“Without men nothing is possible, without institutions nothing is permanent.”

– Jean Monnet

The Finnish Institute of International Affairs has published a new Finnish Foreign Policy Paper about the significance of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

The text is written by Minister Jaakko Iloniemi, a former Finnish diplomat. Between 1965 and 1971 he served as Head of Department for Development Cooperation in the Finnish Foreign Ministry. The text is based on a speech that Mr. Iloniemi gave in July 2015 at a seminar organized by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. 

In his text, Iloniemi looks back on the CSCE summit organised in Helsinki in 1975, and appraises the lasting value of the OSCE.

“Political and legal institutions that are strong enough to weather storms and upheavals are the best guarantee we have for an orderly and successful management of international relations. An OSCE which can fulfil that role is therefore a worthy aim”, Iloniemi writes.