Photo by nonanet on flickr

On Thursday, 25 June, EWI, in cooperation with the Institute of World Economy and International Relations (IMEMO), convened an informal, off-the-record roundtable discussion of its Expert Working Group report Euro-Atlantic Security: One Vision, Three Paths.

Vladimir Baranovsky, Deputy Director of the IMEMO chaired the roundtable. Attendees included representatives of the Russian government, Russian academics and high-level diplomats from the U.S., the EU, Belgium, Romania, Sweden, Australia, Finland, Greece, Hungary and Turkey. Participants provided responses to the report, which describes three possible paths towards revitalized security arrangements in the Euro-Atlantic region.

Vladimir Ivanov, Director of EWI’s Moscow office, opened the roundtable with a presentation of the report’s key findings and outlined next steps in EWI’s initiative to help strengthen Euro-Atlantic security.

Participants expressed their appreciation for the brevity and clarity of the report and its sharp, realistic recommendations.  However, they pointed out some shortcomings:

• The report underestimates the U.N.’s role in coordinating the work of all existing decision-making centers such as NATO, CSTO, the EU and the OSCE.
• Some participants suggested that the report should be broadened to include the economic and trade dimensions of Euro-Atlantic security. Others however, suggested that the scope of the report is too ambitious and recommended narrowing it to a more manageable level.
• A recognition of the need for pluralism in decision-making centers is not enough; a detailed description of their structures, interests, powers and spheres of influence is also required.
• The third path, a new security treaty, could be extended beyond Europe.

Participants came up with several recommendations building on those in the report, especially regarding the relationship between NATO and Russia as a pillar of Euro-Atlantic security:

• One participant recommended the development of a solution that combines all three options presented in the report. A group of “eminent persons” including representatives of new EU members and non-EU countries should contribute to such a solution.
• An inventory of treaties, declarations and other legal instruments that can help build trust might help reconcile practical decision-making with the principle of the equal and indivisible security.
• There is a need for a more transparency in NATO’s new strategic concept and a clear list of functional goals. Acknowledgement of the common threats to NATO and non-NATO countries can facilitate greater cooperation with more robust security guarantees.
• NATO and Russia should give up the outdated adherence to blocs and commit to common actions to improve each other’s public images.
• All parties should focus on developing a system of cooperative collective security through sub-regional security structures. For example, the Black Sea region is a regional reflection of the functional problems between Russia and U.S., Russia and NATO, and Russia and EU.

Representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Council of the Federation of the Federal Assembly expressed their interest in advancing EWI’s Euro-Atlantic work, especially considering the importance of the initiative after the Caucasus conflict. EWI will publish the recommendations of the Moscow roundtable as an annex to Euro-Atlantic Security: One Vision, Three Paths.