A dispute concerning the budget of the OSCE endangers the efforts to plan the future election observation missions to Ukraine and Moldova, diplomats of the organization who came together in Vienna stated on January 10, IPN reports with reference to agerpres.ro, which quotes DPA.

The source said France opposes the adoption of the OSCE’s 2019 budget of about €138 million  (US$158m), arguing Central-Asian states rich in energy resources do not pay appropriate dues.

“This situation is non-justified and non-sustainable. It is defiance of credible multilateralism,” France’s Ambassador to the OSCE Veronique Roger-Lacan wrote on Twitter last week.

The U.S. contributes 13% to the OSCE budget, while the UK, France, Germany and Italy pay about 10% each. Instead, such states as Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan pay 0.2% each, while Russia 4%.

According to a diplomat from Vienna, France refuses to approve the annual budget if the dues are not modified. Slovak Foreign Minister Miroslav Lajcak, who took over the rotating chairmanship of the OSCE in January, in the meeting of the 57 OSCE member states held in Vienna called on these to reach a compromise, warning the ODIHR’s capacity to prepare important election observation missions will be affected.

The financing of the conflict monitoring mission in eastern Ukraine, which consists of almost 800 unarmed persons, will not be affected by the budget impasse as this forms part of a separate budget that is almost equal to the general annual budget of the OSCE, said DPA.