Expert meeting focuses on OSCE role in advancing European security dialogue

VIENNA, 8 May 2009 - The OSCE with its inclusive and comprehensive approach is the right forum for taking forward discussions on the future of European security, said participants at the start of an expert meeting on a European security dialogue held by the Austrian Foreign Ministry today.

"We want to give the dialogue on European security a targeted impulse with this event. In this way we are substantiating the process that the OSCE foreign ministers began at their meeting in Helsinki last December," said Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger at the start of the meeting. "We need an open and direct debate on the security challenges of the future. The OSCE is the right framework for this."

He emphasized that the dialogue should take advantage of the OSCE's existing toolbox: "We do not require new treaties and structures - the point is much more to use and apply the existing mechanisms of the OSCE effectively."

Ambassador Mara Marinaki, representing the Greek OSCE Chairmanship, welcomed the Austrian effort to further the dialogue: "Bringing together experts and officials to explore the principle and reality of the indivisibility of security, as well as current security challenges in the OSCE area, and means to strengthen existing institutions and find new solutions, - this is as important for the dialogue on European security as are the formal exchanges of views between ambassadors and ministers."

"OSCE participating States need precisely this kind of discussion. The question of European security is one that can never be fully and finally answered. It needs to be raised again and again, as times change and new challenges arise," she said, adding that "we agreed to not pre-judge the outcome of our dialogue, but rather to approach honestly and self-critically the question of how we can do more to ensure the consistent implementation of existing commitments in all three dimensions and - perhaps most importantly - to restore trust among the OSCE's participating States."

The forthcoming OSCE Informal Ministerial Meeting on Corfu on 27 and 28 June will be an important next step, she said: "The informal meeting provides an excellent opportunity for OSCE foreign ministers to provide the strong political input that is needed to drive this process forward."