The US threatens to leave the OSCE unless the organization reforms

The United States delivered an ultimatum to the OSCE on Thursday: reform or face potential American withdrawal.

Speaking as one of the final speakers at the OSCE Ministerial Council meeting in Vienna, Brendan Hanrahan, Senior Bureau Official at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, said: “The United States remains engaged in the OSCE because we believe that if properly reformed, this organization can still play a meaningful role. But reform is necessary, both to ensuring the OSCE fulfil its mission of furthering security in Europe, and to continuing U.S. participation and engagement.”

The OSCE has been “adrift for years,” Hanrahan said.

He took aim at the organization’s website, which he said displays “page after page of priorities, yet far fewer are directed towards preventing the wars and instabilities the OSCE exists to address,” adding that much of the organizations “public facing work reads like a catalog of ideological projects that many of our societies have rejected or reversed, from opposing common sense asylum reform to misguided efforts to eliminate fossil fuels.”

Then came the pointed question: “If the OSCE cannot provide value in the one area where it should matter most – engaging Russia in serious conflict management – then why should the USA continue to participate?”

His answer: “Because the U.S. believes the OSCE can change and be effective.”

But the change must be real, he stressed. “I want to be clear: We require change. No symbolic gestures or rhetorical commitments. Real, serious change.”

Hanrahan laid out three concrete conditions.

First: budget cuts. The U.S. “will expect a reduction of at least 15 million Euros in the annual budget by December 2026.” Resources must be “spent not on hosting conferences or writing reports, but on missions that support stability and peace.”

Second: structural overhaul. The OSCE must stop “dictating national social policy” and “stop treating transformation of domestic political life as one of its core functions. The important work of monitoring, whether of borders, elections can only be effective with the full cooperation of the states involved,” he said.

Third: engage Russia. The OSCE “must stop sidelining the very actors whose presence is essential for peace,” he said, adding that “a conflict involving Russia can only be managed by engaging Russia.”

Only then can the OSCE “fulfil its core mission” of bringing states with divergent visions to the table—addressing conventional arms control, border security, combating terrorism and money laundering, and ultimately helping to secure an eventual peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.

Hanrahan concluded: “If the OSCE continues on its current path, the U.S. will continue to assess our participation and support.”