664th Meeting of the Permanent Council
Mr Chairman, let me present some views of the European Union on current election-related issues. The EU member states fully support ODIHR in its election-related activities. Therefore, the delegations of European Union Member States are looking forward to next Tuesday’s briefing and informal discussion convened by ODIHR. This meeting provides a timely opportunity to exchange views on election-related issues, including the implementation of MC Decision 19/06. The EU believes that the implementation of this decision is a common endeavour for all OSCE participating States.In this context we welcome the broad participation of observers from a great number of participating States in the upcoming Election Observation Mission to Armenia. We underline the need to preserve the integrity, unity and the established standards of OSCE/ODIHR Election Observation Missions, mandated by all participating States, as an indispensable instrument promoting democracy in the entire OSCE area. We welcome and support the actions of the Chairman in Office, in particular to help assure the most effective co-operation between all participants in the OSCE observation effort.
The Candidate Countries Turkey, Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*, the Countries of the Stabilisation and Association Process and potential candidates Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Serbia, EFTA country Liechtenstein, a member of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova align themselves with this statement.
* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.
