Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg met his Swedish counterpart Ann Linde in Vienna today, when she visited the Vienna headquarters of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in her capacity as its Chairperson-in-Office. Their discussions focused on Foreign Minister Schallenberg’s recent visit to the South Caucasus with his Romanian and Lithuanian counterparts, relations with Belarus and Russia, and bilateral issues between Sweden and Austria.
Alexander Schallenberg was keen to stress that the trip to the South Caucasus on behalf of EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Josep Borrell underscored the region’s importance to the EU, and commented:
I think it is imperative that the European Union takes a stand in the region, rather than leaving the field to other powers.
Through its “Minsk Group” (France, Russia, USA), the OSCE has been engaged in the region for many years and seeks to find peaceful solutions to the ongoing disputes between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Alexander Schallenberg also emphasised the strong existing relationship between the EU and the OSCE.
The OSCE is the key mediator in the region, making it a close partner of the European Union in our efforts to stabilise our immediate neighbourhood,
he said.
The situation in Belarus was also discussed during the talks. Seventeen OSCE member states previously commissioned Austrian legal expert Martin Benedek to draft a report on the human rights situation in Belarus. His report laid the foundation for setting up the International Accountability Platform for Belarus (IAPB), which has been tasked with gathering evidence of human rights abuses in the country.
During her visit, Foreign Minister Ann Linde also took the opportunity to meet OSCE Secretary General Helga Schmid. Sweden will hold the rotating OSCE Chairpersonship until the end of this year.
