reached today on a figure for 2006 of 168,165,800 EUR. This compares with the 2005 agreed budget of 168,585,000. The small overall decrease of some 420,000 EUR masks a number of rises and reductions affecting different aspects of the OSCE: downsizing of the mature missions in the western Balkans has cut projected spending there by around 3 million, while the end of border monitoring in Georgia (although the training of border guards continues until at least June 2006) contributes to an overall 2m EUR decrease in the OSCE's Caucasus spending.

On the other side of the balance sheet, spending is set to rise in both Central Asia and Eastern Europe (by 1m and 800,000 EUR, respectively), while the budget for the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights in Warsaw is up some 2m EUR, reflecting growth in the elections and the tolerance and non-discrimination programmes. The Secretariat itself will see a rise of 800,000 EUR in expenditure on following up new tasks and requests made by the participating States.

"With almost the last meeting of the Permanent Council of 2005, I am pleased we have cleared the final hurdle in the run-up to handing over the baton to Belgium", added the Council's Chairman. "This is one more element in place that will allow the incoming Belgian Chairmanship to focus on the challenges facing them in meeting all the expectations of the OSCE participating States in 2006."

Final agreement on the scales of contribution, which had been a major factor blocking agreement on the 2005 budget for the first five months this year, was reached in the week prior to the Ministerial Council, hosted by the outgoing Chairman-in-Office, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, in Ljubljana on 5 and 6 December.