EU statement delivered by H.E. Ambassador Stanislav Raščan
With reference to the Interpretative Statement by the delegation of Belarus in connection with the Permanent Council's decision to extend the mandate of the OSCE Office in Minsk the European Union would like to recall its comment delivered in the Permanent Council on 18 January 2007 and state the following:
The EU does not share the view of the delegation of Belarus that the OSCE Office in Minsk “should focus primary attention on transferring its tasks and experience to Belarusian state institutions”. To narrow the focus of the work of the Office in this way is certainly not in line with its mandate. The EU wishes to stress again that OSCE Missions should be able to implement programmes and projects in all areas defined in their mandates, thus assisting the host governments to implement their OSCE commitments.
We request that this statement be attached to the journal of the day.
The candidate countries Turkey, Croatia* and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidate countries Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia, the European Free Trade Association countries and members of the European Economic Area Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway, as well as Ukraine align themselves with this declaration.
* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process
