Awwal 07, 1432, Feb 10, 2011, SPA -- Candidates from Austria, Portugal and Turkey have entered the race for chief of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), ahead of the nomination deadline on Thursday, according to dpa. Former Austrian foreign minister Ursula Plassnik, Portuguese former head of the OSCE parliamentary assembly Joao Soares and senior Turkish diplomat Ersin Ercin are vying for the post at a time when the OSCE is struggling to increase its influence and define its role. Austria and Portugal said they deliberately nominated politicians. All previous OSCE secretary generals have been diplomats. A politician would be needed to steer the human rights and security body through its internal debates on European security, an Austrian Foreign Ministry official said. "The logical conclusion would be the appointment of a strong secretary general with a political profile," he said. The OSCE's efforts to solve long-standing conflicts such as the one in Georgia, and to discuss a European security framework, have made little progress over the past few years due to the widely divergent positions of member states Russia and the United States. The 56 member countries of the Vienna-based body have until the end of June to decide on a successor to French Secretary General Marc Perrin de Brichambaut. Plassnik served as minister until 2008. She is currently a parliamentarian for the conservative People's Party. Soares was mayor of Lisbon, and member of the Portuguese and EU parliaments before heading the forum of OSCE legislators between 2008 and 2010. Ercin is Turkish President Abdullah Gul's special envoy for European security. He has been posted to several international organizations, including the OSCE.
