Last Updated on Thursday, 5 December, 2024 at 12:41 pm by Andre Camilleri
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Ian Borg has used his opening address of the 31st Ministerial Council meeting of the OSCE to call on Russia to withdraw from Ukraine and “end this war.”
Speaking at the Mediterranean Fairs and Conventions Centre in Ta’ Qali, where the meeting is taking place, Borg said that Russia’s recent escalation must stop immediately in order to pave the way for a diplomatic process to take place.
Borg said that it is an honour for Malta to be hosting the council, “a proud milestone in our 60-year history as an independent island nation.
“Despite our size, my country has always sought to maximise its contribution to the international community,” Borg said.
He referred to the history Bush-Gorbachev summit held in Malta almost exactly 35 years ago. Ironically, as Borg spoke, rain pelted down with the din making the Foreign Minister barely audible. “It augurs well,” Borg joked, harking back to the summit 35 years ago which was held in similarly stormy weather.
“Today, as then, Malta stands as a staunch defender of peace and dialogue in the face of seemingly insurmountable differences and challenges,” Borg said.
“This is our third meeting since the beginning of Russia’s war against Ukraine, which continues to pose a systemic threat to European security,” he highlighted.
“When I outlined our priorities to the Permanent Council in January, I made clear that what we do for peace today will help determine whether we live in war tomorrow. Tomorrow has come, and little has changed. If anything, the situation has deteriorated,” he continued.
He said that institutionally the OSCE was on the brink, with no appointed senior leadership since September, no agreement on who will chair the organisation beyond its 50th year and no unified budget since 2021.
“The difficulties we face, colleagues, are not unique to the OSCE and have not developed in a vacuum. They are symptomatic of a broader crisis of our collective commitment to multilateralism. The principles, rules, and institutions that have underpinned international peace and security for almost 80 years are being questioned, challenged, and actively undermined,” Borg said.
Borg said that respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, the inviolability of frontiers, and the non-use of force are four of the central principles guiding relations between OSCE participating States.
“We continue to condemn the flagrant breaches of these obligations in Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine,” he said.
“We call on the Russian Federation to withdraw from the internationally recognised territory of Ukraine and end this war. The recent escalation of attacks must stop immediately to pave the way for a diplomatic process – one that leads to a comprehensive, just, and lasting peace,” he added.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is present for the meeting – it’s the first time that Lavrov has entered the European Union since Russia began its invasion. Also present are United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha.
Lavrov’s presence has been controversial: Poland said that he should not have been invited and Lithuania downgraded its representation at the meeting as a result of the Russian Foreign Minister’s presence.
On Wednesday Malta was also forced into revoking the visa of Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova as three EU member states refused to agree to exempt her from a travel ban. It is understood that those three countries were Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
Borg said that the OSCE’s long-term survival may be in jeopardy if an agreement on its functionality is not reached
“We cannot kick the can the road because we have ran out of road,” Borg said.
“We constantly talk about our collective responsibility for this Organization and our commitment to multilateralism. It’s time to walk the talk,” he said.
The plenary session of the council is opened at around 10:30am. Lavrov was the penultimate representative to arrive, giving no comments to the media as he arrived. Multiple bilaterals are taking place in the margins of the council, and two side events – one focusing on gender and security and the other on media freedom – will also take place on Thursday.
The conference is expected to wind up on Friday afternoon, with sources saying that it was possible that an agreement will be reached on a new Secretary General for the OSCE to succeed Helga Schmid, whose term had to be extended by a year.
