Albania became part of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE – at that time CSCE) during the proceedings of the Ministerial Council of Berlin (19-20 June 1991).

The Helsinki Final Act was signed on 16 September 1991, by the Albanian authorities, followed by the signature of the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, on 17 September 1991. This moment marked a substantial change in the course of Albania’s foreign policy, which would free Albania from international self-isolation and bring it closer to the Euro-Atlantic community by sharing the principles and values of freedom, democracy and rule of law.

The accession of Albania to the OSCE was accompanied by deep legal reforms on the respect to Human Rights. The circumstances that enabled Albania to access the OSCE comprised the democratic movement of December 1990, the first pluralistic elections and the adoption of the Provisional Constitutional Package, on 29 April 1991. This Package encompassed provisions that accepted political pluralism and respect for human rights.

In 1997, the Permanent Council decided, upon the request of the Albanian Government, to send an OSCE Presence in Albania, to help overcome the political crises and take the country to general elections, in line with the OSCE commitments. The Danish Chairmanship, through its Special Envoy, the former Austrian Chancellor, Dr. Franz Vranitzky, brokered the resolution of the political crisis and enabled the opening of an OSCE Presence in Albania. In a second stage after that, this Presence was re-installed with an enhanced mandate, to include monitoring of the north-eastern borders of the country.

At a later stage, a review of the mandate was agreed in 2003 in order to better reflecting the developments and the progress of the country.

Today, the OSCE Presence supports the legal, judicial, administrative and property reforms and helps the Albanian authorities in the parliamentary capacity building, the fight against corruption and promotion of good governance, empowerment of civil society, protecting and promoting e media freedom etc.

The increased role that Albania has continuously played in the region and beyond has had an impact on the substantial change of relations with the OSCE. Albania is no longer a consumer of the OSCE expertise, but it contributes considerably in maintaining and strengthening the role of the Organization in the European security architecture.

Albania has entered into a new phase of cooperation with the OSCE that is the partnership in achieving national priorities of the country, in line with the aspirations for the European Union integration of Albania

The highlight Albanian engagement vis-à-vis OSCE remains the Chairmanship of the Organization in 2020.

The Albanian Chairmanship of the OSCE faced unpredictable challenges, especially the Covid-19 pandemic. However, our Chairmanship resulted in a very successful one by forging the necessary consensus in terms of decision-making and maintaining the organization’s functionality.

Thus, the Ministerial Council, that was held in Tirana, on December 3-4, 2020 produced 11 documents pertaining to all dimensionsof the organisation. The Ministerial was crucial in achieving the consensun of all the 57 participating States on the appointment of the new Secretary General and the Heads of the 4 OSCE institutions.

Albania’s membership and contribution to the OSCE will mantain its focus on the protection and advancement of Albania’s interests, as it is the case will all the other international organizations in Vienna, where Albania is a member.

In 2023 the highlight of our contribution was alighning of the achievements of Albania’s OSCE Chairmanship in 2020 with our positions and objectives as a non-permanent member country of the UNSC for the period 2022-2023.

In this context, the contribution of Albania remains essential with regard to:

• The conflict in Ukraine;
• Reaching consensus on the next Chairmanship of the OSCE and the 4 Heads of Insitutions of the OSCE;
• Increasing awareness for the current conditions of the Albanians living in the Presheva Valley;
• In accordance with one of the major objectives of our foreign policy, which consists in aligning at 100% with the positions of the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the EU, joining declarations and co-sponsoring EU resolutions,;
• Representing Albania in various OSCE activities.