OSCE announces members of panel on European security

OSCE announces members of panel on European security

BELGRADE, VIENNA -- The composition of the OSCE's Panel of Eminent Persons on European Security as a Common Project was revealed on Tuesday.

The announcement was made by Ivica Dacic, Serbia's foreign minister and OSCE chairperson-in-office (CiO), and his Troika partners Didier Burkhalter and Frank-Walter Steinmeier, foreign ministers of Switzerland and Germany.

The panel, which will be chaired by German diplomat Wolfgang Ischinger, will comprise Emma Bonino, Tahsin Burcuoglu, Oleksandr Chaly, Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Jean-Marie Guéhenno, Barbara Haering, Jane Harman, Sergi Kapanadze, Sergey A. Karaganov, Malcolm Rifkind, Adam Daniel Rotfeld, Teija Tiilikainen, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Ivo Viskovic.

In accordance with its mandate, the panel will provide advice on how to reconsolidate European security as a common project, reads a release published by the OSCE.

"In addition to continuing our efforts to restore peace to Ukraine, it is time to also address the broader crisis of European security that has deepened as a result of recent developments, and this panel will help move the respective discussions forward", said OSCE CiO Dacic.

According to Burkhalter, the participants of the panel should do everything possible to reverse the trend of growing distrust and polarization in Europe.

Steinmeier underscored that the panel can give valuable input to European security through return to a dialogue on how to restore security and cooperation in Europe.

The panel will seek input from participating States, the OSCE Institutions, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, multilateral actors concerned with European security issues, civil society, think tanks, and...