PN Member Ulrike Lunacek in Favor of Special OSCE Mission for Crimea

The Greens: The EU summit should support the OSCE Special Mission for Crimea with Swiss top-diplomat Ambassador Heidi Tagliavini as the Special Representative

"Given the deteriorating situation in Crimea, in which Russian and Ukrainian organizations unforgivingly face each other, it needs an initiative accepted by all sides to stabilize and mitigate the conflict. For that I suggest a [female] Special Representative for peacekeeping in Crimea and in Ukraine.  She should take up work immediately, on behalf of the OSCE, and with the approval of Moscow, Kiev and Simferopol. Such an initiative may be proposed by Austria, and as a neutral state can suggest it particularly credibly at the EU summit. A suitable diplomat with sufficient experience and reputation would be the Swiss Heidi Tagliavini, who has already investigated the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and has done excellent work with that. If Russia continues to reject any negotiations with the OSCE, the EU heads of state and heads of government must impose economic sanctions at the summit on Thursday, even if it impacts the EU itself. Appeasement policy towards Russia should not be allowed on the basis of EU economic interests”, recommends Ulrike Lunacek, vice president and foreign affairs spokesperson of the Greens in the European Parliament, as a way out of this situation in the conflict over the Crimea and Ukraine in general.

Lunacek: "This initiative to significantly involve the OSCE in the conflict, including a Special Representative, would be a meaningful revival of Austrian neutrality policy and an important contribution to the urgently needed de-escalation in the crisis region. In contrast, the alleged election observation of the Vienna FP politicians Hübner and Gudenus in the illegal and illegitimate vote in Crimea was one-sided partisanship for the Russian position and not an example of living neutrality as that demanded by MEP Mölzer in yesterday's EU Main Committee. Also, I consider Mölzer statements from today on alleged anti-Russian initiatives of the EU to be completely useless and not neutral. In principle, this conflict shows that an extensive EU energy independence from oil and gas from Russia and other authoritarian states - as we Greens always demanded – must be a central element a viable EU foreign policy, which must be precisely introduced and pushed by a neutral Austria.

Originally published in German on PN Member Ulrike Lunacek's website.

Photo by diegroenenoesterreich.

PN member Ulrike Lunacek MEP is a member of the Greens/European Free Alliance group in the European Parliament, and is the assembly's rapporteur on Kosovo.