FORGING THE NATO-OSCE PARTNERSHIP
Bruce George MP
At the December 1994 Budapest Summit of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE), it was decided to begin discussions on a "model" on "all aspects of security, as appropriate,
aimed at devising a concept of security for the twenty-first century." A year later, in Budapest over 7-8
December 1995, the OSCE Foreign Ministers reviewed progress and directed that "progress achieved
and results available at that time" be presented to the Lisbon OSCE Summit in December 1996.
At the 5 December 1995 North Atlantic Council meeting in Brussels, the Ministers described the aim as
“the coherent development of a European security architecture including all [OSCE] participating
States.”1
Clearly, a linchpin of future as well as contemporary European security will be played by NATO,
performing both its core functions of transatlantic consultation and collective defenc and its new
missions in support of peacekeeping under OSCE or UN mandate, as decided in 1992, on a case-bycase basis and in accordance with Alliance procedures. Without the continued clear US commitment to
European security, exercised through NTO, indivisible security on the continent and adherence to
OSCE commitments for democracy and equal security will prove elusive.
As NATO Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs Ambassador Gebhardt von Moltke stated at
the Budapest Ministerial: “NATO attaches great importance to the ongoing discussion on the
development of a comprehensive Security Model.. It is a significant part of the process towards
building a European security architecture.” Ambassador von Moltke further noted that the Allies would
continue to contribute to this work, and that they looked forward to “concrete proposals”.
However, up until now co-operation between the two organisations has, for political reasons, largely
been confined to attendance of NATO officials on a case-by-case basis at selected meetings and
seminars. On 30 May at Noordwijk, the Netherlands, the North Atlantic Council tasked a revidew fo
the current pattern of contact “and to improve it as appropriate”.
This is so for very critical and immmediate reasons. The launch of the historic NATO operation Joint
Endeavour, including Partner nations under NATO command, to bring peace to Bosnia-Herzegovina is
indispensable to achieving stability in the Balkans. However, the long-term chances for avoiding further
violence and ethnic cleansing will also depend on the political and civilian dimensions of the
reconstruction of the former Yugoslavia. Although many organisations--the European Union, the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Committee of the Red Cross--have a vital and
demanding task, the Dayton agreement of 21 November 1995 also called upon the OSCE to perform
three tasks:
1. Supervise the preparation and conduct of free elections and head an electoral commission
comprising international experts and representatives from both "entities" of Bosnia and
Herzegovina;
1 Final Communiqu‚, Ministerial Meeting of the North Atlantic Council held at NATO Headquarters,
Brussels, on 5 December 1995, Press Communiqu‚ M-NAC-2 (95) 118, paragraph ten. Reproduced in NATO
Review (January 1996).
OSCE ODIHR Bulletin Vol. 4 No. 3
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