Dialogue for enhanced European security in focus at joint session of OSCE Forum for Security Co-operation and Permanent Council

VIENNA, 9 March 2016 – Current security challenges in the OSCE area need to be tackled through a comprehensive dialogue process with all participating States demonstrating political will, said speakers at a joint meeting today of the Organization’s Forum for Security Co-operation, currently chaired by the Netherlands, and its Permanent Council chaired by Germany.

In his address to delegations of OSCE participating States and Partners for Co-operation, Political Director of the German Foreign Office Andreas Michaelis, stressed that the objective of Germany’s 2016 OSCE Chairmanship is to develop possibilities for dialogue on the difficult issues of security policy in the OSCE area. He explained that the quest for “one big solution” was not realistic. “Instead a multitude of concrete forms of co-operation should create a basis which allows for the emergence of enhanced security in the long term,” he said.

Michaelis called upon all participating States to use and develop the mechanisms of the existing security architecture in the OSCE area by showing sincere political will as well as readiness for discussion and compromise. To elaborate this approach, Michaelis pointed to several concerns and areas of action for the German Chairmanship.

In the context of increasing military activities in the OSCE region, Michaelis said: “We should work on those instruments that serve to swiftly minimize risks of escalation and promote transparency, such as the Vienna Document, by striving for their comprehensive implementation and substantial modernization.” Moreover, the commitment to solving existing conflicts should not weaken, even in situations of deadlock, he added. “The German Chairmanship is dedicated to strengthening the OSCE’s toolbox for conflict management throughout the entire conflict cycle.”

Michaelis emphasized the importance of not curtailing the dialogue on transnational challenges - threats that no state can tackle successfully alone. He referred to numerous fora being organized by the German Chairmanship this year, on topics from cyber co-operation and countering terrorism to joint action against drug trafficking, with the aim of securing concrete results

Former Dutch Defence Minister and Professor at Leiden University Joris Voorhoeve, who also spoke at the joint session, regretted that violations of the basic agreements on which the OSCE rests have undermined the Organization's prospects of becoming the regional security body that was envisaged in the early 1990s, despite the important work it has done. Ongoing violations of international law and deep misunderstandings about the end of the Cold War lead to strong divisions within the OSCE, according to Voorhoeve.

At the same time, common challenges that participating States face such as climate change and transnational threats require restoration of trust and co-operation. “Co-operation falters where coercive policies enter,” he said, and in seeking to redress these tendencies, Voorhoeve referred to some of the recommendations by the Panel of Eminent Persons in their 2015 Report, as well as the German OSCE Chairmanship’s emphasis on revitalizing conventional arms control and confidence- and security-building measure regimes.