OSCE Sec/Gen: OSCE needs to equip with tools and flexibility to be agile and efficient actor

“Security and peace must be ensured also through co-operation, which requires dialogue, to reduce risks, to manage crises, to ensure military transparency, verification mechanisms, and arms control,” OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu said in a speech at the organisation’s ministerial.

He said, “In recent years, we have seen irresponsible nuclear rhetoric. That is unacceptable.”

“This Organization is ready to once again serve its historic mission. But we are not in the 70s or 90s any more. We need to equip it with the tools and flexibility it needs to be an agile and efficient actor, in the fast-moving world of the XXI century. In short, we need reforms. Substantial, courageous, and effective reforms. To cut our costs, and redirect our efforts and resources to what we do best and where we bring added value. I am ready to play my part, and to put on the plate, for the Secretariat alone down the road, a 10% reduction in costs – staff and other costs. It will be very difficult, but it will be done – by streamlining the internal structure, clear prioritization, merging what can be merged and cutting what is redundant. We closed the Minsk Structures in just three months – we know how to be efficient and effective. But the current rigid rules around budgeting and human resources simply do not allow us the flexibility to move resources internally. So I need to ask for your support: to decouple the post table from the budget, which will enable us to cut costs. You would retain the authority to determine the number of posts and at what level, but we need the authority to determine, within the Secretariat, within the Institutions and within the Field Operations, where to deploy our staff. That’s all I ask, and this is not just my request: all Heads of Field Operations and Institutions have asked the very same, as they face the same challenge. This simple decision alone will unlock the reform potential of this Organization. It will result in lower costs and more efficient structures, with the flexibility to deploy resources where they are needed the most, and where the added-value is greater. This is already a very cost efficient and lean Organization, and the present fiscal challenge may, paradoxically, make us stronger, if provided with the tools to seize the opportunity.

I am not suggesting the path before us will be easy. What I am saying is – it’s possible. It is possible to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. It is possible to sustain and support the implementation of the agreement the sides may reach. And it is possible to relaunch a proper dialogue on the future European security architecture. We faced another moment of global existential threat – in the early 70s’ that led to the Helsinki Final Act and the framework we still work within today. We may be at a threshold of another such moment. Let us recall that this Organization was born at a time when the threat of mutually assured destruction was at the forefront of everyone’s mind. Frankly, these capabilities have only increased since 1975. In recent years, we have seen irresponsible nuclear rhetoric. That is unacceptable. Let us not forget – ‘a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought’. Let us not play with fire.

Security cannot, and will never be, guaranteed by military deterrence alone. Deterrence is essential, but alone it can lead to an arms race with destabilizing consequences for all. Security and peace must be ensured also through co-operation, which requires dialogue, to reduce risks, to manage crises, to ensure military transparency, verification mechanisms, and arms control,” OSCE Secretary General stated.