OSZE-Konferenz in Bern: «Von Genf bis Helsinki: Entstehung und Hauptzweck der OSZE» (en)

Monsieur le Président du Conseil national
Stimà signur president dal Cussegl dals chantuns
Signor Cancelliere della Confederazione
Sehr geehrter Herr Regierungsrat
Dear OSCE Secretary General
Sehr geehrte Frau Rektorin der Universität Bern
Distinguished guests

After a full day devoted to history, I will resist the temptation to give you another history lesson.

Thanks to Dodis and the historians gathered here, we understand better how Helsinki became possible – and what we can learn from it today.

So let me use these last few minutes to look ahead.

The lesson I take from Helsinki is quite simple:

Cooperation does not require agreement.
It requires the willingness to keep talking despite disagreement.

The Helsinki Final Act was not signed between friends.

It was signed between adversaries.

For Switzerland, the CSCE also marked a turning point: we learned that neutrality did not mean standing aside. It could give us the space to take initiatives, build bridges and help deliver concrete results.

That lesson remains relevant today.

Of course, 2026 is not 1975.

We should not romanticise the past. Nor should we imagine that we can simply reproduce Helsinki.

The world has changed.

The balance of power has changed.

Technology has changed.

And Russia’s war against Ukraine has profoundly damaged European security and trust between States.

But geography has not changed.

We still share this continent.

And sooner or later, we will have to answer a very practical question:

How do we organise security among States that do not necessarily trust each other?

This is where I see the future of the OSCE.

Not as an organisation that pretends differences do not exist.

Not as a substitute for political will.

And certainly not as an institution that can create peace on its own.

But as a place where differences can be managed, risks reduced, transparency increased and, when circumstances allow, agreements prepared.

If confrontation has returned to Europe, then so has the raison d’être of the OSCE.

This conviction guides Switzerland’s Chairmanship.

Our task is not to predict when the next political opportunity will come.

Our task is to make sure that the OSCE is ready when it does.

That means keeping the organisation functioning. Preserving its expertise. Strengthening what works. Reforming what does not.

That is what we did with Secretary-General Sinirlioğlu this year.

And maintaining channels of communication even when they are difficult to use.

We have already seen this year that agreement remains possible.

After several years of deadlock, all 57 participating States adopted the 2026 budget together.

This does not solve our fundamental political differences.

But it tells us something important:

The capacity to cooperate has not disappeared.

Our priority naturally remains Ukraine.

The Swiss Chairmanship wants the OSCE to be ready when political circumstances allow new progress towards a just and lasting peace.

We do not know when such a window of opportunity will open.

But it would be irresponsible to wait for that moment without preparing for it.

Dear Participants,

History does not provide instructions for the future.

But today has reminded us of something very practical:

Institutions matter most when circumstances become difficult.

We do not know what European security will look like in five or ten years.

Nor do we know when the next opportunity for diplomacy will come.

But we can make sure that, when it comes, there is still a table around which everyone can sit.

That is not nostalgia for Helsinki.
It is preparation for what comes next.

Thank you all for coming to Bern, and for taking the time today to understand where we came from – not in order to return there, but to think more clearly about where we want to go.

Enjoy your stay in Switzerland.