Ministerial Council in Malta appoints senior leadership but the OSCE’s fight for survival continues

The 31st OSCE Ministerial Council meeting opened in Malta on December 5 amid the ongoing Russian war against Ukraine. Statements made during the plenary session reflected escalating tensions and profound divisions between Russia and the West, highlighting the current lack of constructive dialogue and the OSCE’s struggle to find a meaningful role during a time of war on the European continent.

The ongoing Russian war against Ukraine has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths as well as the destruction of entire Ukrainian towns and civilian infrastructure. Two OSCE expert reports have also identified potential war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine.

“Thirty-five years ago almost today, George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev held their historic meeting on Malta’s stormy shores,” Malta’s Foreign Minister and OSCE Chair-in-Office Ian Borg told the opening session, referring to a historic meeting between the U.S. President and the Soviet General Secretary in Malta in December 1989, a few weeks after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

“Times have fundamentally changed, but our relations are again defined by intense geo-political rivalries and threats to European peace and security,” Borg said.

Borg called on Russia to withdraw from Ukrainian territory and end the war. “The recent escalation and attacks must stop to pave the way for a diplomatic process—one that leads to a just peace,” Borg said.

Borg also renewed his urgent call for the “immediate and unconditional release” of the three OSCE staff members from Ukraine who have been imprisoned by Russian proxies in eastern Ukraine: Vadym Golda, Maxim Petrov and Dmytro Shabanov. “This injustice must end and they must be returned safely to their families,” he said.

Ukraine: Russia the “biggest threat to our common security”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha was the first speaker during the plenary session on Thursday. He said that Ukraine “is bleeding” and “fighting for its right to exist.”

Sybiha made reference to the thirtieth anniversary of the Budapest Memorandum, which coincided with the first day of the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Malta.

“On this day thirty years ago, the Budapest Memorandum was signed. By the way, at the margins of the CSCE [Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe] summit. The expectations were high. Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear arsenal. In exchange we expected respect for our territorial integrity and the right to freely choose our future,” he said. “The Budapest Memorandum failed. The Russian dictatorship started a war of aggression against Ukraine,” he said.

Sybiha told the Ministerial Council that Russia was “not a partner” but the “biggest threat to our common security.”

“Russia’s participation in the OSCE is a threat to cooperation in Europe,” he said, adding that Moscow is “deepening cooperation with Iran and North Korea, interfering in Georgia, Moldova, the Western Balkans, and other states, and waging a hybrid war against Europe.”

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister also addressed the possibility for peace in Ukraine, saying that such potential could only be realized “through strength, not appeasement.” He added: “We must raise the cost of the war for the aggressor. We must force Moscow to accept a just peace. We must demonstrate strength and unity in the face of blackmail.”

Sybiha concluded his statement by saying: “Ukraine continues to fight for its right to exist. And the Russian war criminal at this table must know: Ukraine will win this right and justice will prevail.”

Western states forcefully reject Russia’s remarks

During the plenary session, an overwhelming majority of states used their statements to clearly condemn Russia’s war against Ukraine and Moscow’s breach of the Helsinki Final Act. There was also widespread condemnation of the involvement of troops from North Korea in the war. Many states also echoed the Chair’s plea to immediately release the three imprisoned OSCE staff members.

Michael Siebert, the European External Action Service Managing Director for Eastern Europe, Russia, Central Asia and the OSCE, delivered the EU statement. Siebert said: “Today in Malta, we want to reaffirm that Ukraine’s security is Europe’s security. The EU will stand unequivocally with Ukraine and its people. The EU’s commitment to Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders remains steadfast.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, whose visit to Malta was his first trip to an EU state since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022, used his speech to sharply criticize the West and the OSCE.

He accused Western nations of having “pushed the OSCE to the sidelines of political processes,” adding that “there is not a single sphere in which the OSCE could play even a marginally useful role.”

“Life has shown that for NATO and the EU, the Helsinki principles are a valueless scrap of paper. They consider it a burden to respect and apply them, while forcing others to fulfil them, selectively, but only to the extent that suits the West and its interests,” he said.

Lavrov said that in 1975, the principle of indivisible security was still “at the center of efforts to end confrontation.” But between that period and today “lies an enormous gap,” he said.

Lavrov accused the West of “neo-colonial hegemony” that in his view had manifested itself most recently in Ukraine, where he said the West wanted to inflict “a strategic defeat” on Russia.

“As a result, we saw a reincarnation of the Cold War, only this time with a much greater risk of it evolving into a hot phase,” Lavrov said.

Lavrov also accused the West of not respecting the principle of consensus in the OSCE. He also said that the OSCE’s Human Dimension Mechanisms have been “abused” by Western states and criticized Western nations for having funded extrabudgetary projects in the OSCE, “without any consultation with other countries.”

Lavrov denounced the Maltese OSCE Chair for having cancelled the visa of Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

Lavrov then called on the OSCE to investigate the events in Bucha in April 2022, claiming that “corpses were neatly laid out in the streets of Bucha in April 2022 and presented to the world” by journalists who “happened to be around.”

(The OSCE published an expert report under the so-called Moscow Mechanism in July 2022 that included detailed descriptions of torture chambers found in Bucha and other villages).

Several foreign ministers left the plenary hall in protest while Lavrov was reading his statement, among them those from Poland, Latvia and Ukraine.

Several Western foreign ministers who spoke after Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov were quick to address Lavrov’s remarks directly. Some did so by going off-script, while others appeared to quickly adapt their prepared statements.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock denounced Lavrov’s words as “an outrageous lie which will convince no one in this room.” She said: “I want to be crystal clear. You can fool yourself, but you cannot fool us, the 1.3 billion people in the OSCE region. We have all been seeing what was going on in Bucha. That you, your government, sent soldiers to slaughter civilians in Bucha and Irpin, leaving their dead bodies unburied in the streets.”

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg added a few sentences to his prepared statement to address Lavrov’s remarks on Bucha. “I strongly reject what Minister Lavrov said concerning the victims of the barbaric acts by the Russian troops in Bucha and other places in Ukraine. There cannot and must not be impunity.”

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also addressed Lavrov, stating: “Now, I regret that our colleague, Mr. Lavrov, has left the room, not giving the courtesy to listen to us as we listened to him. And, of course, our Russian colleague is very adept at drowning listeners in a tsunami of misinformation.”

Blinken then addressed Lavrov’s comments about indivisible security. “Let’s not fool ourselves and let’s not allow him [Lavrov] or anyone else to fool us,” Blinken said. “This is not about, and has never been about, Russia’s security. This is about Mr. Putin’s imperial project to erase Ukraine from the map.”

Blinken said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had already declared in 2014 that Russians and Ukrainians are “one and the same people, and that Ukrainian national identity was a foreign construction aimed at weakening Russia.” Blinken concluded: “That is what this is about. That’s what it’s always been about. And that’s why we have to stand strongly against it.”

Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, who was among those to leave the hall while Lavrov was speaking, said, “My message to the Russian delegation is the following,” while turning his head to look directly at the Russian delegation. “We are not taken in by your lies. We know what you are doing. You are trying to rebuild the Russian empire and we will not let you. We will resist you every inch of the way. You are successful in destroying Ukraine, but you are also destroying the future of your own country. Until you stop this brutal war, you shouldn’t be here.”

Situation in Georgia causes concern

Many foreign ministers also used their statements to address the situation in Georgia. Mass protests in the country erupted after the ruling Georgian Dream party decided on November 28 to put EU accession talk on hold, with police brutally cracking down on pro-EU protesters.

In Malta, Georgian Foreign Minister Maka Bochorishvili said that her country was one of the first countries to experience “the consequences of violation” of the OSCE’s norms and principles, “resulting in the occupation of 20% of its territory by Russia.”

“Russia’s war against Ukraine that poses the biggest threat to European security today is the clear continuation of its aggressive actions in Georgia,” she said.

German Foreign Minister Baerbock acknowledged the “clear words” of Georgian Foreign Minister Bochorishvili regarding Russia’s war against Ukraine.

But then she also expressed criticism: “We applaud the courage of people all over Georgia who are taking to the streets to defend democracy and European values. And we call on the government of Georgia to return to the European path – and here I disagree with the Georgian representative. It is the government of Georgia that is deviating from this path in words and actions.”

U.S. Secretary of State Blinken also expressed concern about Georgia’s decision to suspend the country’s EU accession process. “This has eerie overtones of 2014,” he said. “We support the right to peaceful protest and condemn the brutal repression of those calling for their country to stay on the path to closer ties with Europe—in particular, the reported assaults and detention of journalists,” he said.

In a very personal and emotional statement, Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister, also addressed Bochorishvili directly. Speaking completely freely, without reading from a prepared text, he criticized the recent law on “family values and the protection of minors” that was approved by Georgian lawmakers in September and which aims to impose limitations on LGBTQ rights in the country.

He said: “By stigmatizing gay people, you have to know one thing: It was not my choice to be gay. The most difficult part of my life was to accept myself. So think twice. A leader is not to blame minorities but to protect them.”

Bettel’s statement was greeted with applause by many delegates.

New senior leadership package approved

The OSCE Ministerial Council in Malta concluded with a key decision regarding the appointment of four senior officials to lead the OSCE’s Secretariat and the OSCE’s Institutions.

Other than the senior leadership appointment, the OSCE Ministerial Council failed to adopt any substantive decisions for the third consecutive year. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, it has become practically impossible for the Ministerial Council to negotiate substantial topics, since deep divisions have made it nearly impossible to reach consensus. Some states also believe the OSCE should not conduct “business as usual” while Russia wages war on the European continent.

The focus over the past three years has therefore been on maintaining the basic structures of the OSCE and keeping the organization alive. In this context, it was considered an achievement that the Maltese OSCE Chair succeeded in forging consensus on a new senior leadership package.

Feridun Sinirlioğlu from Türkiye was appointed as the OSCE Secretary General. Sinirlioğlu is a former diplomat and foreign minister who served in that position as part of Türkiye’s interim government in 2015.

Maria Telalian, Legal Adviser of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Head of the Legal Department, was appointed as Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. Christophe Kamp, the Ambassador of the Netherlands to the OSCE, was appointed as the new OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities. Jan Braathu of Norway, the Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, is the new OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media.

This decision fills the four top OSCE leadership posts that have been vacant since the previous mandates expired in September 2024 and helps to avoid a prolonged leadership vacuum.

No decision on future OSCE Chairs

The ministers in Malta, however, failed to take a decision on the OSCE Chair for 2026, which means that the OSCE continues to face considerable uncertainty.

Negotiations continue behind closed doors on this issue, OSCE diplomats say, with Switzerland being the main contender to chair the OSCE in 2026. But Berne still needs to make an internal decision in the Swiss Federal Council to become an official candidate.

On the eve of the Ministerial Council in Malta, the Republic of Cyprus formally submitted its candidacy for the OSCE Chairmanship in 2027. A formal approval requires a consensus decision and is therefore still pending, but OSCE diplomats consider it a positive sign that Cyprus was able to officially make this announcement – a country that probably found it difficult to join consensus on a new Secretary General from Türkiye.

Next OSCE Ministerial Council meeting to take place in Vienna

The OSCE Ministerial Council in Malta also decided that next year’s OSCE Ministerial Council will take place at the OSCE’s headquarters in Vienna on December 4 and 5, under Finnish Chairmanship.

The location is an exception to usual OSCE practice. Since Finland is slated to chair the OSCE in 2025, it was widely expected that Helsinki would host the annual OSCE Ministerial Council meeting, in line with standard practice.

There is one precedent in the OSCE’s history for an OSCE Ministerial Council meeting not held in the country holding the Chair. During the 1998 Polish OSCE Chairmanship, the Ministerial Council took place in Oslo, Norway.

Both Finland and Austria cite budgetary and ecological reasons for this decision, pointing to the need to reduce expenditures and lower their carbon footprints.

But Finland’s decision not to hold the annual OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in its own country also helps the government in Helsinki avoid a potentially heated debate about the possible attendance of the Russian Foreign Minister, including domestic political considerations about issuing a visa to the Russian Foreign Minister.

Having maintained military neutrality for a long time, Finland joined NATO in April 2023, reacting to the changed security environment as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Austria, however, is a neutral country and is also the host country of the OSCE’s headquarters in Vienna.

The EU has not imposed a travel ban on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov – although his assets have been frozen – seeking to leave open a channel of communication with Russia’s top diplomat.

OSCE continues to fight for its survival

With Malta’s tenure as Chair of the OSCE concluding, Malta’s Foreign Minister and OSCE Chair-in-Office Ian Borg expressed support for Finland’s incoming Chairmanship in 2025, a year that will also mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act, the OSCE’s founding document.

But almost fifty years after the historic signing of the Helsinki Final Act in August 1975, the OSCE is fighting for its survival with no approved budget since 2021 and uncertainty about who will chair the organization after 2025.

As a result of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the very concept of cooperative security on which the OSCE is based has all but collapsed, making negotiations and constructive dialogue virtually impossible.

Decisions on appointing a new senior leadership and debating the annual budget and Chairmanships after 2025 have become tough diplomatic battles. Malta as OSCE Chair was forced to invest considerable diplomatic efforts and time in negotiating these issues over the past months.

Foreign Minister Borg pledged to continue working on the outstanding issues, including the budget and the future Chairs, until the end of the year, when Malta’s role as OSCE Chair officially ends.

“We will continue to leave no stone unturned in securing the future of this organization,” Borg assured delegates in the closing session. “We remain firm believers in the OSCE’s role as an essential contributor to peace, security and prosperity of the people it serves.”

Referring to Malta’s motto for its 2024 OSCE Chairmanship, he concluded: “Let me be clear: resilience should not mean firefighting. As we look to the future we must not settle for mere survival. We must look beyond resilience.”