Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 5 and 6 October 1987 (13th and 14th Sittings) (see Doc. 5779, report of the Political Affairs Committee). Text adopted by the Assembly on 6 October 1987 (14th Sitting).
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
1. Recalling its past work on East-West relations and the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE), and its Resolutions 826 (1984), 827 (1984) and 866 (1986) in particular ;
2. Noting signs in the current year that the Council of Europe is, for the first time, accepted as an interlocutor by all participants in the CSCE process, particularly the meeting in Vienna of Assembly sub-committees with heads of delegation to the ongoing review meeting of all non-member states (March), and the invitations to an Assembly delegation to visit Romania (April) and to the Secretary General to visit Hungary (June) ;
3. Hoping that the reform movement initiated in Moscow by Secretary General Gorbachev, and the agreement in principle of the United States and the Soviet Union to conclude a treaty rapidly to eliminate all medium-range missiles situated in Europe, offer prospects of real progress following resumption of the Vienna review meeting's work in September ;
4. Hoping that a balance will be restored as soon as possible in the field of conventional weapons, thus guaranteeing security in Europe, and hoping also for the elimination of all chemical weapons ;
5. Emphasising that it is necessary to implement more effectively undertakings concerning human rights, such as freedom of religion, the right to leave one's country and to return to it, the rights of national minorities, and the freedoms of association, expression, opinion and conscience, movement and family reunification ;
6. Considering that the concluding document of the Vienna meeting should include the following points :
mandate for the continuation of the Stockholm Conference on security and confidence-building measures ;
conference on the human dimension on the lines proposed by the Western countries ;
conference on economic co-operation ;
expert meetings on the environment ;
information forum ;
scientific forum attended by distinguished scientists ;
appeal to NATO and the Warsaw Pact to agree on a mandate for negotiation on conventional arms equilibrium in Europe at the lowest possible level ;
7. Reaffirming the need to maintain a balance, in the CSCE process in general and the future concluding document of the Vienna review meeting in particular, between the security dimension, the economic, scientific and environmental dimension, and the human dimension,
With reference to the security dimension
8. Welcomes in particular the progress towards agreement among the thirty-five on a mandate which takes account of past success (at the Stockholm CDE meeting) to pave the way for further security- and confidence-building, as well as for the negotiated reduction of imbalances in conventional weapons from the Atlantic to the Urals ;
9. Trusts that the declaration contained in paragraph 25 of the Final Act of the Stockholm Conference, concerning the need to take energetic measures to prevent and combat terrorism and the determination of the signatory countries to take effective measures to prevent and suppress all acts of terrorism, will be followed up in Vienna and begin to take shape in the form of concrete measures ;
With reference to the economic, scientific and environmental dimension
10. Welcomes the fact that, as the launching in February 1988 of the European Public Campaign on North-South Interdependence and Solidarity approaches, the resolution adopted by the European Parliament on 17 June 1986 (on the implementation of the Helsinki Agreements and the role of the European Parliament in the CSCE process) considered it desirable, with reference to Helsinki PrincipleNo. IX, that ‘‘signatory states should be able to lay the foundation for co-operation with the countries of the Third World, with a view to assisting their development'' ;
11. Recalls its insistence, in
Resolution 866 (1986), that the Vienna meeting was the appropriate forum for drawing up new principles with regard to transfrontier hazards in connection with nuclear power stations, acid rain and all other environmental problems ;
12. Draws attention to the availability of the experience of the Council of Europe (and the European conventions drawn up under its auspices) in this field to all CSCE participating states ;
With regard to the human dimension
13. Congratulates the Secretary General of the Council of Europe for having given eloquent publicity in Budapest to the Council of Europe's vocation to promote European cultural identity continent-wide, through action in favour, for example, of the preservation of the architectural heritage, languages, art exhibitions, cultural and educational research, and exchanges among young people ;
14. Agrees with the Committee of Ministers, who, in the communiqué issued following its 80th Session (Strasbourg, 6-7 May 1987), declared that it is less important to try to formulate new commitments than to encourage the more effective implementation of the commitments already entered into ;
15. Is of the opinion that the trend, promoted by the Soviet leadership, of glasnost, if continued, would not only constitute an important contribution to the free circulation of information called for by the Final Act, but could make it easier to consider the holding in Moscow of a conference on the human dimension of the CSCE, under the conditions proposed by the twelve European Community member states, as well as Iceland, Norway, Turkey, Canada and the United States ;
16. Welcomes the current efforts to harmonise approaches of the Parliamentary Assembly and the European Parliament in the East-West relations field and particularly the ongoing work of the joint working party to study the possibilities of creating a European foundation for East European studies ;
17. Resolves to pursue further the implementation of its decision of 1984 (
Resolution 826) to intensify contacts at parliamentary level with European non-member countries ;
18. Recalls paragraphs 11, 13, 23, 27, 28, 29, 30 and 37 of
Resolution 866, and urges the member states of the Council of Europe to propose in Vienna that, in the context of the CSCE, it be agreed to associate the Council of Europe with the future conference on problems of co-operation in the humanitarian field to be held as part of the CSCE process.
