For a New Policy of Détente!

The Helsinki Final Act marks a milestone in Europe’s post-war history. Today, after forty years, we understand its significance in a wider context. Although there may have been very different motives that led those involved to the negotiating table and to sign this document, it was above all the conclusion that a continuation of the policy of confrontation meant the danger of a reversal of the Cold War into a hot war and hence a nuclear catastrophe. The recognition of the inviolability of borders and the territorial integrity of states, the renunciation of the threat or use of force, the peaceful settlement of disputes, the non-intervention in internal affairs of other states, the respect of human rights and basic freedoms and the rights to equality and self-determination of peoples were the principles on which the policy of détente was built. They formed the foundation for confidence-building measures and the disarmament negotiations, and they ultimately contributed to peaceful changes in socialist countries.

Today, we must notice that all hopes that the danger of war in Europe has been averted due to the end of the bloc confrontation have proven elusive. In the former Yugoslavia war raged with an unimaginable cruelty only a few years later. NATO continues to operate worldwide and now often in defiance of international law and in avoidance of international institutions. The European Union is militarizing. A bloody conflict that has so far eluded all mediation efforts continues to rage in Ukraine. These conflicts are the result of the fact that the principles of the Helsinki Final Act are no longer adhered to by all actors with the same consistency. The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has not been given the role that could and should be assigned to it.

The set-up of a system of collective security in Europe is a historical necessity that has been neglected for long enough. The findings of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe that one’s own security is only guaranteed when actual, potential and anticipated opponents also can feel secure have been criminally neglected and abandoned in favor of a new phase in political power confrontations. We speak very clearly: NATO is part of the problem. Through its fixation on the military alliance, NATO has weakened the Helsinki Final Act’s underlying idea for an area of peace reaching from Vancouver to Vladivostok. Military thinking is once again in the foreground – whether in Washington, in Moscow or in European capitals. Europe has failed to bring a sustainable peace to the continent. Therefore, we call upon all European governments to remember the principles of the Helsinki Final Act and consequentially develop a new policy of détente in which violent conflict and nuclear threats will finally disappear from our continent. The goal must be the creation of an area of collective security as well as the cooperation of all of Europe in the inclusion of Russia.