- - In the beginning of July the German Foreign Affairs Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was in Vienna, to present the programme of the German presidency of 2016 to the Permanent Council of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
“Let us strengthen existing elements of confidence‑building, rather than dismantling them further”, said Steinmeier in his speech at the Permanent Council. He argued that common threats should be tackled by working together. “The OSCE is and remains a key instrument of conflict prevention and resolution in Europe.” Germany is willing to assume responsibility.
Foreign Affairs Minister Steinmeier underlined that when he speaks of dialogue, he does not only mean the dialogue among governments, but rather a dialogue among people. “Right now, when political alienation has increased so much in the OSCE area, civil society connections have become all the more important. This human dimension is laid out in the Helsinki Final Act. We want to strengthen it.”
In February this year Ralf Beste, deputy leader of policy planning at the German Foreign Affairs Ministry visited Flensburg, to examine in what way the experiences and achievements of the two European organisations FUEN and ECMI (European Centre for Minority Issues) and the experiences in the German-Danish border region and the land of Schleswig-Holstein could be better used? The main topic of interest was how civil society can contribute with models of dialogue and conflict resolution.
German Foreign Affairs Minister Steinmeier stressed that the German presidency wants to increase the participation of civil society in the discussion among states inside the OSCE. In relation to the protection of minorities, said Steinmeier, “Europe today is a very, very diverse continent, in the East as well as in the West. Minorities should be protected in modern states so that these states bring societies together rather than dividing them, and we absolutely must not permit minorities to be instrumentalised in conflicts. This also means that we must combat every form of political extremism, intolerance and discrimination.”
FUEN is pleased with the approach by the German OSCE-presidency and offers to work together with the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and with the FUEN members from all over Europe on models of dialogue and conflict in which civil society is strongly involved.
Speech by Foreign Minister Steinmeier in Vienna, 2 July 2015
