RENEWING EUROPE’S SECURITY DIALOGUE
by George A. Papandreou
Project Syndicate
ary/papandreou5
Nov 27 2009
ATHENS – The year 2009 has been one of great change, taking place
amidst even greater uncertainty. Twenty years after the fall of the
Berlin Wall, the resilience of the post-Cold War security system
in Europe is being tested. Longstanding conflicts remain unresolved
and complex new challenges are emerging. Energy security, organized
crime, terrorism, absolutism and fundamentalism, climate change,
and cybercrime are acute concerns for every country.
The economic crisis has left many people far less prosperous, and
perhaps less inclined to be ambitious in our efforts to address
Europe’s security challenges. But we must also keep in mind that
crisis brings with it opportunities for change.
This year has also seen a number of positive developments, including a
"reset" in relations between two key players in the European security
dialogue: Russia and the United States. The European Union has recently
taken important steps towards greater cohesion and unity with the
appointment of a President and High Representative for Foreign Affairs.
We should celebrate these achievements even as we recognize
that serious problems remain to be resolved. There are different
perspectives on how Europe’s security architecture should be designed,
but we all agree on the urgent need to tackle this critical challenge
through constructive dialogue.
It is in this spirit of cooperation and bridge-building that 56 foreign
ministers – representing the US, Canada, and European countries,
including the Russian Federation and the rest of the former Soviet
Union – will meet in Athens on December 1-2 on my invitation to discuss
the future of European security. The talks mark the continuation
of the "Corfu Process," anchored in the Organization for Security
and Cooperation in Europe, which began with an informal ministerial
meeting on Corfu in June.
An attempt to address Europe’s unfinished business, the Corfu Process
is an opportunity for us to come together to assess the gaps in
our common security, to craft more effective responses to existing
challenges, and – most importantly – to generate new political will for
joint action. This includes action to preserve arms-control regimes,
including the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe; to
accelerate the resolution of protracted conflicts; to promote human
rights and fundamental freedoms; and to assess and address traditional
and new threats.
We cannot afford to leave the region’s protracted conflicts such as
the ones in Nagorno-Karabakh and Transnistria on the back burner,
as last year’s war in Georgia made abundantly clear. People living
in these areas need peace and stability, not a fragile status quo
that could suddenly shatter and turn violent.
Security challenges in neighboring regions also require a joint
response. Afghanistan is a case in point. And threats like terrorism,
trafficking of arms, drugs, and people, and climate change are
borderless and complex. Only a joint response can be effective.
The fall of the Berlin Wall marked the end of an era of mistrust and
division, and opened the way for cooperation aimed at a peaceful
and stable Europe. Europe has come a long way from those years of
division, but we have not yet fully reaped the benefits promised by
the wave of change of 1989.
The OSCE meeting in Athens comes at a critical time, when Europeans
must move into the twenty-first century more united than ever before.
We must take this opportunity to restore the full capacity of the OSCE
and make a fresh commitment to an indivisible European security system.
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2009.
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