“The participating States will refrain from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity of any State.”

This sums up the principle of refraining from the use of force, principle number II of the CSCE Helsinki Final Act. It is one of ten principles to which we – countries from what were then in both the “East” and “West” – committed 50 years ago in Helsinki. And it is one of ten principles that Russia has been breaking – along with the other nine – every day in its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine for almost four years now.

Russia does so by deciding over and over to continue its unprovoked and inhumane war against its own neighbouring country and to disrespect Ukraine’s sovereignty. It does so by attacking Ukrainian energy infrastructure this winter more intensely than ever before, with the aim of breaking the Ukrainian people’s will to resist. And it does so by continuing to keep three former OSCE staff members illegally in prison, along with tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. These staff members worked for the OSCE observer mission whose role until 2022 was to monitor adherence to the ceasefire agreements.

And Russia is not showing any serious intention of ending its war of aggression during the ongoing talks on a possible peace plan. On the contrary! Putin is ramping up his rhetoric towards Europe, adhering to his maximalist demands and continuing to use military means, as the recent large-scale attacks on Kyiv have shown once again, for Russia is not a peaceful country under its current regime. The past few years have certainly brought that home to us.

Esteemed colleagues, Russia’s war of aggression is not only directed against Ukraine, but also against the foundations of our common security order. This means that the OSCE, which was created for Europe’s security, is confronted by fundamental challenges. However, Russian aggression is by no means the only Herculean task faced by the OSCE. All over the world, we see numerous wars, crises and conflicts, to which we participating States will not be able to find lasting solutions on our own as individual nations.

We are only strong if we work together in international organisations and rely on multilateral cooperation. That is why I firmly believe that we need a flexible OSCE that is fit for the future, an OSCE that chooses willingness to engage in dialogue, cooperation and shared principles.

However, if we want to strengthen the OSCE as the world’s largest regional security organisation, in which we still sit at a table with the US, Russia, Ukraine and the countries of the Western Balkans, the Southern Caucasus and Central Asia, then we need to be honest with ourselves. We need to admit that far-reaching OSCE decisions have not been taken for a long time. This includes our inability to approve a budget since 2021 and the current calls for drastic cutbacks.

The fact is that our organisation is under considerable pressure. This poses a threat to our structures, which the global situation currently so urgently needs – ranging from field operations to election observation, and from military confidence-building and border management to ceasefire monitoring.

So how to continue? Both reforms and savings are the order of the day.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Finnish Chairpersonship and our highly valued counterpart, Elina Valtonen, for their impetus. Thank you to Finland for using this year to launch urgently needed internal reforms.

Esteemed Secretary General, Feridun Sinirlioğlu, we also count on you in this tense situation. Many of the desired cutbacks merit a close look, but naturally we also need to retain our ability to act.

Germany stands unwaveringly with the OSCE. We are willing to continue this reform process with you under the upcoming Swiss Chairpersonship. As the second-largest contributor and largest voluntary donor, we firmly believe that a functioning OSCE system is beneficial to stability and crisis prevention in the entire Euro-Atlantic area.

Esteemed colleagues, 50 years ago, the OSCE, which was still called the CSCE at the time, was founded in the middle of the Cold War. That, too, was a challenging time, but something remarkable was achieved. Countries with very different political systems agreed common principles and created a lasting platform for dialogue and cooperation, a platform that enables talks even when the situation seems hopeless.

This is a historic success. It is why we do not need a new security architecture. What we do need is commitment to the current obligations and the political undertakings that we made together half a century ago. Above all, we need these promises to be put into practice in full and unconditionally!

Thank you.