Brussels - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's plans for a
Europe-wide security pact look set to be Russia's priority at the
European Union-Russia summit in the French resort of Nice on Friday.
Medvedev first spoke of his desire to create a 'treaty on the
basic principles for security and intergovernmental relations in the
Euro-Atlantic region' in a speech in Berlin on June 5. He added
details in a speech in the French spa town of Evian on October 8.
Specifically, he named five principles for an international deal
between European states, Canada and the United States to replace the
Helsinki Final Accords of 1975, which laid the basis for peaceful
relations between the Soviet Union and the West.
First, it should make respect for principles such as sovereignty,
territorial integrity and national independence legally binding.
Second, it should affirm 'the inadmissibility of the use of force
or the threat of its use in international relations,' calling for
negotiated settlements to solve disputes.
Third, it would outlaw 'ensuring one's own security at the expense
of others ... acts by military alliances and coalitions that
undermine the unity of the common security space ... (and)
development of military alliances that would threaten the security to
other parties of the treaty.'
Fourth, the treaty would guarantee that 'no state or international
organization can have exclusive rights to maintaining peace and
stability in Europe.'
Finally, it would establish 'basic arms-control parameters and
reasonable limits on military construction,' together with new
procedures to fight the drug trade, nuclear proliferation and
terrorism.
Analysts say that the first two principles effectively reproduce
the rules laid down in Helsinki, but that they omit a key clause on
respecting human rights.
They also point out that Russia breached both principles in its
August war with Georgia, since it used force to violate the latter's
territorial integrity and sovereignty.
The third principle is widely seen as an attempt to block US plans
for a missile-defence system in Europe (which Russia sees as
threatening its own security) and to block NATO's expansion into the
former-Soviet space.
The fourth principle is seen as a veiled dig at NATO and the
European Union, both of which already cover most of Europe and are
set to expand further, while the fifth one attempts to harmonize
existing diplomatic initiatives in a number of key areas.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, current holder of the EU's
rotating presidency, said that Medvedev's idea was worth discussing,
and suggested that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe (OSCE) should debate it in the autumn of 2009.
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