The Cooperative Security Initiative (CSI) is designed to generate ideas and shift momentum in favor of cooperative security and multilateralism through the OSCE in order to build a safer Europe.

Purpose and Role of the Initiative

• The current security environment in the OSCE area is volatile and unpredictable, if not overtly dangerous – particularly as a result of the crisis in and around Ukraine. This is quite different from the situation in the late 1980s, when the 35 member states of the then CSCE agreed to the Paris Charter “For a new Europe” (1990).
   
• According to the “Security Radar 2019-Wake-up call for Europe”, conducted by the FES Regional Office for Cooperation an Peace in Europe in seven European countries (France, Germany, Latvia, Poland, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine) the people are concerned about a possible war in Europe, some are not satisfied about the status of their respected country and some are very worried about Russia and the USA. 
   
• But at the same time the majority favours diplomatic solutions, support multilateral organisations such as the UN, the OSCE or the EU and are very much united in agreeing upon an active foreign policy of their states.
   
• These partly contradicting conditions make it difficult to work together to stop further deterioration and defuse tensions, still less to find a way out of the situation. Despite a number of shared threats and challenges, there is little trust or sense of common purpose among OSCE states. Multilateralism is under attack. Fundamental principles have been violated. Furthermore, the very notion of a cooperative approach to enhance security is eroded and being challenged.
   
• What does that mean for the OSCE area, and for the Organization? To answer that question, the Cooperative Security Initiative is designed to generate ideas on how to enhance cooperative security and multilateralism through the OSCE in order to build a safer Europe. This is consistent with two of the main priorities of Slovakia’s 2019 Chairmanship of the OSCE, namely to enhance effective multilateralism and to work towards a safer Europe.
   
• The CSI is designed to carry out an “open intellectual debate” (as called for in the 2015 “Back to Diplomacy" Report of the Panel of Eminent Persons on European Security) to reinforce political dialogue and inter-state efforts to rebuild the foundation of European security. 

In particular, the Cooperative Security Initiative will

• Reflect on how to ensure full compliance with the Helsinki Principles Guiding Relations between Participating States, and other OSCE commitments, particularly in the current security environment;
   
• Explore  the way forward to promote peace and security in Europe on the basis of the Helsinki Final Act (1975) and the Charter of Paris (1990), and how to move closer to the realization of a Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian security community as envisioned in the Astana Commemorative Declaration (2010), particularly taking into account the anniversaries of these milestones in 2020 and 2025;
   
• Reflect on how to encourage the demilitarization of relations within the OSCE area;
   
• Identify areas of cooperation and explore common responses to perceived threats and challenges in the OSCE area;
   
• Try to connect and discuss the issue of Cooperative Security with a broader public;

This is why the CSI came up with 18 Questions for a Safer Future.

Please sip your Melange and answer the questions!

Go directly to the survey! (en)
Besuchen Sie direkt die Umfrage! (de)

Read more

peace.fes.de/projects/cooperative-security-initiative
cooperative-security-initiative.org