Malta tipped for OSCE chair as body faces Russia show-down over leadership

Amid worries over institutional deadlock, the 57-member Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) agreed on Monday (27 November) that Malta should take over the organisation’s rotating chairmanship after Russia barred Estonia from the task.

The eleventh-hour deal comes only days before OSCE foreign ministers are expected to touch down in the North Macedonian capital of Skopje to decide on several crucial posts and discuss a budget for the Vienna-based organisation.

“Huge decisions opening the path towards consensus on #OSCE2024 chair to be confirmed on #MC30 in #Skopje. Thank you, Malta, for your willingness to take on this vital role,” North Macedonian Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, whose country currently holds the rotating chairmanship, said on X.

A critical forum that so far allowed the United States and Russia to engage, the security body over the past years has increasingly faced paralysis in its decision-making processes.

In recent years and increasingly since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has made use of what is effectively a veto since the OSCE takes decisions by consensus, meaning one country can block that consensus.

Over the past months, Russia has objected to NATO member Estonia taking over the annually rotating chairmanship as initially planned.

Small, neutral EU member state Malta was acceptable to all sides.

“Estonia is not withdrawing its candidacy because making concessions to an aggressor who is violating all the fundamental principles of the OSCE is out of the question,” the country’s Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said, throwing support behind Malta as the compromise candidate.

“Estonia considers it crucial for the OSCE Chairmanship of 2024 to uphold the fundamental principles of the organisation, continue to address Russia’s aggression and offer every assistance to Ukraine,” Tsahkna said.

”Russia’s goal is to derail the OSCE, but we will not give Russia a chance to destroy the organisation,” he added.

Beyond the chairmanship decision, Russia and Belarus have still not backed the renewal of four senior OSCE officials in their posts, including German diplomat Helga Schmid as OSCE Secretary-General.

The four mandates are set to expire on 4 December, and so far, no alternatives to the four officials have been put forward.

Lavrov’s attendance

Since President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022, the West has sought to isolate Russia in international fora, and face-to-face meetings between senior ministers have been rare.

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had said earlier he would join the OSCE foreign ministerial if Bulgaria opened its air space for him.

Bulgarian air space is closed to Russian aircraft as part of EU sanctions imposed in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

North Macedonia’s Osmani said earlier this month that his country’s neighbours had yet to make a final decision on overflight rules for the Russian delegation.

“Apparently, Bulgaria has promised Macedonia it will open its air space – if that happens, we will be there. Let’s see,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by TASS news agency.

He also claimed some Western countries had requested meetings with him in Skopje.

“There are already several requests for meetings – including from Western representatives,” Lavrov said, without naming any countries.

“Of course, we will meet with everyone,” Lavrov said. “If someone approaches us, we never run away or hide.”

[Edited by Alice Taylor]

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