UK calls for year-long mandate for OSCE mission in Moldova

Britain has called for the OSCE’s mission in Moldova to receive a full 12-month mandate, saying a longer term would give it the stability needed to support dialogue over the breakaway region of Transnistria.

Speaking to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Permanent Council in Vienna on 12 November, British ambassador Neil Holland urged participating states to return to annual extensions. The council agreed in June to a six-month extension running until 31 December 2026.

At the time of that decision, Moldova and the EU said Russia had blocked agreement on a one-year term. Moldova said shorter extensions created uncertainty and made planning harder, but accepted the six-month compromise so the mission could continue its work.

The mission was established in 1993 to help secure a lasting political settlement of the Transnistrian conflict. It supports dialogue between Moldova’s capital, Chisinau, and Tiraspol, the centre of the breakaway region, and gathers information on the situation there.

Holland welcomed renewed direct contact between the two sides and urged practical progress on vehicle registration and school premises. At a meeting in Tiraspol on 24 September, their political representatives agreed to intensify dialogue on those and other issues, according to the mission.