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Disarmament – the CFE treaty must remain an anchor for stability
Joint article by German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner in LE FIGARO and FRANKFURTER ALLGEMEINE ZEITUNG, 29 October 2007 Since the end of the Cold War, Europe has again gradually become the author of its own destiny. The European Union has made a vital contribution to security on the continent. It has forged the tools that permit it to contribute to international security even beyond its borders, seeking at the same time to promote its security interests and its values. Since the end of the Cold War, the challenges facing the European Union and its member states have changed. The European Security Strategy, adopted by the EU in 2003, rightly listed four strategic threats to the Europeans: terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, regional conflicts and failed states. We have made substantial progress on the European Security and Defence Policy over the last ten years. This must continue in the future, with priority being attached to strengthening European capabilities. Nevertheless, we should not underestimate the significance of conventional arms control and relations between states. Russia's stated intention to suspend the CFE Treaty thus gives us cause for concern. An erosion of the CFE Treaty could spark new arms races and create new lines of confrontation. The "Charter of Paris for a New Europe" adopted in November 1990 by the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe outlined a vision that is just as pertinent today as it was seventeen years ago – democracy, the rule of law, freedom of opinion, the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in a Europe that respects the sovereign equality of its states. As regards security, the Charter crucially noted that security is indivisible, and the security of every European state is inseparably linked to that of all the others. The conclusion of the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe (CFE), which was directly inspired by this insight, marked the start of the biggest ever voluntary, controlled process of disarmament related to conventional forces. The CFE Treaty lived up to the expectations that were placed on it – to this very day it has been an anchor of stability for European security. Today, numerous commentators are raising the spectre of a new Cold War. We must not fall back into the old confrontational attitudes that we thought were a thing of the past. This requires flexibility on all sides – today, just as it did nearly two decades ago. The suspension of the CFE Treaty announced by President Putin, which is to take effect on 12 December, could mean the end of the treaty regime. All states on the continent would lose out if such a step were taken. We therefore call on the Russian Government to refrain from suspending the Treaty as announced and to choose the path of negotiation to protect its legitimate interests. In this context, we welcome the talks between the United States and Russia. Germany and France have for their part launched a joint initiative to preserve the CFE Treaty. By convening two meetings of all States Parties plus the Baltic States and Slovenia, they are pursuing the goal of bringing about the entry into force of the Agreement on Adaptation of the CFE Treaty, signed in Istanbul in 1999, as quickly as possible. This Agreement adapts the treaty to the altered security policy realities following the end of the Cold War. We also expect the obligations likewise entered into in Istanbul in 1999, in particular the withdrawal of the Russian forces from Georgia and the Republic of Moldova, to be honoured. Not all the matters currently under discussion can be satisfactorily resolved in the short term. It is therefore all the more important that all participants proceed on the understanding that even after the entry into force of the Adapted CFE Treaty, the door will remain open for further amendments. Europe has profited more than anyone else from the fall of the Wall and the new security environment based on cooperation. Whenever the continued existence of this security environment is questioned, we must stress that only cooperation within Europe can guarantee stability and security for all. European security is however also dependent on the broader security policy framework. We must in the future continue to work resolutely towards bringing the spirit of cooperation and respect for the law that guides us in Europe into the mainstream in other parts of the world, be it in bilateral or in multilateral treaties. The dialogue on arms control policy must be revived at global level. In the field of nuclear weapons, the preservation of the major Russian-American arms control agreements (START, INF) cannot be subordinated to short-term political considerations without doing harm to the agreements themselves. As regards missile defence, we would like to see continued bilateral talks on this subject with Russia and with the United States, as well as further talks between Russia and the United States. We have to adopt a cooperative approach in order to meet a real threat – the proliferation of ballistic missiles. The United Nations Security Council pledged in 1992 to take action on the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. This pledge was reaffirmed in 2004, and extended to cover the proliferation of delivery systems. The EU Strategy against the Proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction, which was adopted by the European Council in December 2003 at the same time as the European Security Strategy, demonstrates just how important the EU considers countering proliferation to be. Our action on the Iranian nuclear issue is part of this approach. It is our goal to reach a negotiated solution to the current crisis. Our common action against proliferation consists on the one hand of our firm response to such crises, and on the other hand includes strengthening the balanced, multilateral nuclear non-proliferation regime. We want to start work now to make the planned 2010 Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons a success. So let us address the challenges together, and let us be guided in this endeavour by the tenets that have shaped the construction of Europe and its growing acceptance in the international arena – dialogue, cooperation and perseverance. October 29, 2007
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