It seems unthinkable today, but in the autumn of 1962, with the Cold War at its height, the Cuban missile crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear war.

Although the two superpowers managed to step back from the edge of catastrophe, the stakes were too high to risk a repeat, and the idea of détente - the gradual easing of tensions between East and West - soon gained ground.

In the mid-1960s, the Soviet Union proposed the convening of a European security conference which would adopt a solemn text (preferably of a legal nature) confirming the existing borders in Europe and laying down the framework for large-scale East-West economic co-operation.

The idea was welcomed by most European neutral and non-aligned States but got a cautious reception by NATO. In 1969, however, the Alliance indicated its readiness to participate in such a conference, provided certain conditions were met, including full participation of the USA and Canada, reconfirmation of the legal status of Berlin, a discussion of conventional disarmament in Europe and the inclusion of human rights issues on the agenda.

Increasing East-West contacts

These obstacles were overcome in the early 1970s as the two sides slowly increased contacts and reached a number of understandings, prominent among which was the signing by Richard Nixon and Leonid Brezhnev of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty and other agreements at the conclusion of the SALT-1 talks in May 1972.

The time was thus ripe for a Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe, or CSCE. Finland offered to host the informal preparatory talks, which began at the Dipoli conference centre on the outskirts of Helsinki on 22 November 1972.

The countries which took part at Dipoli and formed the original 35 participating States were the nations of Europe (except Albania), the USA and Canada.

"A sort of diplomatic Monopoly"

After more than half a year of what the Journal de Genève described as "a sort of diplomatic Monopoly", the Dipoli talks concluded on 8 June 1973, with the Final Recommendations of the Helsinki Consultations, also known as the 'Blue Book'. This outlined in detail the practical arrangements for a three-stage conference: its agenda, participants, date, place, rules of procedure and financial arrangements.

The Blue Book specified that the CSCE would take place in three stages. Stage one would "consist of a Meeting of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the participating States" who would adopt the rules of procedure and the agenda, and would also "state the views of their Governments on the problems relating to security and co-operation in Europe."

The second stage would consist of work by committees (represented at a level to be decided by the participating States) who would "prepare drafts of declarations, recommendations, resolutions or any other final documents" - in other words, they would write the Helsinki Final Act.

The third and final stage of the Conference would meet in formal session to adopt the documents prepared in stage two. The level of participation for stage three was left open by the Blue Book, and would be decided during the second stage.

The three Helsinki 'baskets'

The Blue Book also contains the seeds of the three Helsinki 'baskets' - the three main sets of recommendations of the Helsinki Final Act. The proposed conference agenda would be divided into three:

1. Questions relating to security in Europe.
2. Co-operation in the fields of economics, of science and technology and of the environment.
3. Co-operation in humanitarian and other fields.

With the adoption of the Blue Book, the stage was set for the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe.