OSCE in talks for European security

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

Foreign ministers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, or OSCE, opened talks on the western Greek resort island of Corfu Sunday on forging a new security framework, as last year's war in Georgia overshadowed the meeting.

"This is the beginning, but it may be the beginning of a process in which we will take a look at the architecture of security in Europe," Agence France-Presse quoted EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana as telling reporters.

The Greek OSCE chairmanship voiced more cautionary tone, warning that European countries must cut through a tangle of conflicting policies to build a single voice on security. Greek Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said establishing solidarity is easier said than done, when every state is concerned above all with its own problems. "But if we do not conjure up this solidarity, one day we may all suffer as a result," she added.

The ministers also discussed a Russian proposal put forward by President Dmitry Medvedev last year for a new European security structure, including a treaty encompassing all of Europe and North America. They expressed doubts about the proposals, calling for more detail and suggesting that existing organizations be reinforced instead.

"My feeling is that no one wants anything brand new," Finnish Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb said, according to a report by The Associated Press. An OSCE official, who asked not to be identified, said the proposal was not specific enough.

One of the OSCE's toughest challenges this year has been to extend the mandate of its 16-year mission in Georgia, which expired in December. OSCE staff will pull out by Tuesday. Russia first blocked the extension late last year because other OSCE members refused to recognize Georgia's breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent.

The OSCE meeting started with a dinner Saturday night. It was preceded by the first NATO-Russia meeting since the alliance broke off ties after Russia's war in Georgia last summer, which resulted in an agreement to resume suspended military ties.