Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe
The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) was a key element of the détente process during the Cold War. Although it did not have the force of a treaty, it recognized the boundaries of postwar Europe and established a mechanism for minimizing political and military tensions between East and West and improving human rights in the Communist Bloc. The first phase was the Meeting of Foreign Ministers in Helsinki in 1973, the second negotiations held in Geneva from 1973 to 1975, and the third the Helsinki summit in 1975. The final document was signed in Helsinki, Finland on August 1, 1975, by 33 European nations, the United States and Canada. It is often called the Helsinki Agreement. In 1994, the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) was established as a successor to CSCE.
Background[edit]
The Soviet Union had been politically confronted following the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968. In addition, it had lost its grip on the communist parties of the West (see Eurocommunism) and its ideological differences with China had polarized the worldwide communist movement between the leadership of Moscow and Beijing in 1969. The Soviet leadership realized that none of these problems could be resolved by explaining or patching up relations, but that the Soviet Union could only improve its position by opening a new diplomatic front. In April 1969, therefore, it proposed the organization of a European Security Conference in the same way as it had done in 1954.[1][2]
In Finland, it was known that a positive response to the Soviet conference initiative would increasingly link Finland to Soviet influence in the eyes of the Western world. On the other hand, President Urho Kekkonen knew, on the basis of the note crisis in the autumn of 1961, that the militarily tinted political tension in Central Europe was not good for Finland. The security meeting could help Europe to recover from the shock of the occupation of Czechoslovakia if it were a real negotiating forum and not just a propaganda scene like previous attempts. Thus, Finland decided to make its own proposal, which differed from the initiative of the Soviet Union, in that the recognition of two Germanys would not be a threshold issue for holding a meeting, including the United States and Canada and Finland, which would offer to host the conference. Finland's starting positions in the conference project were more advantageous than other countries because Finland had not recognized either Germany, but rather managed its relations equally with both Germanies, albeit with a low profile. Before going to Helsinki, US President Gerald Ford held a meeting with a group of Eastern European-Americans, where he firmly declared that the political attitude of the United States towards the situation of the Baltic states would not change. The line would only be strengthened, as the agreement provided that the illegal seizure of the territories of another country was contrary to international law.
The Finnish initiative received a lukewarm reception in the West and Finland was not initially expected to receive more extensive support. NATO generally thought that the conference would not have the potential for success before the German issue was resolved. By the end of August 1969, 20 of the countries invited had replied in the affirmative. The only absolute refuser was China's ally and its European mouthpiece Albania. However, light began to appear at the end of the tunnel when Willy Brandt became Chancellor of West Germany in October 1969. In February 1970, Urho Kekkonen appointed The Finnish Ambassador to Stockholm, Ralph Enckell, as a travelling ambassador, who was tasked with keeping in touch with the governments of the invited countries, collecting information and preparing for the meeting. The negotiating arrangements became clearer during the spring of 1970. The Warsaw Pact stressed the persistence of the borders resulting from the Second World War, the abstention of violence and the improvement of commercial-technical links, while NATO's main focus was on mutually subtracting forces. There were differences in the emphases, but neither side considered the other's proposals to be unreasonable. In November 1970, the issue was so far advanced that Finland proposed negotiations at the ambassador level on the agenda and procedures of the conference.[3]
The OSCE Summit was held at Finlandia Hall in Helsinki at the end of July and the beginning of August 1975. The final phase of the OSCE was opened by Agostino Casaroli, Cardinal State Secretary of the Holy See, who chaired the final phase. The heads of state of 35 included all European countries except Albania and Andorra, as well as the United States and Canada. The meeting was attended by
It was historic that the heads of state of West and East Germany sat at the same table in Helsinki for the first time. The heads of state had several bilateral and multilateral meetings during the official programme.
On 1 August, the final act of the meeting was signed, the Helsinki Accords. The signing was started by Chancellor Schmidt and was finished by Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito. The final document was divided into four main sections. The first dealt with European security issues, the second decided on cooperation in areas such as economy, science and environmental protection, the third concerned cooperation in the humanitarian fields, and the fourth on the follow-up to the conference and future meetings.[7]