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Belarusian MFA comments on West’s concerns over possible OSCE collapse in 2024
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MINSK, 30 May (BelTA) - Spokesman for the Belarusian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Anatoly Glaz answered a question from journalists regarding the concerns expressed by some European media that next year the OSCE may collapse if Estonia's candidacy for the OSCE chairmanship is not approved, and that Russia and Belarus are allegedly to blame for this.
"The only thing that the leadership of Estonia can destroy is Estonia itself," Anatoly Glaz said. “As for the OSCE, we have been talking for several years about deep crisis in the organization, which can really lead to its collapse. However, the reason for this is not the positions of individual participating states, not a private, albeit important, issue of chairmanship, but the evident degradation in recent years of the quality of interstate dialogue in the OSCE, the substitution of the imperative of diplomatic compromise with the propaganda language of sanctions, isolation and intimidation.”
"This is how we see this particular example," the spokesman went on to say. "Again, they are attempting to violate the key principles of the organization just because some group wants it so much or because it is so beneficial for them."
"According to the OSCE established rules, the search for the next chairman takes place within the framework of informal consultations, through non-public diplomacy. This work is primarily the responsibility and prerogative of the current chairman. It is North Macedonia this year. There is no consensus or willingness to reach a consensus, so they resort to such primitive tricks as leaking information to the media in order to shift the blame in advance,” he said.
“This will not work however,” Anatoly Glaz said. “Everyone understands that the chairman must be an honest broker, which is why it is appointed by consensus. This is how it has always been. All countries have worked on reaching a consensus, and it has always been a challenge. What kind of approval are we talking about when a candidate considers it possible to directly violate the basic principle of interstate relations - respect for sovereignty and independence - with regard to certain OSCE member states. When its ministry of foreign affairs trots out statements about the need for increased pressure on Belarus, isolation and tougher sanctions against our people and so on. What kind of response should any self-respecting state give to this?” he asked.
“However the Estonian minister has not problems with that. He argues that Estonia will be a good president, and that their EU partners concur with that. So, maybe it should preside in the EU then. We will certainly have no objection to this,” Anatoly Glaz said.
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