OSCE Chairperson announces appointment of Helga Schmid as OSCE  Secretary General

ArmInfo. German representative Helga Schmid will be appointed OSCE Secretary General. About it the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Prime Minister, Minister of  European and Foreign Affairs of Albania Edi Rama said on December 3,  opening the 27th meeting of the OSCE Ministerial Council.

"I am glad that we have everything prepared for the appointment of  new leaders. Secretary General - Helga Schmid, ODIHR Director -  Matteo Mecacci, Media Freedom Representative - Teresa Ribeiro, High  Commissioner for National Minorities - Kairat Abdrakhmanov," Rama  said.

"I call on all of you to help them fulfill their mandates over the  next three years," the chairman added.  The agreement and approval of  four new OSCE representatives requires a consensus of all 57  participating States. These posts have remained vacant since 18 July  2020 after the Permanent Representatives of the participating States  to the OSCE, due to disagreements, could not agree on either the  reappointment or temporary extension of the powers of the former  heads of OSCE bodies. The Albanian chairmanship in September  recommended the organization's participants to propose new candidates  for their appointment to the OSCE Ministerial Council. Initially, 11  candidates were identified for four positions: 10 from Europe, 1 from  Kazakhstan.

Diplomatic sources noted that the German Helga Schmid is the favorite  for the post of Secretary General, the Italian Matteo Mecacci is the  favorite for the post of ODIHR, the Kazakhstani Kairat Abdrakhmanov  is the High Commissioner for National Minorities, and the  representative for freedom of the media is - Portuguese Maria Teresa  Ribeiro. Four candidates were previously agreed upon by the permanent  representatives of the OSCE participating States. The appointment of  these candidates for the posts of heads of executive structures is  expected by the end of the CFM work.