Finland to re-establish Permanent Representation to Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe

Finland is currently preparing for its chairpersonship of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2025. As part of the preparations, Finland will reinstate the OSCE delegation, which operates in conjunction with the Embassy of Finland in Vienna, as Permanent Representation as of 1 January 2024.

This is a change in the status of an existing mission. The costs will be financed from the Ministry’s current spending limits.

At the same time, the position of the Head of Mission will change into Permanent Representative, which better reflects the demands of the post and the situation in several peer countries.

“A well-functioning multilateral system is in Finland’s interests. Our goal for the 2025 chairpersonship is to strengthen the OSCE as the world’s largest security organisation. We are preparing for the chairpersonship in a challenging situation, where one participating State is waging a large-scale war of aggression against another,” says Minister for Foreign Affairs Elina Valtonen.

Finland has had missions to the OSCE under different names since 1973. The first OSCE mission was established in Vienna in 1986, and it became Permanent Representation in 1995. In 2013, Permanent Representation was changed into an OSCE delegation and merged into the Embassy in Vienna.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security organisation comprising all the countries of Europe, South Caucasus and Central Asia, as well as the United States and Canada.