The OSCE was established in 1995 to guarantee regional stability in the region and to prevent conflicts, and  the will of the participating States was expressed in the adoption of the Confidence- and Security Building Measures. These measures have been detailed in the Vienna Document on the Confidence- and Security-Building Measures and the Treaty on Open Skies (exchange of information, compliance and verification measures, different forms of military cooperation). Also, in order to prevent an armed conflict in Europe, the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE) was adopted, outlining a comprehensive arms control regime. For those reasons, Poland has always attached great significance to the Organization’s role in the region and strongly supported the principles the OSCE has cultivated, which contributed to our decision to assume the Chairmanship of the latter in 2022 (for the second time in Polish history—Poland had originally chaired the Organization in 1998). Russia withdrew from the Treaty on Open Skies (in 2021) and the CFE Treaty (in 2023) and initiated an unprovoked large-scale war against Ukraine. As part of the response to Russia’s conduct, the NATO members that were parties to the CFE Treaty decided in November 2023 to suspend the agreement.

OSCE’s Secretariat is based in Vienna. It is headed by Secretary General, tasked with coordinating the work of the institution (the incumbent Secretary General is Helga Schmid of Germany). OSCE’s chief institutions are the following: the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (based in Warsaw and headed by Matteo Mecacci of Italy), OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities (Kairat Abdrakhmanov of Kazakhstan; the Office is located in The Hague), and OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media (Teresa Ribeiro of Portugal). Copenhagen hosts the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, currently presided over by Pia Kauma (Finland).

For 2024, the annual OSCE Chairmanship was assumed by Malta. The role of Chairperson-in-Office is always held by the OSCE Chair’s minister of foreign affairs—currently Ian Borg. The incumbent Chairperson-in-Office is supported by his predecessor (North Macedonia) and successor (Finland), the three being known as the OSCE Troika, and by personal or special representatives mandated by him to act on specific matters. As its vital component, the system includes 14 OSCE field missions, centres/programme offices. The Organization’s day-to-day operational work is the responsibility of the Permanent Council, composed of member states’ ambassadors accredited to the OSCE. All declarations adopted and decisions taken by the Organization are subject to the rule of consensus.

Russia has long been trying to use the OSCE to its advantage, abusing the unanimity rule. The full-scale war against Ukraine, launched by the Kremlin on 24 February 2022,  is a violation of the Organization’s fundamental principles and the commitments of its participating States. The attempts at imposing the aggressor’s rhetoric on the international community met with firm opposition of the international community. Heading the OSCE in 2022, Poland focused the OSCE agenda on the aggression against Ukraine and put in place the principle of “no business as usual” until the war is over, taken up by North Macedonia during its successive Chairmanship and set for continuance by Malta as it has declared to safeguard the Organization’s legacy.

During its Chairmanship, Poland joined forces with other States to oppose Russia’s conduct when the latter was seeking to cripple OSCE’s work by blocking decisions making process in the most important issues (including by persistently vetoing the Organization’s budget approval).