Sloveniaís New Ambassador to Lead OSCE in Quest for Security in Europe by Michael Coleman With its admission to both NATO and the European Union last year, Slovenia achieved two of its major geopolitical goals since the collapse of the former Yugoslavia. Now leaders of this southeast European country are focusing on yet another multinational organization, this time as the new leader of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Samuel Zbogar, Sloveniaís new ambassador to the United States, told The Washington Diplomat in a recent interview that his country is prepared to lead the OSCE through what is shaping up to be a major transitional year. The organization, though structurally strong, is facing some tough questions about its future. Some of the OSCEís 55 member countries contend it is spending too much time nurturing "democratization" at the expense of helping countries improve their security and economic climates. There has been grumblingónotably in the form of two declarations from the Commonwealth of Independent Statesóthat the OSCE is trying too hard to appease Western interests related to democratization. Furthermore, disagreements persis t as to just how much each of the member nations should pay to belong to the OSCE. As a result, Slovenia takes over the chairmanship at a time when there is no formal operating budget in placeóa hurdle that Zbogar said must be cleared quickly to focus on the stated goals of the organization. Despite these clouds of dissension on the horizon, Zbogar said his country hopes to improve consensus and boost the effectiveness of the organization during its one-year chairmanship. "We are confident and optimistic, but aware of the challenges," he said. "We will have a healthy debate on the future of OSCE." The OSCE, created in the early 1990s, is the largest regional security organization in the world, with member states from Europe, Central Asia and North America. It is active in early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation. Zbogar said the OSCE chairman-in-office, Slovenian Foreign Minister Dimitrij Rupel, will embark on an immediate tour of disgruntled member states to listen to their concerns and ascertain ideas about how to make the OSCE more responsive to their needs. "Itís an organization that works on consensus, which gives the chairmanship a role to balance all the needs of the members," the ambassador said. Rupel has said his goal is to achieve the "three Rs"óto reform, rebalance and revitalize the OSCE. The U.S. government praises Slovenia, describing its "excellent relations" with the new democracy and indicating that it is a good choice to lead the OSCE. "Since the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, Slovenia has instituted a stable, multiparty, democratic political system, characterized by regular elections, a free press and an excellent human rights record," according to the State Department. The group has been criticized, however, by other nations, mostly former Soviet bloc states, which argue that the OSCE promotes Western ideals of democratization, targeting its efforts on former Soviet republics for political reasons. Zbogar said the Commonwealth of Independent States, an organization consisting primarily of Eastern European nations, published two declarations accusing the OSCE of failing to respect their sovereignty. Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan signed a written statement saying the OSCE does not respect fundamental principles such as noninterference in internal affairs and respect of national sovereignty. "We have to look now into this criticism," Zbogar said. "The criticism has merit if a group of countries put it in front of the organization. We believe we should look at those declarations and criticisms and try to see where is the problem." Zbogar added that he suspects the problem is rooted in "miscommunication between East and West" and questions about how the administration is run. "Weíll have to go line by line," he said. Slovenia has compiled a seven-person task force to look into some of the allegations and make recommendations in June as to the validity of each issue raised and how it should be dealt with. Zbogar suspects there will be some changes in store for the organization but nothing too drastic. Major changes will come at the end of 2005, when member countries have an opportunity to sit down and vote on them. "I donít think there is room for major restructuring," Zbogar said. "Any change we made weíd have to get approval of everybody." Zbogar said the organizationís work on human rights issuesóelection monitoring, discouraging anti-Semitism and human traffickingówill continue to be a major priority. The other two goals of the OSCE, economic advancement and national security, will get more emphasis as well. "Some claim there is too much money spent on this dimension, but it is the core dimension of the OSCE," Zbogar said. "We donít see any possibility that we would be shrinking this dimension. "However, there is room to strengthen the other two dimensions," Zbogar added. "We donít have to diminish the things OSCE is doing well to strengthen the other two." With a budget of about $234 million (180 million Euros) annually, the organization has to work hard and be creative in uncovering bureaucratic inefficiency. "OSCE has a very small budget actually," Zbogar said, but "OSCE gives good value for its money." Finding a balance between a nationís needs and finding an appropriate way to assess each member state for its membership dues will also be challenging. Poorer transition countries are complaining the loudest about the organizationís current scale of assessment, Zbogar said, noting that the Bulgarians made a lot of progress in revamping the scales, which were last set over two years ago. Slovenia is confident it can finish that job. "The Bulgarian chairmanship did a lotóthey were almost there," he said. "Our thinking as we take over the chairmanship is not so much about the budget and the money, it is about the role of OSCE. If we successfully enter into a reform discussion, we think it will make it easier to talk about the budget as well." Zbogar said he also hopes that Slovenia can help foster a perception of the OSCE as an organization devoted to helping its member countries. He said the organizationís work in training police forces, improving border controls and helping countries adapt to market economies can be extremely valuable. "OSCE is there to help the countriesóit is not an organization that is imposed on the countries," the ambassador explained. "There is a feeling of some of the countries that the organization is there to control them or report them. We have to change that." In addition to improving an organization that can, in turn, help stabilize key emerging democracies, Slovenia hopes the organization itself can gain from its role as chair of the OSCE. "We hope to reconfirm that we can be a constructive player in the international community, that we are willing and capable of leading a very unique organization of 55 European countries," Zbogar said. "We want to deliver to the Belgians [who hold the 2006 chairmanship] a better organization than it is today." Michael Coleman is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.