The German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has said Russia's initiative to sign a new legally binding European security treaty is serious and should be discussed in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. The German minister made this statement as he addressed a news conference in Berlin.
The German foreign minister stays loyal to the position he voiced at the recent Security Conference in Munich, where he was among those who backed President Medvedev's initiative to sign a European security treaty. The initiative, first launched by President Medvedev during his visit to Germany in summer 2008, urges Europe to level its security zones and create a peace-maintaining mechanism which would preclude countries and international organizations from monopolizing the security issue.
President Medvedev's initiatives have been discussed at an OSCE ministerial meeting in Corfu, a Russia-NATO Council session and a large number of other forums. Many European leaders have showed interest too, and some have asked for more details. But invariably, the conclusion was that NATO and OSCE are enough to guarantee security in Europe. Strange as it might seem, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton thinks along the same lines, even though Presidents Medvedev and Obama agreed to discuss the initiative in earnest.
That Europe needs a new treaty proceeds from the fact that to this day European security has been guaranteed by the 1975 Helsinki Act. Meanwhile, the world has seen radical changes since then. The United States and NATO went into war in the Balkans and against Iraq. And their client - the Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili - could not be stopped from unleashing a war against South Ossetia. NATO has expanded to twenty eight member countries and its military structure has approached the Russian borders. All this cannot but cause Moscow's concerns and is escalating tension in Europe, particularly in the light of Washington's plans to deploy elements of global missile defense system in Rumania and other countries.
In the meantime, NATO is trying hard to pacify the Kremlin as to the peaceful nature of its plans. But, if NATO means well, it's unclear why it is unwilling to look into Russia's initiatives, which could dispel all mutual claims and enhance trust and security. Given the situation, the statement in favor of the Russian proposal from the German foreign minister becomes particularly relevant.
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