Transforming the OSCE Mission in Estonia


The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and especially its High Commissioner for National Minorities have played a major if not always uncontroversial role in helping Estonia to re-establish its democratic political system.

Over the course of the past seven years Estonia has met all of the 29 conditions established by High Commissioner Max van der Stoel for bringing Estonian legislation into line with European norms. Because Estonia has done so, many Estonians have argued that the OSCE's mission in Estonia should now end. After all, if Estonia has taken the steps necessary to be part of Europe, why should an institutional arrangement designed to help that process continue to exist?

While I fully understand such feelings - they are after all entirely natural - I believe nonetheless that the mission of the OSCE should not end but be transformed into something that would continue to help our country overcome the impact of the Soviet part. And I would like to propose for discussion the possibility of establishing a special institution to train young Estonians in the art and science of conflict management.

As I see it, this institution could be sustained by the funds that now go to support the OSCE's mission in Estonia. It could be attached to Tartu University or be independent. And it could bring together scholars, political activists, non-governmental organisations, and ordinary citizens to help ensure that we in Estonia will continue to overcome the problems of the past.

Among these problems, of course, are those facing any country attempting to rebuild a civic society and a democratic system after the long night of the Soviet occupation. And also among them are the specific problems of the inter-ethnic relations.

Undoubtedly, some will see this as an attack on the OSCE. After all, it would lead to the closure of the official mission. But I believe that most people in Europe and in the OSCE believe that we have met all the challenges for which the original OSCE mission was designed.

At the same time, others may see this as an institutionalisation of the OSCE in our country, as the creation of a permanent bureaucracy that will only meddle in the political life of our state. But in fact, such an arrangement will help to enlarge the influence of the OSCE in this and future generations by creating a new institutional arrangement that will bring together many people to help us overcome the conflicts that are inevitable in any free society.

Precisely because Estonia has made so much progress, we have an opportunity to work with the OSCE in creating an institution that has never existed in the past but that can serve as a model for other countries in the future.

Doing so, I believe, underscores our commitment to the values that the OSCE mission has always tried to promote and that a new institution of the kind I am proposing could promote even more effectively in the future.

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