The Charter of Paris was a watershed moment in European history. It was, in effect, a summit to mark the end of the Cold War. It is remarkable to consider the progress that was made between the Helsinki Final Act signed on 1 August 1975 and the Charter of Paris signed just fifteen years later on 21 November 1990. Unfortunately, with hindsight and considering the dangerous situation that Europe finds itself in today, it is tragic to consider how quickly the hope of an undivided, democratic, and peaceful Europe has faded. Nevertheless, the Summit and the Charter provide inspiration for possible future efforts to rebuild a security order in Europe.

A turning point

By the late 1980s, the dramatic turn of events, in large part in the wake of President Mikhail Gorbachev’s reforms in the USSR, was reducing decades of tensions between Western Europe and the Communist bloc. Rapprochement between the United States and the Soviet Union, as a result of a series of meetings between Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev, most notably Geneva and Reykjavik, agreement on the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed at the Washington Summit on 8 December 1987, and the relatively peaceful end of Communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe showed that the winds of change were blowing through Europe. One of the most momentous changes came in November 1989 with the opening of the Berlin Wall, followed in October 1990 by the reunification of Germany.

In November 1989, during a state visit to Italy, President Gorbachev proposed the idea of summit of CSCE participating States. The idea was quickly supported by French President Mitterrand and German Chancellor Kohl, and endorsed in principle by the 12 Member States of the European Community on 20 January 1990.⁽¹⁾ Preparations for the Summit took place in Vienna between 10 July and 17 November 1990—a rather short period of time to prepare for such a momentous meeting. The Summit was preceded by a Ministerial meeting in New York on 1 and 2 October 1990.⁽²⁾ Furthermore, in the run-up to the Summit, negotiations on the finalization of the Conventional Forces in Europe (CFE) Treaty were intensified to be able to sign the Treaty in Paris. The treaty was indeed signed by 22 member states of NATO and the Warsaw Pact on 19 November. A number of bilateral treaties were also signed in 1990, for example between Germany and Poland and between the USSR and Germany that helped to build trust and cooperation.