German Diplomat Helga Schmid To Become Next OSCE Secretary General - Reports

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd December, 2020) Incumbent European External Action Service Secretary General Helga Schmid will head the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Austrian Die Presse newspaper reported on Wednesday, citing informed diplomatic sources.

According to the media outlet, the formal decision on the German diplomat's appointment as the new secretary-general will be made at the 27th OSCE Ministerial Council, which will be held on Thursday and Friday via video link due to the pandemic.

Representatives of the OSCE member states came to an agreement on the candidates proposed by Albania, which currently chairs the organization, at a closed meeting on Tuesday evening, the newspaper said.

Once appointed, Schmid will become the first female secretary-general.

The Vienna-based news outlet added that Teresa Ribeiro, the Portuguese deputy foreign minister, will be appointed as the OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, while human rights activist and former member of the Italian parliament Matteo Mecacci will head the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights.

The candidates will get to work as soon as the decisions are made, according to Die Presse.

The ministerial council is the OSCE's central decision-making and governing body, which brings together the foreign ministers of the 57 member-states annually to discuss the security situation in the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian regions.