Statement by the OSCE Troika welcoming Final Report of the Panel of Eminent Persons on European Security as a Common Project

BELGRADE, 3 December 2015 - Today, the Panel of Eminent Persons has published its Final Report, one year after the Panel was launched jointly by Switzerland, Serbia and Germany at the OSCE Ministerial Council in Basel.

Against the backdrop of the crisis in and around Ukraine and the broader crisis of European security, we had tasked the Panel to reflect on how to reconsolidate European security as a common project and how to re-build trust on the grounds of the Helsinki Final Act and the Charter of Paris. We wish to express our gratitude to the 15 panel members for their tremendous efforts, their willingness to exchange views and their constructive work throughout the past year. We particularly wish to thank Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger and his team for skillfully chairing and supporting the Panel.

The Final Report is the Panel’s second report, after the Interim Report with its focus on the lessons that the Ukraine crisis holds for the OSCE. The Final Report takes a broader view on the crisis and recommends future steps to overcome it. It reflects the current crisis of European security, contains a joint assessment and a set of useful recommendations. These recommendations are an important contribution to constructive, result-oriented, and forward-looking political deliberations in the coming years, including in the OSCE.