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US Congressmen Demand OSCE Meeting Not Be Held in Serbia

2026-07-24 18:50:54, Kosova & Bota CNA

A bipartisan group of US lawmakers is calling for a European security summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to be held next year in South Carolina, not Serbia.

Their initiative highlights disagreements among Republicans in the US Congress, as well as Washington's complicated relations with Serbia.

Republican Congressman Joe Wilson will introduce a joint resolution of 41 congressmen on Friday, which calls for the OSCE's 2027 annual session to be held next summer in Charleston, in his home state of South Carolina, rather than in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, which is favored by other influential Republicans.

Reuters reported that it had seen a copy of the resolution before its publication.

Charleston and Belgrade are candidates to host this annual gathering of OSCE member states from Europe, Central Asia and North America, an organization that in recent years has focused on managing the consequences of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has accepted the offer of the National Assembly of Serbia to host the annual session in 2027 in Belgrade, which should gather more than 300 members of parliament from the parliaments of the 57 OSCE participating States.

Although American lawmakers on both sides of the debate have presented various logistical and practical arguments for their preferred location, some of which have little to do with geopolitics, the disagreement also reflects a broader debate in Washington regarding Serbia, which maintains close relations with both Moscow and the Trump administration.

Some lawmakers, concerned by Belgrade's deep economic ties with Russia, have called for a more confrontational approach towards Serbia, which is a significant buyer of Russian energy and has refused to join Western sanctions against the United States' adversary.

Other lawmakers have stressed the need for continued engagement with the Serbian government, in order for the country – which is aiming for European Union membership – to fully align with the West.

In an interview, Wilson, who is co-chair of a quasi-congressional body focused on Europe known as the Helsinki Commission, stressed that holding the meeting in the United States would send a signal of America's commitment to its allies in the OSCE.

He also criticized Serbia for its hostile stance towards Kosovo, a United States ally, whose independence Belgrade continues to oppose.

Among the lawmakers who co-signed Wilson's resolution is William Keating, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee's Europe Subcommittee, who has publicly criticized the Serbian government on various issues.

In a statement, Keating said the annual session should be held in the US, "to highlight the important role the United States must play in multilateral institutions."

Wilson said that among those opposing the Charleston meeting is Republican Senator Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

According to Wilson, Wicker had told him that the Congressional funds needed to organize the Charleston meeting might not be secured, a concern that Wilson dismissed.

Wicker, who is also the leading senator on the Helsinki Commission, would have major influence in determining whether the annual summit can be held in the US.

In the interview, Wilson said South Carolina would be a suitable place to hold the convention, in part because his son, the Republican candidate for governor of the state, would help ensure that delegates were well received.

Several of the co-signatories of his resolution are also from South Carolina.

It is not clear whether Wilson's resolution will get the green light. Although it has the support of several key signatories from both parties, Congress is just days away from the start of its summer recess, which will last until September./rel