We are going through a complex historic cycle. Crises and conflicts are hitting us in quick succession and with full force. Take Syria, Yemen, Libya, Iraq or Afghanistan. But times are also turbulent here in Europe. The very question of war and peace has returned to our continent with Russia\u2019s annexation of Crimea in violation of international law and the unresolved conflict in eastern Ukraine. The cornerstones of the European peace architecture which for decades we almost took for granted are today called into question. It\u2019s clear that, particularly in times as difficult as these, we need shared structures to re\u2011establish security and stability and fora to re\u2011build lost trust.<\/p>\n
In Europe we have such a unique platform: the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe\u00a0(OSCE). It stands like no other institution in Europe for a peaceful order rooted in shared values, fundamental freedoms and human rights. Despite all the different societies involved, the different cultures, languages and even different views, the OSCE, as a consensus\u2011building organisation, provides a forum for dialogue between the East and West, North and South of the continent.<\/p>\n
Today we need the OSCE more than ever, an OSCE that has woken up after years of slumber and has set itself a strong agenda for the future.<\/p>\n
However, it\u2019s also clear that we need to equip the OSCE for its new tasks and challenges. As members of the next OSCE\u00a0Troika, we have defined five fields of action here:<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0New forms of dialogue<\/p>\n
The OSCE has proven that it is a reliable platform for dialogue also spanning bitter divisions. High\u2011level Ministerial Councils, informal Foreign Ministers Meetings (for example in Potsdam in September this year) and ad\u2011hoc discussions (for example on the fringes of this year\u2019s UN\u00a0General Assembly) provide a solid basis for in\u2011depth exchange at the political level. In future, parliamentarians, young people and representatives from civil society, science and business should be included more in these debates to bolster the OSCE’s potential as a mediator and connector. We are convinced that if we want to keep political communication channels open in Europe also in turbulent times, the organisation needs to play a central role once more at the heart of multilateral diplomacy in Europe.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Conflict resolution<\/p>\n
Many crises and conflicts are sending shock waves through our European security architecture today. As the world’s largest regional security organisation, the OSCE has the core task of preventing violent conflict and finding sustainable solutions for existing conflicts in the OSCE area.<\/p>\n
The Ukraine conflict showed us that the OSCE needs to prepare for new challenges that emerge from complex multidimensional conflict situations. We thus should further develop our conflict resolution instruments in such a way that we are able to act at all times: in both conflict prevention and mediation, in monitoring and post\u2011crisis rehabilitation.<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Relaunching conventional arms control<\/p>\n
Confidence\u2011building measures and arms control play a central role when it comes to creating transparency, minimising risks and re\u2011establishing security in Europe. That is why we advocate modernising the Vienna Document and relaunching conventional arms control. The OSCE is a reliable forum for structured dialogue with all partners who share responsibility for the security of our continent.<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Meeting global challenges together<\/p>\n
Today, our states and societies are confronted with an unprecedented number of global tasks which cannot be performed by any country on its own. The OSCE \u2013 also through the Mediterranean Partnership –\u00a0can play an important role in seeking shared responses to challenges such as terrorism, extremism, cyberattacks and the impact of migration and displaced people.<\/p>\n
Closer cooperation in the field of business and the environment also helps to build confidence. The Connectivity Conference in\u00a0Berlin in\u00a0July provided important initial momentum in this direction. After all, it is clear that we can only meet joint challenges together. Democracy and human rights remain the cornerstone of our cooperation in this area.<\/p>\n
5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 An effective OSCE<\/p>\n
The OSCE can only be as strong as its members allow it to be. We call upon all OSCE states to shoulder their responsibility and give the OSCE the political and financial support it needs for its work\u00a0\u2013 this includes the Secretariat in Vienna, but also the field missions and the OSCE\u2019s independent institutions.<\/p>\n
We urge all OSCE states to play their part in implementing these fields of action. As the next Troika, we are confident that the more we invest in the OSCE, the more it can do for us. We need a strong OSCE, particularly in these turbulent times.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Paolo Gentiloni, Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs<\/p>\n
Sebastian Kurz, Austria Minister of Foreign Affairs<\/p>\n
Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German Minister of Foreign Affairs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We are going through a complex historic cycle. Crises and conflicts are hitting us in quick succession and with full force. Take Syria, Yemen, Libya, Iraq or Afghanistan. But times are also turbulent here in Europe. The very question of war and peace has returned to our continent with Russia\u2019s annexation of Crimea in violation […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[9,76],"class_list":["post-23367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interviste","tag-europa","tag-ministri-precedenti"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}