Can the OSCE be regenerated through enhanced cooperation with the EU, and if so, how?
With Europe’s security order becoming ever more fragile, the EU and the OSCE face very different political and structural challenges. While the EU’s new Strategic Compass emphasizes its aspirations to become a genuine security actor, the OSCE faces erosion of the participating States’ consensus on values and weakened executive structures and institutions.
This is the background against which my colleagues David Galbreath, André Härtel and I argue that the accelerated rise of the EU as a security actor should not be achieved at the expense of the OSCE. Rather, cooperation between both organizations should focus on
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- Strengthening the OSCE as an autonomous security organization,
- Using the OSCE as a genuine forum for dialogue and mutual assurance, and
- Capitalizing on the main strengths of both organizations while avoiding duplication.
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