The Road to the Charter of Paris OSCE Network of Think Tanks and Academic Institutions The Road to the Charter of Paris Historical Narratives and Lessons for the OSCE Today OSCE Network of Think Tanks and Academic Institutions Drafting Group | Christian Nünlist (principal author) | Juhana Aunesluoma | Benno Zogg This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically those of translation, reprinting, re-use of illustrations, broadcasting, reproduction by photocopying machine or similar means, and storage in data banks. Under § 54 of the German Copyright Law, where copies are made for other than private use, a fee is payable to «Verwertungsgesellschaft Wort», Munich. Design and typesetting | red hot 'n' cool, Vienna Cover Photo © 123rf.com | Kichigin Aleksandr 2 Table of Contents 3 Acknowledgements 4 Executive Summary 7 Introduction: Return of History 11 1. Paris 1990 and the Post-Cold War Settlement in Europe: The Historians’ View 17 2. Paris 1990 in Conflicting Narratives 25 3. Narratives as Obstacles, Narratives as Resources 29 4. Conclusion 31 5. Recommendations 34 Annex 34 Disclaimer 34 Authors 34 Eyewitnesses 35 Academics The Road to the Charter of Paris Acknowledgements This project was encouraged by the 2016 German We are most grateful that a distinguished group of OSCE Chairmanship and jointly sponsored by the eyewitnesses – former high-level CSCE diplomats Austrian Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration – and leading contemporary historians provided and Foreign Affairs, the German Federal Foreign new empirical evidence and much-needed food for Office, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign thought for this report during a critical oral history Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs workshop in Paris (all participants are listed in an of the Slovak Republic, the Department of Foreign annex). This first project workshop was hosted and Affairs and Trade of Ireland, and the Ministry of financially supported by the Institut français des Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia. The OSCE relations internationales (ifri), and our thanks go Secretariat provided administrative and financial to Dr. Barbara Kunz and Catherine Naiker. We also monitoring. We express our sincere gratitude for all thank the representatives of 20 member institutes of this support. In particular, we would like to thank the OSCE Network of Think Tanks and Academic Dr. Petri Hakkarainen, who early on expressed a Institutions for contributing to this report by keen interest in the idea of a project looking back on providing constructive feedback on an initial draft divergent historical narratives from 1989 onwards to version of this report as a kind of “reflection group” provide lessons learned for today’s European security of this project (all participants are listed in an annex). problems. Gernot Erler, Special Representative of We also thank Liviu Horovitz (Center for Security the German Federal Government for the 2016 OSCE Studies, ETH Zürich) for a careful review of our final Chairmanship, prominently promoted it during the draft and for very helpful comments and feedback. OSCE Security Days in Prague in June 2017. Last, but certainly not least, we thank Dr. Wolfgang Zellner, Dr. Frank Evers, and Naida Mehmedbegović Dreilich (CORE, Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg) for their early encouragement and their tireless support for the project. 3 Executive Summary The current tensions between Russia and the The main aim of this report is to add the views West and the return to divided security in of contemporary historians to a plurality of Europe have their root causes in an unfinished interpretations about what allegedly happened and post-Cold War settlement after 1990, even if the why in 1989 and 1990. We feel that historians, used West at the time felt it had achieved a fair new to reconstructing the past, can be of help navigating order for Europe’s future. Seen from today, the through a web of mutually contradictory narratives hopes enshrined in the optimistic language of and interpretations. Contrasting popular myths the Charter of Paris for a New Europe adopted and politicized memory with recently declassified at the CSCE summit in November 1990 – the archival sources and a growing scholarly literature first CSCE summit after the landmark Helsinki about the events of 1989 and 1990, we think it is summit in 1975 – did not last long. The vision high time to inject more nuances and shades of of a new European security architecture, based gray into mostly black-and-white stories of success on cooperative and inclusive security and and failure in establishing Europe’s post-Cold War partnership between the former Cold War strategic architecture. Sound empirical evidence enemies, did not stand the test of the 1990s, with and professional historical analysis are helpful tools the Soviet Union collapsing and ethnic conflicts to provide an antidote to the currently poisoned leading to the Balkan Wars and protracted political discussions on European security, by conflicts in the post-Soviet sphere. clarifying misunderstandings on both sides about the starting point of today’s divergence. Our report Encouraged by the OSCE Panel of Eminent Persons’ illuminates the extent to which frequently-heard (PEP) report of late 2015, this OSCE Network of individual narratives actually draw on history. Think Tanks and Academic Institutions report attempts to reconstruct the debates during the By focusing on the visions of pan-European security formative period for today’s European security and the road to the CSCE Charter of Paris, our architecture, from the fall of the Berlin Wall in report closes a scholarly gap, as the very end of November 1989 to the signing of the Charter of Paris the Cold War and the beginning of the post-Cold a year later. We argue that a search for and evaluation War period has not yet been analyzed from an of lost opportunities and an examination of divergent OSCE/CSCE perspective. The OSCE Network of national narratives about what occurred during this Think Tanks was ideally suited to discuss various crucial period can be useful in understanding both national narratives and interpretations, focusing on the origins and the essential elements of the current multilateral diplomacy (or the lack of it). Our multi- schisms in Europe. national perspective was also supported by inviting 4 The Road to the Charter of Paris former high-level CSCE diplomats (including the first Recommendations: CSCE/OSCE Secretary General) to contribute to our discussions as key eyewitnesses. v Translate this report into Russian and discuss the findings at an OSCE Network of Think While our aim was not to produce a new consensus Tanks and Academic Institutions (“OSCE narrative, two workshops contributed to a better Network”) workshop in Moscow in 2018 understanding of the historical context of crucial (1 day). decisions. They helped separate myths from facts and added significant insight into the events themselves. v Organize an OSCE Network event for Italian Debating contested history, focusing on unintended journalists covering Italy’s 2018 OSCE side-effects, is in itself a confidence-building measure. Chairmanship (e.g. breakfast or lunch event). Thus we hope that our relatively small-scale project and this report may contribute to enhancing mutual v Present the report’s findings to interested historical empathy, dialogue, and trust between OSCE insiders (OSCE Secretariat, OSCE Russia and the West. While there is currently no Delegations) in Vienna in an OSCE Network political will among OSCE participating States to event in 2018 (e.g. breakfast or lunch event). discuss the historical root causes of today’s problems with Track 1, we are confident that Track 2 initiatives, v Discuss potential future cooperation such as ours, might be useful in drawing lessons between the OSCE Network and EUROCLIO from the recent past by channeling research-based (European Association of History Teachers). historical knowledge to contemporary practitioners. Hopefully, obsolete thinking will give way to a new v Prepare a concept for a follow-up OSCE cooperative vision for European security, this time Network “history dialogue” project for truly liberated from the ghosts of the past. November 2020 – the 30th anniversary of the 1990 Charter for Paris. 5 6 The Road to the Charter of Paris Introduction: Return of History “Obsolete thinking is more dangerous than obsolete weapons.” Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Stuttgart, 7 May 1989 In its report “Back to Diplomacy”, the OSCE Panel Ukraine (and Belarus) with other ex-Socialist of Eminent Persons (PEP) in late 2015 encouraged a countries in East-Central Europe, US leaders have research project on the different narratives and the emphasized the significance of their integration (or common history after 1990, bringing together scholars rather co-option) into Western institutions to secure from different countries and aiming to set out more their orderly transition from socialism to democracy systematically the radically divergent views of the and a market economy. Also, the basic willingness past and how and why they have developed.1The of several US administrations and their European project this report concludes realized this idea. It partners to integrate Russia into a working security involved eyewitnesses, historians, and think-tankers order in Europe after the Cold War’s end has been from across the OSCE