667th Meeting of the Permanent Council
The European Union welcomes Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut to the Permanent Council and thanks him for his detailed report on the implementation of the Brussels tasks on further strengthening the effectiveness of the OSCE and its executive structures.
The European Union is pleased that the process of strengthening the Effectiveness of the OSCE and its Executive Structures, a process initiated at the Ljubiljana Ministerial Council in 2005, was essentially brought to conclusion at the last Ministerial Council in Brussels, with only a few issues, such as the question of ‘legal capacity’, still under negotiation.
We are confident that the further implementation of the relevant provisions of Ministerial Decisions 18/06 and 19/06 will result in an improvement in participation in, and transparency of, the Unified Budget cycle.
We are confident that the set of management tools mentioned by the Secretary General will allow more transparent, accountable and consistent oversight and management of OSCE resources.
We thank the Secretary General for his recommendations on strengthening Human Resources and on the implementation of Performance Based Programme Budgeting. We welcome the regular reports by the Secretary General on PBPB and the clear roll-out plan, which will allow for proper evaluation and fine-tuning of this new management tool, and in particular the assurance that performance indicators will only be fully introduced after positive consultations with participating States as planned by the Secretary General.
Concerning the task to propose a revised post table for the Secretariat, the EU notes that the Secretary General considers a time frame of two years between the respective Brussels decision and the implementation of a new post table appropriate. We would like to know more about the progress achieved so far in the implementation and hope that full use can be made of this year’s budget cycle to fulfil this task as early as possible.
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 countries Iceland and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Ukraine and the Republic of Moldovaalign themselves with this statement.
* Croatia and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process.
